English Poetry Terms

Connotations

Idea or feeling that a word evokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word

Imagery

Elements of a poem that invoke any of the 5 senses to create mental images. Specifically, using vivid or figurative languages to represent ideas, objects, or actions

Stanza

Grouping of lines separated from others in a poem

Paragraph in poetry

Verse

Line of poetry

Enjambment

Running over a sentence/phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation: opposite of end-stopped

Terminal Punctuation : Without punctuation that ends a sentence

Rhyme Scheme

Pattern of rhyming in a poem, identified with letters

End Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses

Ex. A bear, however hard he **tries**,

grows tubby without **exercise**

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme between a word within a line and another word either at the end of the same line or another line

Ex. I could spend **hours** walking in the **flowers.**

Sight Rhyme

Agreement in spelling, but not in sound

Ex. Listen to the water **flow**,

from above I don ´ t see **how**.

Couplet

A pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length

Oxymoron

Figure of speech that bring together contradictory words for effect

Ex. Jumbo Shrimp, Pretty Ugly, Bittersweet, Original copy

Paradox

A seemingly self-contradictory phrase or concept

Ex. My weakness is my strength

Repetition

The use of the same word/phrase multiple times

Allusion

Brief intentional reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, event, or movement

Ex. Your backyard is a Garden of Eden.

Chocolate cake is my Achilles heel.

Apostrophe

An address to a dead or absent person

Hyperbole

Figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration

Ex. My bagpack weighs a ton!

Figurative Language

Way of expressing oneself that does not use a word´s strict or realistic meaning

Metaphor

Comparison that is made directly or less direct

Ex. The snow is a white blanket.

Time is money

Simile

Comparison using like or as

Ex. My cat is as blind as a bat.

The dress fits like a glove.

Personification

Figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as it was a person.

Ex. The sun smiled down on us.

Justice is blind.

The wind howled in the night.

Portmanteau

Word blending the sounds and combining the meaning of two others

Ex. Spork, Brunch, Skort

Aliteration

Repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line.

Ex. Peter Piper picked a peck a pickled peppers.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants; sometimes called a vowel rhyme.

Ex. The high tide in the night sky.

Euphony

Pleasing and harmonious (soft pleasing sounds)

Cacophony

Harsh or discordant sounds

Onomatopoeia

Figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates its meaning

Ex. Boom, Click, Clack

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds with different vowel sound

Ex. The happy hippo jumped up and down