English terms

Alliteration

the repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds

Anapest

a metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by on accented syllable

Apostrophe

something or someone absent or dead is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.

Assonance

the repetition at close intervals of vowel sounds

Asyndeton

the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used

Ballad

a poem or a song narrating a story in short stanzas.

Ballad stanza

a four-line stanza in iambic meter in which the first and third unrhymed lines have four metrical feet and the second and fourth rhyming lines have three metrical feet.

Blank Verse

poetry with meter, but not rhymed, usually in iambic pentameter

Conceit

a kind of metaphor. Compares two very unlike things in a surprising and/or clever way

Consonance

the repetition of consonants especially at the ends of words

Couplet

two successive lines usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme

Dactyl

a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables

Dizian

a stanza of ten lines.

Dramatic Monologue

a poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events.

Dramatic Poem

a highly emotional story written in verse and meant to be recited.

Elegy

a poem or song expressing sorrow or lamentation usually for one who has died

Enjambment

a line which has no natural speech pause at its end (no punctuation at end of line)

English (Shakespearean) Sonnet

a sonnet written in three quatrains (4 line stanzas) and one couplet rhyming ababcdcdefefgg.

Epic

a long narrative poem that is usually about heroic deeds and events that are significant to the culture of the poet.

Free Verse

non-metrical verse

Hyperbole

extreme exaggeration to make a point or show emphasis

Iamb

a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable

Italian (Petrachan) Sonnet

a sonnet written in one octave (8 line stanza) and one sestet (6 line stanza) rhyming abbaabbacdcdcd or abbaabbacdecde

Juxtaposition

positioning opposites next to each other to heighten the contrast

Lyric

a song like poem written mainly to express the feeling or emotions of a particular person

Metaphysical Poetry

poetry featuring: philosophical exploration, common diction, ingenious conceits, irony, metrically flexible lines

Meter

regularized rhythm; an arrangement of language in which the accents occur at apparently equal intervals in time

Metonymy

some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience

Monostich

a stanza consisting of a single line.

Mood

reader’s feelings in response to literary work. Vibe

Narrative Poem

a form of poetry that tells a story, often making the voices of a narrator and characters as well; the entire story is usually written in metered verse.

Octet/Octave

a stanza of eight lines.

Ode

a lyric poem of moderate length with a serious subject, elevated style and elaborate stanza pattern

Onomatopoeia

a word whose sound is its meaning. For example: boom, slap.

Polysyndeton

a literary technique in which conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or) are used repeatedly in quick succession, often with no commas, even when the conjunctions could be removed.

Quaintrain

a stanza of four lines.

Quintain

a stanza of five lines.

Refrain

a repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines

Rhyme

the repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds

Scansion

the process of measuring verse, of marking unaccented and accented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern

Sestet

a stanza of six lines.

Septet

a stanza of seven lines.

Soliloquy

an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself or is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts):

Spenserian

a stanza of nine lines.

Spondee

a metrical foot consisting of two equally accented syllables or almost equally accented syllables - for example true-blue

Synecdoche

a part is used for the whole

Tercet

a stanza of three lines.

Theme

the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work. (Topic plus message)

Tone

the attitude of the writer towards his subject

Trochee

a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable - for example bar*ter