1. POETRY TERMS TO KNOW

2. IMAGERY
Imagery is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.

3. PERSONIFICATION Giving human qualities to animals or objects.
Example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun

4. SONNET
A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.
**Couplet: Two consecutive lines of poetry that work together.

5. HAIKU
Presents a vivid picture and the poet’s impression, sometimes with suggestions of spiritual insight.
The traditional haiku is three lines long: the first line is five syllables, the second line is seven syllables, and the third line is five syllables.

6. RHYTHM
A rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.

7. METER
Generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

8. DICTION The selection of words in a literary work.
A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values.

9. DENOTATION
Denotation is the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning. Opposite of connotation.
Example: Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (sleep).

10. CONNOTATION
Connotation is an implied meaning of a word. Opposite of denotation.
Example: Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (burial)

11. METAPHOR
Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be.”
Examples: He is a pig. My boyfriend is my knight in shining armor.
Extended Metaphor: A comparison developed over several lines of writing

12. SIMILE Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as.
Example: He eats like a pig. My boyfriend is like a knight in shining armor.

13. MONOLOGUE
A long speech delivered by a single character and directed at other characters onstage.

14. TONE
The attitude a writer takes toward the subject.

15. SPEAKER
The imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem.

16. PERSONA Mask or voice assumed by a writer.
When the poet is not the speaker of a poem, the poet is creating a persona.

17. THEME
The central message or insight into life revealed through the poem.

18. POINT OF VIEW
Vantage point from which a writer tells a story, or poem.
There are three possible points of view: omniscient, first person, and third person limited

19. MOOD
The feeling created in the reader by the poem or story.