Poetic Terms

association

words connected to each other by some form of meaning that relate to something

atmosphere

the overall mood or tone of a poem

audience

the group of people who listen to or view a creative product and for which the poem is intended

emotion

a strong feeling pertaining to the senses

interpretation

the process of evaluating and analysing the stylistic representation and meaning of a creative product

meaning

what is meant by a word and the collective understanding of a subject

mood

the emotional undertone that an author conveys in a work

purpose

the intended use behind an author's product while meaning deals with the poem's content and message

rhythm

the beat and pace of a poem. The rhythmic beat is created by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line

style

the way in which an author uses language to convey their ideas and create a unique voice and tone

connotative diction

the emottion or association that a word may arouse

allusion

reference to a person, place, thing in a work of literature

connotation

an idea which a word invokes for a person in addition to its primary meaning

adjective

words that describe the qualities or states of a noun or pronoun

alliteration

repetition of an initial consonant sound in words that are in close proximity to each other

caesura

a pause in a line of poetry that is formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than by metrics

couplet

a pair of consecutive lines of poetry that create a complete thought or idea

enjambement

the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next

imagery

the author's use of description and vivid language, deepening the reader's understanding of the work, by appealing to the senses

metaphor

a figure of speech that describes an object in a way that isn't literally true

narrator

the person who tells the story

onomatopoeia

a word that actually looks like the sound it makes