Poetry Terms and Devices

Flashcards covering key vocabulary from a poetry lecture.

Anaphora

A poetic technique where the same phrase is repeated at the beginning of each line.

Conceit

An extended metaphor that runs throughout an entire poem and serves as its central device.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech where a speaker addresses someone absent or dead, an abstract quality, an idea, or a non-living object.

Metonymy

A form of symbolism where a writer replaces a noun with another noun that is related or part of the same concept (a "part for a part").

Synecdoche

A form of metonymy where a writer substitutes a part for a whole, representing an object with only a distinct part of the object.

Enjambment

A line break in poetry where the sentence or thought continues onto the next line without a natural pause or punctuation.

End-Stopped Line

A line in poetry that ends with a period or a natural break in the sentence.

Repetition

The strategic repeating of certain phrases or lines to reinforce the core message of a poem.

Sound Devices

Techniques primarily concerned with the musicality of language, used to alter a poem's mood and emotion.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyming words placed within the same line, rather than at the end of the line.

End Rhyme

Rhyming words that appear at the end of lines in poetry.

Alliteration

The succession of words with similar sounds, often used to control the poem's mood.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds within words.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within words.

Euphony

Words or sentences that flow pleasantly and sound sweetly.

Cacophony

Words or sentences that are unpleasant sounding, often using harsh, staccato sounds repeatedly.

Meter

The rhythmic structure of a line of poetry, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Dactyl

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.