Poetry Terms British Literature 12/02/25

Alliteration

Repetition of beginning consonant sounds in a line of poetry

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line of poetry

Ballad

A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words in a line of poetry

Couplet

a two line stanza in a poem that usually rhymes

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Imagery

visually descriptive or figurative language that appeals to the five senses

Metaphor

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of like or as (i.e. by saying one thing IS another thing)

meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry; the rhythm of a poem

Octave

an eight-line stanza

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

Quatrain

A four-line stanza

rhyme scheme

the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines of poetry

Sestet

a six-line stanza

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as

Sonnet

a lyric poem of fourteen lines, typically featuring rhyme, meter, logical structure, and a "turn"

Stanza

A group of lines that form a unit in a poem

Tercet

a three-line stanza