Poetry Terms
Personification
A figure of speech in which an animal , object, or idea is given human characteristics.
The apple has a face like a human.
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Rhyme
The repetition of the same or similar sounds, usually in stressed syllables at ends of lines.
Rhythm
Musical quality created by a pattern of beats or stresses in a line of poetry.
Onomatopoeia
The use of words or phrases whose sounds suggest their meanings. The sound of the word
boom, for example,suggest an explosion.
Sound of an explosion.
End Rhyme
Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines.
Internal Rhyme
Rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry.
Stanzas
A group of lines in a poem set off by blank lines.
Symbol
A person, place, an object, or an action that stands for something beyond itself.
This could possibly be a symbol of a love poem
Simile
A comparison using like or as.
A cheetah is like a car. They are both fast when not at rest.
Metaphor
Direct comparison between two unlike
things. It does not use the words like or as.
People are mules. Very stubborn.
Hyperbole
Figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous
Effect.
Free Verse
Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme, meter, or form.
Lyric poem
Short poem that directly expresses the poet’s thoughts and emotions in a musical way.
Rhyme scheme
The sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first end sound is represented as the letter a, the
second b, etc.
Poetry
A form of writing that uses not only words,
but also form, patterns of sound, imagery,
and figurative language to convey its message.
Sound devices
Techniques used to create a sense of
rhythm or to emphasize particular sounds
In writing.
Meter
Regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables that gives a line of
poetry a predictable rhythm.
Figurative language
The use of words to create an image in
the reader's mind.
Mood
The feeling or atmosphere created by the writer.
The writer wrote this to have a funny mood.
Idiom
A phrase or expression whose meaning is
different from what the words say literally.
symbolism
A literary device where a physical object
Represents something else.
nts something else.
The dog treats may represent a person’s dog.
Repetition
A technique in which the same word or
line is repeated for emphasis or unity.
Helps to reinforce meaning and create an appealing rhythm.
.
Refrain
Stanza or line that is repeated throughout the poem.
Couplet
Rhymed pair of lines in a poem.