Poetry Terms

Accent-The rhythmically significant stress in the articulation of words

Analogy-An agreement or similarity in some particulars between things otherwise different

Assonance-The relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage, thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, date and fade.

Ballad-A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain.

Couplet-Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme.

Dirge-A poem of grief or lamentation, especially one intended to accompany funeral or memorial rites.

Elegy-A poem of lament, praise, and consolation, usually formal and sustained, over the death of a particular person; also, a meditative poem in plaintive or sorrowful mood

End Rhyme-A rhyme occurring in the terminating word or syllable of one line of poetry with that of another line, as opposed to internal rhyme.

Epic-An extended narrative poem, usually simple in construction, but grand in scope, exalted in style, and heroic in theme, often giving expression to the ideals of a nation or race.

Euphemism-The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant,

Euphony-Harmony or beauty of sound which provides a pleasing effect to the ear, usually sought-for in poetry for effect. It is achieved not only by the selection of individual word-sounds, but also by their arrangement in the repetition, proximity, and flow of sound patterns.

Extended Metaphor-A metaphor which is drawn-out beyond the usual word or phrase to extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by using multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas.

Foot-A unit of rhythm or meter; the division in verse of a group of syllables, one of which is long or accented.

Form-The arrangement or method used to convey the content

Homonym-One of two or more words which are identical in pronunciation and spelling, but different in meaning, as the noun bear and the verb bear.

Internal Rhyme-a rhyme occurring within the line. 

Lyric Verse-One of the three main groups of poetry, the others being narrative and dramatic. By far the most frequently used form in modern poetic literature

Meter (metre)-A measure of rhythmic quantity; the organized succession of groups of syllables at basically regular intervals in a line of poetry

Modulation-the harmonious use of language relative to the variations of stress and pitch.

Octave-A stanza of eight lines, especially the first eight lines of an Italian or Petrarchan sonnet.

Ode-A type of lyric or melic verse, usually irregular rather than uniform, generally of considerable length and sometimes continuous

Oxymoron-The conjunction of words which, at first view, seem to be contradictory or incongruous, but whose surprising juxtaposition expresses a truth or dramatic effect, such as, cool fire, deafening silence

Quatrain-A poem, unit, or stanza of four lines of verse, usually with a rhyme scheme of abab or its variant, xbyb. It is the most common stanzaic form.

Refrain-A stanza, line, part of a line, or phrase, generally pertinent to the central topic, which is repeated verbatim, usually at regular intervals throughout a poem, most often at the end of a stanza

Rhythm-the regular or progressive pattern of recurrent accents in the flow of a poem

Sexain-A stanza of six lines, as in some fixed forms such as a sestina

Sonnet-A fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse.

Stanza-A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space, usually of a corresponding number of lines and a recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme.

Stich-A line or verse of poetry.