Poetry Terms

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Consists of three quatrains and a climatic couplet with a new rhyme. Its typical rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-c-d-d-c-e-f-e-f-g-g.

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Shakespearean sonnet or English sonnet

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The repetition of similiar vowel sounds.

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assonance

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A two-syllable foot, the first syllable unstressed, the second stressed.

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iamb

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Four-foot lines

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tetrameter

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Five-foot lines

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pentameter

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A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.

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stanza

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A poem that consists of four lines , or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit.

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quatrain

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A pause or break within a line of poetry.

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caesura

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Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

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free verse

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Refers to rhyming words at the ends of line.

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end rhyme

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A group of five lines of verse.

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quintet

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Lines that come in pairs that often rhyme.

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couplet

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A word that imitates the sound it represents.

.."Hiss, plop, sizzle, bang".

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onomatopoeia

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The repetition of initial sounds in words and syllables...."the rifles rapid rattle"

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alliteration

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The repetition of consonants appearing within a line or at the end of words. Sometimes goes by the name dissonance, half rhyme, and oblique rhyme.

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consonance

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The most widely employed rhythmic pattern.

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iambic pentameter

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When a sentence runs on from one line or stanza to the next

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enjambment

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Like the simile, is comparing one thing to another; but says it is something...

"Stuart was a brick wall in goal."

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metaphors

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A figurative language that uses like or as to make comparisons.

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simile

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A single metaphor developed at length.

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extended metaphor

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Usages that leap to two or more illogical, inconsistent, often grotesque resemblances.

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Mixed metaphors

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A figure of speech that communicates a second meaning along with its literal meaning.

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symbol

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Word and phrases that refer to something that can be seen, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched.

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image

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Giving an inanimate object human actions or feelings." The tree shivered as its leaves fell off in the win".

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personification

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A phrase that seems self-contradictory or incompatible with reality

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oxymoron

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An apparently self-contradictory statement that under scrutiny makes perfect sense.

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paradox

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Saying less than one means or using restraint in ironic contrast to what might be said.

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understatement

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A form of understatement in which a positive fact is stated by denying a negative one.

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litotes

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An exaggeration, a useful device for poets to intensify emotions, values, physical features, the weather, or virtually anything.

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hyberbole or overstatement

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A story that adheres to no prescribed form; its purpose is to tell a tale.

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narrative poem

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Love poems, verses that declare poets' feelings for their sweethearts.

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romantic poetry

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Patterns of rhythm in poetry are based on _________.

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meter

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Fourteen line lyric poems expressing one main thought or sentiment in iambic pentameter.

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sonnet

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caesura

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A natural phrase or break in a line of poetry - usually in the middle.Can serve as a pause/change...

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Euphemism

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A word or expression used instead of saying something which might be unpleasant or...

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First Person

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Using the pronoun of 'I' often means the piece is autobiographical.As if the poet is letting...

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Onomatopoeia

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Use of words which sound like the things they describe.To further describe the scene by communicating...

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Pathetic Fallacy

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Describing a natural thing like the weather or the sea, as if it is feeling the emotion expressed...

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Ambiguity

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A word/phrase that could mean more than one thing.To get the reader thinking about the different...

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Ellipsis

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Series of marks ... that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or sentence.To...

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Sibilance

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Characterized by a hissing s, sh, z.Conjures on aural impression for the reader....

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Second person

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Means "you". Addressed directly to you, however, can be a very persuasive way of writing. Brothers and sister Maude written in second person

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Third person

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Means "he", "she", "it" or "they". The narrator of the story will usually be the writer.

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Adverb

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The students wrote quickly during the exam. (‘Quickly’ adds information about how the students wrote.) An adverb adds information to the verb. The adverb normally ends ‘-ly’.