Poetry Terms

Name: ______Period:______Date:______

Poetic Techniques--Sound

  1. Alliteration: Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of the word.

example--"PeterPiperpicked a peck of pickledpeppers"

  1. Assonance: Repeated Vowel sounds.

example--"The Junemoonloomed over the horizon"

  1. Consonance: Consonance is similar to alliteration, because it involves the same consonant being repeated several times close together. However, this time the consonant can be throughout the word, not just at the beginning of the word.

example: “She sellsseashellsby the seashore.”

  1. Couplet: A two-lined rhyming poem or two lines in a poem that rhyme.
  1. Internal rhyme: When two or more words in the same line of a poem rhyme, that line is said to have internal rhyme.

example--The first line of “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe reads, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.” Dreary and weary rhyme, meaning this line of poetry has internal rhyme.

  1. End rhyme: This term can refer to two things: rhyming lines of poetry and rhyming words. When two or more lines of poetry end with a rhyming word, that is considered an end rhyme. Also, two words that rhyme on their last syllable, such as “showers” and “flowers,” are said to have end rhyme.
  2. Meter: A rhythm that continuously repeats in a predictable pattern.
  1. Onomatopoeia: Words that, when said, sound like the sound they make.

example--"The fire crackled and the popcorn popped."

  1. Rhyme Scheme: The pattern created by rhyming the words at the end of a poem line. The pattern is labeled with letters. Rhyming words get the same letter. The following rhyming scheme is AABB:

example-- Bee A

See A

Bend B

Send B

  1. Rhythm: The poem’s sounds (ordered and predictable, conversational) cue the

reader as to how to pace the reading of the poem.

Poetic Techniques--Meaning

  1. Allusion: When the author refers to a person, place, thing, or event that should be common knowledge.

example: She is as pretty as the Mona Lisa.

  1. Foreshadow: Hints about what may or may not be happening in the text.
  1. Idiom: A commonly used expression that has a figurative meaning, not a literal one.

example: “It’s raining cats and dogs” means that it is raining heavily.

  1. Hyperbole: An extreme exaggeration.

example--"My backpack weighs a ton!"

  1. Imagery: Descriptive language that creates pictures in the reader’s mind is known as imagery. Certain words and comparisons are used to help the reader ‘see’ what’s going on and evoke a certain mood or emotion.
  2. Irony:

Verbal Irony—The difference between what is said and what is meant. (sarcasm)

Situational Irony—A real life situation that comes out the opposite of what is

expected.

Dramatic Irony—When you know something that the person in the situation does

not.

  1. Metaphors: Various kinds of comparison that say one thing “is” another.

example-- “The moon is a flashlight brightening the night sky.”

  1. Personification: Making an inanimate object act like a person.

example--"The tree limbs danced in the wind."

  1. Repetition: Often in poetry a word or phrase is repeated in order to emphasize a certain idea or image. Repetition may also help give structure to the poem, the same way the repeated chorus in a song gives it a predictable structure.

example--“To be or not to be” repeats the phrase “to be” twice, giving it greater emphasis.

  1. Simile: A comparison using "Like" or "as".

example--"She floated in like a cloud."

  1. Symbolism: Something represents a completely different thing or idea.

example—The American Flag represents freedom.

Structure of Poetry

  1. Stanza: A group of lines forming a unit in a poem. Stanzas are like the paragraphs of a poem.