Acrostic A poem where vertical letters form a word.
Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant sounds: “Peter Piper Picked.”
Assonance Repetition of identical vowel sounds: "A four foot box, a foot every year."
Ballad A narrative poem, often sung, in four-line verse with dialogue.
Blank Verse Poetry in non-rhyming, ten-syllable lines.
Caesura A stop or pause in a line of poetry, usually by punctuation.
Couplet A two-line stanza.
Diction The choice of words or language used.
Dramatic Monologue A poem where an imagined speaker addresses the reader.
Elegy A slow, thoughtful poem for the deceased.
End Stopped Lines A line of poetry with a pause or stop at the end.
Enjambment Running over of sense from one line to the next without punctuation: “Small round hard stones click under my heels.”
Epigraph A quotation from another text included in a poem.
Form How a poem is structured.
Free Verse Poetry with irregular lines and often no rhyme.
Hyperbole Exaggeration to emphasize a point.
Imagery Language appealing to the senses, creating vivid mental pictures.
Lyric An emotional, rhyming poem about a specific event.
Metaphor An image where one thing is directly identified as another: “Stick is the whip.”
Ode A formal poem celebrating a person, place, object, or idea.
Onomatopoeia Words mimicking the sounds they describe.
Parody A comic imitation of another writer's work.
Personification Attributing human qualities to non-human objects.
Pun A play on words with two meanings, usually for comedy.
Quatrain A four-line stanza.
Rap A song form using poetic devices, notably language play within a strict rhythm.
Refrain A recurring line or phrase, especially at the end of a verse.
Repetition Repeating a sound, word, or phrase for effect.
Rhyme Words with matching sounds, usually at line ends.
Rhythm The movement of syllables within a line or verse.
Sestet A six-line stanza.
Simile A comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
Sonnet A fourteen-line poem, in iambic pentameter, traditionally about love.
Stanza A group of lines of verse.
Symbol Something representing something else on a deeper level (e.g., Red for passion).
Theme The subject, concerns, or ideas in literature.
Tone The feeling, mood, or attitude of a piece of writing.
Triplet A three-lined stanza.
Voice The speaker in a poem (poet’s own or a character).
Volta A turning point in a poem’s thought or argument.