Poetry Literary Terms/Poems + Poets

Perfect Rhyme

the repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables

Onomatopoeia

the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning

Extended Metaphor

a metaphor that is extended or developed over a number of lines or several examples

Conceit

an elaborate metaphor or other figure of speech that compares two things that are startlingly different

Paradox

a statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth

Petrarchan Sonnet

(Italian sonnet) First eight lines, called an octave, ask a question or pose a problem; the last six lines, called the sestet, respond to the problem.

Iambic Pentameter

a line of poetry that contains five iambic feet

Iamb

unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Meter

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Foot

a metrical unit of poetry

Spondee

a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are stressed

Theme

the insight about human life that is revealed in literary work

Inversion

The reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase

Apostrophe

a direct address to someone or something that is not present

Catalog

A list of things, people, or events

Parallelism/Parallel Structure

the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures

Free verse

poetry that does not conform to regular meter or rhyme scheme

Cadence

the natural rhythmic rise and fall of a language as it is normally spoken

Irony

in general, a discrepancy between appearances and reality

Tone

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience

Rhyme/Exact Rhyme

the repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables

Slant Rhyme

words that have some correspondence in sound but not an exact one

Imagery

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience

Diction

A speaker’s or writer’s choice of words

Style

the distinctive way in which a writer uses language

Syntax

the way words are arranged in a sentence

Synesthesia

The juxtaposition of one sensory image with another image that appeals to an unrelated sense

Allusion

a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture

Ambiguity

a technique by which a writer deliberately suggests two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work

Connotation

The associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition

Mood

the overall emotion created by a work of literature

Personification

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Huswifery

Edward Taylor

To my Dear and Loving Husband

Anne Bradstreet

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Cross of Snow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Chambered Nautilus

Oliver Wendall Holmes

Thanatopsis

William Cullen Bryant

I Hear America Singing

Walt Whitman

Song of Myself-I

Walt Whitman

Because I could not stop for death

Emily Dickinson

The soul selects her own society

Emily Dickinson

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

This is Just to Say

William Carlos Williams

what if a much of a which of a wind

e.e. cummings

somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond

e.e. cummings

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost

Mending Wall

Robert Frost

Harlem

Langston Hughes

America

Claude McKay