Poetry Terms

Allegory - Story that has an underlying moral or plot, all characters and elements of the story allude to the greater theme.

Alliteration - Words that start with the same letter in a row “Amazingly abstract art”

Allusion- An implied or indirect reference 

Ambiguity- When a line’s meaning can be interpreted in many different ways, when the reader can apply their own meaning.

Analogy- When two things are compared to better explain the lesser known subject

Anapest

Apostrophe- When the author of a poem directs their writing to a subject that is not alive

Assonance- Words with repeated vowel sounds

Blank Verse

Cacophony- Words that sound choppy to sound loud and bold

Caesura 

Cliche- An overused phrase, a phrase that has been overused to the point where some meaning has been lost.

Connotation- An implied meaning of a word (positive or negative usually)

Consonance- Words that sound choppy and abrupt

Dactyl 

Enjambment - When the author breaks a line in an unnatural spot/ finishes without  punctuation

Euphony- Sound that is pleasing to the ear

Free Verse 

Hyperbole- Using exaggeration to emphasize a point.

Iamb 

Metaphor- When an author compares two subjects by relating them directly to one another.

Metonymy

Paradox- Something that seems normal but cannot be true upon further examination.

Octave 

Onomatopoeia- Using “sound words” like crash or boom

Oxymoron- When two words (descriptions usually) contradict each other.

Personification- When the author describes something that is not human or alive with humanlike feelings and characteristics.

Pun - A play on words, often using the fact that many words sound the same with different meanings/ spellings

Sestet 

Simile- A comparison that uses like or as to compare subjects.

Symbol- An object that fills in and adds meanings that are commonly understood.

Synecdoche 

Trochee