Learn: Creative Writing: Poetry Terms #1

accent

The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word.

alliteration

The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words.

anapest

A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed), as in seventeen and to the moon.

antithesis

A figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other.

apostrophe

Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea.

assonance

The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds.

ballad

A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.

ballade

A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (or envoy) of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.

blank verse

Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.

classicism

The principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature.

conceit

A fanciful poetic image or metaphor that likens one thing to something else that is seemingly very different.

consonance

The repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words, as in lost and past or confess and dismiss.

couplet

In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought.

dactyl

A metrical foot of three syllables, one long (or stressed) followed by two short (or unstressed), as in happily.

elegy

A poem that laments the death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful.