Poetry Terms

Anthropormorphism

giving human characteristics to non-human things in a literal war

Ode

a formal, structure poem that praises a person, place, idea or event

Apostrophe

a literary device that involves addressing a person or thing/idea that is not present

dramatic monologue

when the speaker of a poem addresses a second silent character who is present

lyric

a short formal expression of one’s personal feelings

juztaposition

the act of placing 2 opposing elements close together

anaphora

word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of a sentence and used continuously throughout

personifciation

a literary device where human-like traits or actions are used on non-human things in a figurative way

meter

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem

sonnet

a poem of 14 lines typically written in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme

end-stopped line

is where the thought or sentence comes to a complete stop at the end of the line, market by punctuation

ballad

poem that tells a stroy with musical quality

onomatopoeia

a sound, a word thatt describes the sound or the actual sound

epic

a long poem of the adventure of a heroic figure with vast settings and formal diction

metonymy

a word or phrase that is used as a reference, in place of the actual word. the reference is not directly involved with the word it takes the place of

imagery

description, symbolism or figurative language that evokes a mental image. the five types of imagery are visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory

couplet

two lines of verse that flow when read together and form a unit or a complete thought. usually the last word of each line rhymes but that is not always the case

pun

a joke exploiting the use of homophones, homographs, and homonymys

elegy

form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief or sadness, traditionally written in response to the death of a person or a group

rhyme

repetition of sounds between 2 or more words that contain the same ending

rhythm

beat/pace of a poem with the pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables

oxymoron

figure or speech where two contradictory words appear together

paradox

statement that contradicts itself when look at it on surface level however upon further examination, a deeper meaning is revealed

allusion

a reference a white makes to a person, character, thing, or event to help depend reader’s understanding of the texta

alliteration

two or more words in the same sentence begin with the same consonanty sound (form of consonance)

cacophony

mixture of loud and unpleasant sounds, they are hard and used to emphasise violence or disorder, often

Euphony

a mixture of pleasant sounds that are rhythmic or harmonious. the repetition of the consonants l, m, n, and we are often used

simile

a figure of speech where two things are compared but are not supposed to be literally true using the words like or as

metaphor

figure of speech where something is described as something else in a way that is not literal using words like is or are

consonance

figure of speech in which the same consistent sound is within each word in a phrase or in close proximity with each other

synecdoche

figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole

hyperbole

An overly exaggerated or extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally.

blank verse

It is a verse that doesn’t have any rhyming but follows a regular meter, usually iambic pentameter.

free verse

are not written in a regular metric pattern and don’t have rhyme or other patterns.

caesura

is a pause or break in a line of poetry or verse, usually marked by a punctuation mark such as a comma, semi -colon, dash or a slash.

stanza

group of lines of poetry forming a unit; a stanza is to poetry the way a paragraph is to prose

Enjambment

moving from 1 lines of poetry to another without a terminating punctuation mark

Irony

some incongruity; a situation that ends up in a quite different way that was generally anticipated

allegory

story or image in which a character place or event in the story has a larger hidden meaning such as a life lesson moral or political idea