Poetry General Elements

Speaker 

 Stanza is s formal

division of lines in a poem 

stanza is Considered

a unit 

Stanza: Separated

by spaces 

Couplets:

two lines

 Quatrains

 

: four lines 

Speaker: Imaginary

voice assumed by poet 

Speaker: Often not

 identified by name 

Speaker: May be a

person, animal, thing, or abstraction 

Tone

Writer’s attitude to  audience and subject 

Allusion

Reference to well-known person, place, event, literary work, or art 

Usually to the Bible or to  mythology 

Connotation

Ideas or meanings associated with a word (in addition to dictionary definition) 

 

Denotation

Dictionary definition of  a word 

Independent of other associations (connotations) 

 

Paradox

Statement that seems contradictory but may be true 

Surprising, catches reader’s attention 

 

Symbol 

Object has own meaning but also represents abstract idea 

Stands for something else 

Figurative Langauge: Writing not

 

meant to interpret literally 

Figurative Lanuage: Compares

dissimilar things 

Figurative Language Creates

 

vivid impressions

Metaphor 

Figure of speech   A comparison  One thing spoken of as if  

it is something else 

 

Simile

Figure of speech, comparison 

Uses like or as to compare  two unlike ideas 

 

Imagery

• Descriptive or figurative language  

• Creates word pictures (images) 

• Details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement

Personification

• Figurative language  

• Nonhuman subject given human characteristics 

Extended Metaphor

• Writing about a subject as if it were  something else  

• Comparison several lines long or  entire poem 

Sensory Word/Langauge

• Writing that appeals to the senses -     
  images 

• Provides details related to senses 

Onomatopoeia 

Words that imitate sounds 

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in 2 or more stressed syllables 

Aliteration is

Repetition of initial consonant  sounds 

 

Aliteration Emphasizes

words, imitates sounds, creates musical effects 

Rhyme

Repetition of sounds at ends of  words 

Internal Rhyme

a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.

End rhyme

when the last syllables within a verse rhyme,

Exact rhyme

the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound as well as any consonant sounds that follow the vowel.

Slant Rhyme

similar but not identical sounds

Repetition 

Use of any language element – a sound, word, phrase, clause, or  sentence – more than once 

Repition is used for

musical effects and for emphasis 

Refrain

Regularly repeated line or group of lines 

Rhytm

Pattern of beats or stresses  

Some poems have a

specific pattern or meter 

Prose and free verse use natural 

rhythms of everyday speech 

Fixed Form : Stanzas have

repeated or  predictable patterns 

Fixed Form : Words in each stanza may

rhyme or sound alike  

Fixed Form : Length and rhythm of stanzas are

related  

Fixed Form : Number of syllables in line may be

fixed 

Free Form or Free Verse: Lacks 

structure or pattern   

Free Form or Free Verse: Words may

not rhyme   

Free Form or Free Verse: Lines do not

match in number of syllables, length, or rhythm 

Sonnet 

• 14-line lyric poem  

• Formal patterns of rhyme, rhythm and line structure 

Two types of sonnets

Shakespeare, English or Itlaian/Petrarchan

English Sonnet

3 quatrains + couplet

Italien

octave + sestet

Haiku: lines

3-line verse form  

Haiku: 1st and 3rd lines are

5 syllables

Haiku: 2nd line is

7 syllables

Haiku

• Single vivid emotion  

• Images from nature 

Lyric Poem 

• Brief poem 

• Observations and feelings of one speaker 

Lryic Poem: Musical verse uses

rhythm, alliteration, and rhyme  

Lyric Sung with

lyre in ancient times

Ballad 

• Songlike poem that tells a story 

• Often adventure and romance 

• Most written in 4 to 6-line stanzas, regular rhythms and rhyme schemes, often a refrain 

 

Limerick 

• Humorous, rhyming, five-line poem  

• Specific meter and rhyme scheme 

Concrete Poem 

• Poem with shape that suggests  subject 

.  
t  
e  
a  
r  
s 

Dramaitc Poem 

• Uses techniques of drama  

• Writer tells a story  

• Character’s own thoughts/words 

Dramatic monologue:

 1 person  speaks to silent listener