Poetry Terms and Literary Devices

A comprehensive vocabulary review of poetic forms, sound devices, rhythmic meters, and figurative language concepts.

Lyric poem

A subjective, reflective form of poetry that does not tell a story but rather expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker.

Ode

A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner, and frequently titled "Ode to _____ ".

Dramatic monologue

A lyric poem in the form of a speech by an imagined person to an audience, where the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a situation or series of events.

Elegy

A lyric poem of lament, meditating on the death of an individual.

Pastoral (AKA Idyll)

A lyric poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way.

Sonnet

A lyric poem that is 14 lines long.

Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet

A 14-line poem divided into an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde (or cdcdcd).

English (Shakespearean) sonnet

A 14-line poem composed of three four-line quatrains and a final two-line couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg, generally written in iambic pentameter.

Volta

The turn of thought in a poem, often indicated by punctuation (such as a dash or colon) or transition words.

Narrative poem

A form of poetry that tells a story, with characters, plot, conflict, and other characteristics of storytelling.

Epic

A long, dignified narrative poem that tells the story of a heroic figure, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Ballad

A narrative poem which tells a story to be sung or recited, typically in a folksy tone and style.

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words within a line of poetry.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry, placed anywhere in the word except the beginning.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds within a line of poetry, placed anywhere in the word except the beginning.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds, such as buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, and tick-tock.

Meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem.

Metrical foot

Two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem.

Scansion

The act of analyzing a poem's metrical pattern by looking for the pattern of metrical foot and identifying how many of that pattern are in a given line.

Iambic

A metrical foot of two syllables, with one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Trochaic

A metrical foot of two syllables, with one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.

Iambic pentameter

A type of meter in poetry consisting of five iambs to a line.

Free verse

Poetry with no distinct pattern of rhyme or meter, which emerged in the 1900s.

Blank verse

Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Stanza

Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem, usually of the same length and following the same pattern of meter and rhyme.

Rhyme

The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words.

Internal rhyme

Rhyme that occurs within one line of poetry.

Half rhyme (AKA Slant rhyme)

Approximate rhyme.

Enjambement

A line of poetry that rolls into the next line without punctuation that would indicate a pause.

Caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.

Euphony

When the sound of words is harmonious to the ear, often using soft consonants like L, M, N, and R, as well as longer vowel sounds.

Cacophony

When the sound of words is disharmonious or jarring to the ear, commonly using harsh consonants such as B, D, K, P, T, and G.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the expected word.

Simile

A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using the word "like" or "as".

Conceit

An extended metaphor or simile that typically spans multiple lines, an entire stanza, or an entire poem.

Metonymy

Substituting a word related to an object or person to be named in place of the name itself.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole.

Imagery

Language that appeals to one or more of the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory.

Symbolism

Using an object to suggest an idea.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis; the opposite of litotes.

Litotes

Understatement for effect.

Personification

A figure of speech in which animals, objects, or abstract ideas are given human attributes.

Apostrophe

Addressing a person or thing that is not intended to literally respond.

Allusion

A reference to an outside fact, event, or other source.

Situational irony

When something occurs that is the opposite of one's expectations.

Verbal irony

Meaning one thing and saying the opposite.

Dramatic irony

When the audience or reader knows what the character does not.

Paradox

A statement that appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basic truth.

Oxymoron

Contradictory words placed side by side for effect.

Tone

Described with an adjective, it is the writer's attitude toward the audience and/or subject.

Dramatic situation

The circumstances of a poem's speaker—to whom they are speaking, and the context in which they are speaking.