Poetry Terms Mrs. Denise Stanley

alliteration Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words Example: ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …’

assonance Repetition of vowel sounds

consonance Repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words

rhyme Repetition of sounds at the ends of words Example: cat, mat, fat, hat, etc.

denotation Dictionary meaning of a word Example: ‘house’ and ‘home’ could both be defined as a place to live ‘Thin’ and ‘skinny’ both mean not overweight

connotation Feelings associated with a word Example: ‘House’ and ‘home’ are defined as a place to live, but ‘home’ seems more comforting than ‘house.’ ‘Skinny’ is not as positive sounding as ‘thin.’ ‘Thin’ seems more attractive.

metaphor Makes a direct comparison between unlike objects Example: “He is a monster.” You are not saying he is like a monster or that he looks like a monster, you are saying he and the monster are one in the same.

simile Comparison of unlike objects using ‘like’ or ‘as.’ Example: “She is as pretty as a picture.” You are not saying she and the picture are one in the same. “Clouds like cotton candy floated across the sky.” -- You are not saying the clouds are cotton candy; you are saying they are like cotton candy.

onomatopoeia Use of words to imitate sounds Example: animal sounds like ‘moo,’ ‘hiss,’ ‘meow,’ etc.

personification Giving something not human, human characteristics Examples: Arms of a chair; legs of a chair; face of a clock Further example: “The sun raced across the sky.” (The sun is not human, so it cannot literally race.)

stanzas Groups of lines in a poem, considered as a unit – lines separated by white spaces

meter Regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

Iambic pentameter Line of poetry that contains five iambs. (An iamb is a metrical foot – or unit of measure – that has one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

Lines of poetry 2 lines = couplet 3 lines = tercet 4 lines = quatrain 5 lines = cinquain 6 lines = sestet 7 lines = septet 8 lines = octave

free verse Poetry that does not have a pattern or a rhyme scheme

blank verse Unrhymed poetry in a regular pattern

sonnets Poems with 14 lines with a definite rhyme scheme

narrative poetry Poem that tells a story

ballad Narrative poem that was originally meant to be sung

ode Poem with a single purpose, dealing with a single theme

elegy Poem about death or other solemn theme

epic poem Long, narrative poem

concrete poem Poem written in the shape of its subject

lyric poetry Highly musical verse that expresses observations and/or feelings of a single speaker

refrain The “chorus” of a poem (Like the “chorus” in a song … song lyrics)

tanka Five-line poem thirty-one syllables long 1st line: 5 syllables 2nd line: 7 syllables 3rd line: 5 syllables 4th line: 7 syllables 5th line: 7 syllables