Poetry Techniques

Form and Structure- ENJAMBMENT

sentence flows beyond the line break (creates urgency or fluidity).

Form and Structure- CAESURA

a pause in the middle of a line (often using punctuation; adds tension or emphasis).

Form and Structure- END STOPPED LINE

when a line ends with punctuation (creates finality or order).

Form and Structure- FREE VERSE

no fixed rhyme or metre (common in Modernism and Confessional).

Form and Structure- IAMBIC PENTAMETER

10-syllable line with alternating stresses (often in sonnets).

Form and Structure- VOLTA

a “turn” in the poem, often emotional or argumentative (especially sonnets).

Form and Structure- STANZA

a group of lines forming a unit (different stanza types affect tone and pace)

Sound and Rhythm- ALLITERATION

repetition of consonant sounds (emphasises key ideas or builds rhythm).

Sound and Rhythm- ASSONANCE

repetition of vowel sounds (creates internal music).

Sound and Rhythm- CONSONACE

repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words.

Sound and Rhythm- ONOMATOEPIA

words that sound like their meaning.

Sound and Rhythm- SIBILANCE

repetition of ‘s’ sounds (can be soothing or sinister)

SOUND AND RHYTHM- Rhyme scheme

pattern of end rhymes (e.g. ABAB, AABB, etc.).

Sound and Rhythm- METER

the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (e.g. trochaic, anapaestic).

Imagery and Language- METAPHOR

direct comparison without “like” or “as”.

Imagery and Language- SIMILIE

Simile – comparison using “like” or “as”.

Imagery and Language- PERSONIFICATION

giving human qualities to non-human things.

Imagery and Language- SYMBOLISM

one thing stands in for another (e.g. rose = love).

Imagery and Language- CONCEIT

extended or surprising metaphor (esp. Metaphysical poetry).

Imagery and Language- LEXICAL FIELD

group of words related by topic or theme.

Imagery and Language- AMBIGUITY

language with multiple meanings (important for AO5 interpretations).

Imagery and Language- JUXTAPOSITION

placing contrasting ideas close together.

Imagery and Language- IRONY

saying one thing but meaning another (common in Larkin, Browning, etc.).

Tone and Narrative- DRAMATIC MONOLGUE

speaker reveals character through speech (Browning).

Tone and Narrative- FIRST PERSON/THIRD PERSON

Point of view

Tone and Narrative- Unreliable narrator

voice that may distort or conceal the truth.

Tone and Narrative- EPIPHANY

sudden moment of insight (common in Romantic and Modernist poetry).

Tone and Narrative- ELEGY

poem of mourning or reflection on death.

Tone and Narrative- ODE

formal address to a subject (e.g. nature, art, emotion).

Blazon

listing a lover’s features (Petrarchan tradition).

Anaphora

repetition at the beginning of lines (emphasises obsession or pleading).

Hyperbole

deliberate exaggeration (often in romantic or passionate poems).

Euphemism

softened or indirect expression (often used for sex or death).