Poetic Terms And Devices

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Accent

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The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable it word

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Acrostic

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A descriptive prom where the first letter of each line forms a word or sentence when read downwards.

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Alexandrine

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A line of poetry that has 12 syllables

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Alliteration

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The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words

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Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

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Allusion

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A reference to a historical, mythic or literary person, place, event, move tn or quote etc

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Ambiguity

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The possibility that a word or phrase has several meanings

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Anapest

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A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed).

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Antithesis

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A figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meaning are balanced against each other.

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Assonance

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The repetition of a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds.

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Ballad

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A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.

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Blank verse

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Originally poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

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Caesura

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A natural pause or a break in the line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line

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Cinquain

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A poetic form of 22 syllables in 5 lines, in the format 2-4-6-8-2. A good cinquain will flow from beginning to end rather than sound like 5 separate lines

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Classicism

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The principles and ideals of Beaty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture and literature

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Conceit

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A fanciful poetic image or metaphor that like a one thing to something else that is seemingly very different.

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Consonance

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The repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words

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Couplet

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In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought

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Dactyl

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A metrical foot of three syllables, one long (or stressed) followed by two short (or unstressed)

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Dirge

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A brief funeral hymn or song

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Dissonance

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Cacophony or harsh sounding language

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Doggerel

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Bad verse, often characterised by cliches, incomprehensible to, clumsy expression and irregular metre

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Elegy

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A poem that laments the fear of a person or one that is simply sad and thoughtful

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Enjambment

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The continuation of a complete idea from one line or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause

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Envoy/ Envoi

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The shorted final stanza of a poem, usually with a moral or summary statement

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Epic

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A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure

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Epigram

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A very short, witty poem

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Epigraph

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A quotation, taken from another literary work, that is placed at the start of the poem as a title and intended as an introduction

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Epitaph

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Similar to the epigram, but composed as a tribute to a deceased person, similar to an inscription on a gravestone

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Feminine rhyme

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A multi syllable rhyme that ends with one or more unstressed syllables

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Fib

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A six line poem in which the number of syllables per line follow the Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3,5,8

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Figure of soeech

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A verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular affect. Figures of speech are organised into different categories

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Foot

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Two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem

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Free verse/ vers libre

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Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter

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Gnomic verse

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Poems laced with proverbs, didactic sayings or maxims

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Haiku

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A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables.

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Heptameter

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A line of poetry that has seven metrical feet

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Hymn

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A song of praise, usually religious

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Heroic couplet

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A stanza composed of two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter

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Hexameter

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A line of poetry that has six metrical feet

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Hyperbole

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A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis.

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Iamb

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A metrical foot of two suyllables, one short and one long.

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Iambic pentameter

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A type of meter in poetry, in which there are five iambs to a line

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Idyll/ Idyl

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Either a short poem depicting a peaceful, idealised country scene or a long poem that tells a story about heroic deeds or extraordinary events set in the distant past

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Image

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An expression that describes a literal sensation whether of hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and feeling, though also used generally to mean a symbol or metaphor

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Irony

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Stating something by saying another quite different thing, sometimes it's opposite.

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Lay

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A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouvéres

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Limerick

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A light, numerous poem of five usually anapaestic lines with the rhyme scheme of aabba

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Litotes

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A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating it's opposite

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Lyric

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A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet

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Masculine rhyme

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A rhyme that occurs in a final stressed syllable

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Metaphor

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A figure of speech in which two things are compared usually by saying one things is another or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected

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Meter/ Metre

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The arrangement of a line poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented syllables

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Metonymy

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A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

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Narrative

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Telling a story. Ballads, epics and lays are different kinds of narrative poems

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Neologism

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A newly coined or invented word

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Ode

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A lyric poem that is serious and thoughtful in tone and has a very precise, formal structure.

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Onomatopoeia

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A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds

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Oxymoron

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An expression impossible in fact but not necessarily self contradictory

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Palindrome

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A word or phrase which reads the same forwards and backwards

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Parody

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A send up of another work or of a well known person event or situation, not necessarily uncomplimentary

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Pastrol

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A poem the depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealised way

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Pentameter

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A line of poetry that has five metrical feet

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Personification

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An anthropomorphic figure of speech in which nonhuman things or abstract ideas are given human attributes

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Quatrain

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A stanza or poem of four lines

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Quintain

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A stanza or poem of five lines such as a limerick

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Rhyme

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The occupancy of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words

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Rhythm

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The metrical pattern maintained through the verse often following the natural patters of speech or the musical patterns of song

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Romanticism

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The romantic movement in literature and the arts during the late 18th and early 19th centuries

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Scansion

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The analysis of a poems meter