Poetry Jargon (Poetic Devices)
1. alliterationthe repetition of beginning consonant sounds (map – moon orknow – nap)
2. allusiona reference to a work of literature or to an actual event, person, or place which the
author expects the audience to recognize
3. apostrophefigure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman
is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply
4. caesuraa break or pause in the middle of a line caused by a mark of punctuation or
by a natural pause in breath
5. couplettwo successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by end rhyme
6. end rhymerhymes that occur at the ends of lines
7. enjambmentwhen the thought of one line of poetry runs into the next line without a break
8. extended metaphora comparison between two unlike things that is never explicitly
stated as a metaphor or simile and lasts throughout the entire poem
9. figure of speechan expression in which words are used other than their literal sense, in
order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect; a way of
saying one thing but meaning another
10. imagerythe representation of sense experiences through language
11. internal rhymea rhyme in which both of the rhyming words occur within one line
12. kenningcompound words that take the place of simpler terms in an attempt to be
more descriptive (ex. electric woodchuck instead of pencil sharpener)
13. linea row of words printed on the same line of paper
14. metaphora comparison between two things without the use of like or as
15. musethe inspiration that motivates a poet, artist, or thinker
16. onomatopoeiathe use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning with their sound
17. personificationa figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an
object, or a concept
18. quatraina four line stanza
19. refraina repeated phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form
20. repetitiona repeated word normally at some fixed position in a poem written in
stanzaic form
21. rhythmany wavelike recurrence of motion or sound
22. rhymethe repetition of important syllables
23. rhyme schemea pattern of rhyme in a poem labeled alphabetically at the ends of the lines
24. similea comparison between two essentially unlike things using like or as
25. stanzaa division in a poem named for the number of lines it contains; the most common is the quatrain
26. themethe central idea and meaning of a literary work
27. tonethe writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward his subject, his audience, or himself; the emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, of a word
28. voicethe character in the poem who is speaking