L.a. Poetry Terminology

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Figurative Language

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writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally.

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Rhyme

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is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Poets use rhyme to lend a songlike quality to their verses and to emphasize certain words and ideas.

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Rhyme Scheme

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a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem.

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Stanza

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two or more lines of verses characterized by a common pattern of meter, and rhyme; treated as a unit and separated from other units by a space.

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Imagery

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the use of decriptions or figures of speech in writing or speech.

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Personification

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a figure of speech in which something non-human is given human qualities.

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Onomatopoeia

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the use of words thatimitate sounds.

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Refrain

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a group of words, a line or a group of lines repeated throughout a poem, usually at the end of each stanza.

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Simile

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a figure of speech in which the comparison between two unlike things is expressed directly, usually by means of "like" or "as"

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Speaker

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the imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem; the character who tells the poem.

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Metaphor

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a figure of speech in which something is decribed as tough it were something else.

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Repetition

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a literary technique in which words or phrases are repeated at regular intervals to secure emphasis.