1. Poetry Terms

2. Stanza A group of lines in a poem Considered a unit
Separated by spaces

3. Figurative Language
Writing that is not meant to be interpreted literally
Creates vivid impressions by comparing dissimilar things
Ex: metaphors, similes, personifications
Example:
The people that I love the best
jump into work head first,
Without dallying in the shallows.

4. Metaphor
A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else
Implies comparison
Example: Juliet is the sun.

5. Simile
A figure of speech that uses like or as to compare 2 unlike ideas
Examples:
John is as red as a beet.
Claire is as flighty as a sparrow.

6. Personification
The use of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics
Example:
the cry of the guitar
the laughter of the hyenas

7. Onomatopoeia The use of words that imitate sounds
Examples: whirl, thud, sizzle, hiss

8. Tone The writer’s attitude toward the Examples: formal or informal
readers and the subject
Examples: formal or informal
serious or playful
bitter or ironic
sympathetic
grieving

9. Imagery
The use of descriptive or figurative language to appeal to the reader’s senses.
Creates word pictures (images)
Uses details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement
Example: hearing ghostly marching on pavement stones

10. Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in 2 or more stressed syllables
Example: “weak and weary”

11. Speaker The imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem.
Often not identified by name
May be person, animal, thing, or abstraction
Ex: Dickinson as dead person

12. Alliteration The repetition of beginning consonant sounds
Emphasizes words, imitates sounds, creates musical effects
Example: I grew like a thin, stubborn weed, watering myself whatever way I could.

13. Allusion
A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art
Example of biblical allusion: “The Magi were wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger.”

14. Connotation
This refers to the set of ideas associated with a word in addition to its dictionary meaning
Example: Dunbar’s “caged bird” connotes sad, trapped creature
Example: “previously owned vehicle” instead of “used car”

15. Denotation The dictionary meaning of a word
Independent of other associations
Example: lake
Denotes inland body of water
Connotes vacation or fishing spot

16. Rhyme The repetition of sounds at the ends of words
Example: Poe: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered/ weak and weary.”

17. Symbol
A sign, word, phrase, image, or other object that stands for or represents something else
Object has own meaning but represents abstract ideas
Examples:
Flag symbolizes country
Scarlet ibis symbolizes Doodle and other people who struggle

18. Repetition
Use of any language element – a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence – more than once
Used for musical effects and for emphasis
Examples:
alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm repeat sounds
Refrain repeats line or lines

19. Refrain Regularly repeated line or group of lines
Seen in songs often (the chorus)

20. Rhythm The pattern of beats or stresses in language
Some poems have a specific pattern or meter
Example: There was a young lady named bright Whose speed was far faster than light
Prose and free verse use natural rhythms of everyday speech

21. Fixed Form These are stanzas with a repeated or predictable pattern
Words in each stanza may rhyme or sound alike
The length and rhythm of the stanzas are related
The number of syllables in a line can be fixed

22. Free Form or Free Verse Lacks structure or pattern Words may not rhyme
Lines do not match in number of syllables, length, or rhythm

23. Lyric Poem
This is writing that is musical verse: uses rhythm, alliteration, and rhyme
Observations and feelings of
1 speaker
Sung with lyre in ancient times

24. Sonnets A fourteen line lyric poem with a theme
Usually written in iambic pentameter
Shakespeare wrote some very famous sonnets

25. Narrative Poem This poem tells a story Examples:
“Casey at the Bat”: humorous narrative poem
Poe’s “Raven”: serious narrative poem

26. Ballad This is a songlike poem that tells a story
Often adventure and romance
Most written in 4 to 6-line stanzas, regular rhythms and rhyme schemes, often a refrain

27. Limerick This is a humorous, rhyming, five-line poem
Specific meter and rhyme scheme

28. Concrete Poem
This is a poem with a shape that suggests the subject

29. Haiku 3-line verse form 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables
2nd line has 7 syllables
Single vivid emotion with images from nature