Poetic Terms

Alliteration

repetition of similar initial consonant sounds

Assonance

repetition of similar vowel sounds

Consonance

repetition of similar consonant sounds that aren’t initial

Euphony

words that sound pleasant and melodious

Cacophony

words that sound harsh or difficult

Onomatopoeia

a word that phonetically imitates or suggests the sound that it describes

End Rhyme

rhyme that occurs at the ends of two or more lines, though not necessarily consecutive lines

Internal Rhyme

a rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than only at the ends of multiple lines

Simile

 indirect comparison of two unlike things using like, as, than, etc.

Metaphor

direct comparison of two unlike things

Personification

a type of metaphor in which a non-human object or creature is given human characteristics

Extended Metaphor

a direct comparison carried through multiple lines or stanzas or the whole poem

Conceit

a metaphor using two extremely dissimilar things, extending the comparison over a passage or even the whole poem. The unusual nature of the comparison gives the reader a new way of looking at the subject and a deeper understanding of it.

Symbol

a thing (object, color, person, etc.) that represents something larger than itself

Synecdoche

 using a part to represent a whole

Metonymy

using a word associated with something instead of the actual word

Hyperbole

intentional exaggeration for effect

Allusion

a reference to a literary, mythological, or historical event, place, or person

Apostrophe

a rhetorical device where a character or speaker addresses something or someone who cannot respond

Rhythm

the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables

Meter

a regular, repeated pattern of rhythm

Iamb

a common metric foot consisting of two syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed

Trochee

a common metric foot of two syllables, the first stressed and the second unstressed

Anapest

a common metric foot of three syllables, the first two unstressed and the third stressed

Dactyl

a common metric foot of three syllables, the first stressed and the next two unstressed

Iambic Pentameter

a meter using five iambs (a unit of rhythm with two syllables, unstressed then stressed) in each line.

Blank Verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Free Verse

poetry that uses neither rhyme nor meter

Refrain

a word or group of words that is repeated, usually at the end of a stanza

Couplet

a pair of rhymed lines

Heroic Couplet

a pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter

Stanza

a series of lines grouped together as a unit within a poem

Tercet

a stanza with three lines. The lines need not rhyme, but they often do.

Quatrain

a stanza with four lines. The lines need not rhyme, but they often do.

Sestet

a stanza with six lines. The lines need not rhyme, but they often do.

Octave

a stanza with eight lines, usually written in iambic pentameter. The lines need not rhyme, but they often do.

Sonnet

a poem of fourteen rhyming lines, in English typically using iambic pentameter. 

Caesura

a pause somewhere in the middle of a line, often shown by a gap (especially in Anglo-Saxon poetry) or a punctuation mark like a dash

End-Stopped Line

a line with a pause at the end, indicated by a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark

Enjambment

continuation of sense and grammatical construction from one line to the next

Diction

the writer’s choice of words

Syntax

the writer’s ordering of words into patterns or sentences

Didactic

intended to teach a lesson

Elegy

a poem with a mournful subject or tone

Imagery

writing that appeals to any of the five senses

Style

the way in which a writer expresses language

Theme

the message expressed in a work

Tone

 the way in which a writer expresses an attitude