English Poetry Devices and Forms: Sonnet, Rhyme, Meter, and Figures of Speech

Sonnet

A 14-line poem typically written in iambic pentameter, with various rhyme schemes, often exploring themes of love or nature.

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, often used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse.

Elegy

A mournful poem, typically written in remembrance of someone who has died.

Villanelle

A 19-line poem with five tercets followed by a quatrain, featuring a specific rhyme scheme and repeating lines.

Iambic meter

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

Trochaic meter

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

Anapestic meter

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

Dactylic meter

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

Spondaic meter

A metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables.

Caesura

A pause in a line of poetry, often occurring in the middle of a line.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break in poetry.

End rhyme

Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines in poetry.

Internal rhyme

Rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry.

Masculine rhyme

A rhyme that ends on a stressed syllable.

Feminine rhyme

A rhyme that ends on an unstressed syllable.

Slant rhyme

A type of rhyme with similar but not identical sounds.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a series of words.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate natural sounds.

Euphony

Pleasant, harmonious sounds in poetry.

Cacophony

Harsh, discordant sounds in poetry.

Conceit

An extended metaphor that makes a striking comparison between two very different things.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Litotes

A form of understatement that uses negation to express a positive trait.

Irony

A literary device where the intended meaning is opposite to the literal meaning; includes verbal, situational, and dramatic irony.

Paradox

A statement that appears contradictory but reveals a truth.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms.