poetry

Alliteration

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Cacophony

harsh sounds

Euphony

pleasant, harmonious sound

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase

Paradox

a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true

Personification

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

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Sibilance

a hissing sound

Acrostic

verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message

Ballad

A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

Blank verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter

Caesura

a strong pause within a line of verse

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Elegy

a sad or mournful poem

End rhyme

Rhyme that occurs at the end of two or more lines of poetry

End-stopped

a line with a pause at the end

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza

Epic

A long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds

Eye-rhyme

rhyme that appears correct from spelling but does not rhyme because of pronunciation

Free-verse

Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

Haiku

A japanese form of poetry, consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables

Limerick

A five line poem in which lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme and lines 3 and 4 rhyme

Lyric

a short poem of songlike quality

Metaphysical

Concerned with abstract thought, related to metaphysics (branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of being and of the world); very subtle or abstruse

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Ode

A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject

Pastoral

A work of literature dealing with rural life

Rhyme

Repetition of sounds at the end of words

Rhyme royale

A 7 line poem rhyming ababbcc

Rhythm

A strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound

Sestina

39-line poem with a specific formula

Shift

changing in the speakers tone

Slant rhyme

rhyme in which the vowel sounds are nearly, but not exactly the same ( the words "stress" and "kiss"); sometimes called half-rhyme, near rhyme, or partial rhyme

Sonnet

a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem

Trilet

3 lines per stanza

Quatrain

4 line stanza

Quintet

5 lines per stanza

Sestet

6 lines per stanza

Septet

7 line stanza

Octave

8 line stanza

Spenserian

9 line stanza

Ottava rima

an eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem

Envoy

a short stanza at the end of a poem such as ballad used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem

Terza rima

a verse form with a rhyme scheme: aba bcb cdc, etc

Verse

A single line of poetry

Villanelle

pastoral or lyrical poem of 19 lines

Polyptoton

repetition of words derived from the same root