1. Poetry Terms
Mrs. Denise Stanley

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

3. assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds

4. consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words

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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

11. 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.)

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

13. meter
Regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

14. 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.)

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

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

17. blank verse
Unrhymed poetry in a regular pattern

18. sonnets
Poems with 14 lines with a definite rhyme scheme

19. narrative poetry
Poem that tells a story

20. ballad
Narrative poem that was originally meant to be sung

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

22. elegy
Poem about death or other solemn theme

23. epic poem
Long, narrative poem

24. concrete poem
Poem written in the shape of its subject

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

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

27. 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