Poetry Terms

Persona

playing a character

Speaker

Main voice of the poem; not always the author

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Quatrain

A four line stanza

Enjambment

A run-on line of poetry

Caesura

a strong pause within a line of verse (w/ end punctuation)

end rhyme

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

true rhyme

the last syllable rhyme sounds exactly the same

Slant Rhyme/Near Rhyme

Rhyme that is similar but not exactly the same.

rhyme scheme

A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

meter

the rhythm of a poem

iambic pentameter

A line of poetry that contains five iambic feet. (Unstressed/Stressed/Unstressed/Stressed)

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd

English/Shakespearean Sonnet

abab cdcd efef gg (3 quatrains and a couplet) ; 14 lines

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

euphony

pleasant, harmonious sound

cacophony

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds

figurative language

non-literal language

Hyperbole

extreme exaggeration

Personification

the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea

Allusion

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