Poetry Terms

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. Example: "He was a real Romeo with the ladies." (Alludes to Shakespeare's Romeo)

Anachronism

The placement of a person, event, or thing in the wrong historical period. Example: "The medieval knight checked his wristwatch." (Wristwatches didn't exist in medieval times)

Antithesis

Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses. Example: "To err is human; to forgive, divine." (Alexander Pope)

Connotations

The associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning. Example: "Home" connotes warmth, safety, and comfort, beyond its literal meaning of a dwelling place.

Epiphany

A sudden realization or moment of insight. Example: "As he watched the apple fall, Newton suddenly understood gravity."

Exaggeration

Representing something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Example: "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate!"

Figurative language

Language that uses figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive, or impactful. Example: "Life is a roller coaster with its ups and downs."

Figure of speech

A word or phrase used in a non-literal way to create an effect. Example: "It's raining cats and dogs." (Meaning it's raining heavily)

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or humor. Example: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Imagery

Vivid descriptive language that appeals to the senses. Example: "The crisp autumn leaves crunched beneath her feet, releasing a spicy aroma."

Inversion

Reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase. Example: "Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred." (Tennyson)

Metaphor

An implied comparison between two unlike things. Example: "Her eyes were diamonds, sparkling in the sunlight."

Metonymy

Substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself. Example: "The pen is mightier than the sword." (Pen represents writing, sword represents military force)

Mood

The atmosphere or feeling evoked by a literary work. Example: "The dark, misty forest created an eerie mood."

Narration

The act of telling a story. Example: "Once upon a time, in a land far away..."

Oxymoron

A phrase that combines two seemingly contradictory terms. Example: "Deafening silence"

Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself but may reveal a deeper truth. Example: "The only constant is change."

Parallelism

The use of similar grammatical structures in a series of words or phrases. Example: "I came, I saw, I conquered." (Julius Caesar)

Personification

Giving human characteristics to non-human things or ideas. Example: "The wind whispered through the trees."

Simile

An explicit comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as". Example: "Her voice was as smooth as silk."

Understatement

Deliberately making something seem less important or serious than it is. Example: "The Black Death was a bit of a nuisance." (Referring to the devastating plague)

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words. Example: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

Assonance

Repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words. Example: "I hear the soft sigh of the waves."

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words. Example: "Pitter patter, pitter patter."

Pun

A play on words that exploits multiple meanings or similar sounds. Example: "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

Rhyme

The repetition of similar sounds at the end of words. Example: "Roses are red, violets are blue."

End rhyme

Rhyme occurring at the end of lines. Example: "The cat sat on the mat."

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of rhymes in a poem. Example: ABAB in "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate."

Internal rhyme

Rhyme occurring within a single line of poetry. Example: "The light of the night that falls from the moon."

Slant rhyme

An imperfect rhyme with similar but not identical sounds. Example: "Love" and "move"

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sound they describe.

Rhythm

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. Example: "The rhythm of the waves lulled me to sleep."

Caesura

A pause or break in a line of poetry. Example: "To be, // or not to be // — that is the question"

Meter

The rhythmic structure of a poem. Example: Iambic pentameter in "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Metrical foot

A unit of rhythm in poetry, consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables. Example: An iamb: "delight"

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Example: "In the pond"

Dactyl

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Example: "Merrily"

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Example: "Alive"

Pyrrhic

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables. Example: "to the"

Spondee

A metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables. Example: "Heartbreak"

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Example: "Tyger"

Monometer

A line of poetry with one metrical foot. Example: "Dawn"

Dimeter

A line of poetry with two metrical feet. Example: "The cat / purrs soft"

Trimeter

A line of poetry with three metrical feet. Example: "The sun / will rise / again soon"

Tetrameter

A line of poetry with four metrical feet. Example: "I wan/dered lone/ly as / a cloud"

Pentameter

A line of poetry with five metrical feet. Example: "Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum/mer's day?"

Hexameter

A line of poetry with six metrical feet. Example: "This is / the for/est pri/meval. / The mur/muring pines"

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example: "To be, or not to be, that is the question"

Free verse

Poetry that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern. Example: "The fog comes / on little cat feet." (Carl Sandburg)

Stanza

A group of lines forming a unit in a poem. Example: A group of lines in a poem, often separated by a space.

Couplet

A pair of rhyming lines. Example: "True wit is nature to advantage dressed, / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed." (Alexander Pope)

Quatrain

A stanza of four lines. Example: The first four lines of a Shakespearean sonnet.

Sestet

A stanza of six lines. Example: The last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Octave

A stanza of eight lines. Example: The first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Ballad

A narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung. Example: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Haiku

A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Example: "An old silent pond... / A frog jumps into the pond— / Splash! Silence again."

Sonnet

A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and structure. Example: Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet

A sonnet with an octave and a sestet, following the rhyme scheme ABBAABBA CDECDE. Example: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Shakespearean (English) sonnet

A sonnet with three quatrains and a couplet, following the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" by William Shakespeare.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. Example: "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; / Petals on a wet, black bough." (Ezra Pound)

Poetry

A form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings. Example: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

Symbol

An object, person, or action that stands for something beyond itself. Example: A dove symbolizing peace.

Theme

The central idea or underlying meaning of a literary work. Example: The corrupting nature of power in "Macbeth."

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject or audience. Example: The somber tone in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."

Total effect

The overall impact or impression created by a poem. Example: The overall haunting atmosphere in "The Raven."

Verse

A single line of poetry or a stanza. Example: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (from "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost).