Glossary of Poetry Terms
Glossary of Poetry Terms
a. Find examples of the poetry terms below. You only need to find the terms followed by a blank line. You will be quizzed on all the terms:
Stanza: a grouping of lines in a poem
Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhyming
________________________________________________________________________
Personification: the use of language that gives human qualities to things which are not human
________________________________________________________________________
Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sound imitates its meaning
________________________________________________________________________
Rhyme: the repetition of identical or similar sounds in stressed syllables
Meter: a controlled pattern of rhythm within a poem or line
Rhyme scheme: the pattern of the end rhymes in a poem or stanza
Free verse: poetry with no set meter or rhyme scheme
________________________________________________________________________
Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds of words
________________________________________________________________________
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words
________________________________________________________________________
Consonance: the repetition of consonants within nearby words in which the separating vowels differ
________________________________________________________________________
Sonnet: a fourteen-line lyric poem with formal patterns of rhyme, rhythm, and line structure
Allegory: a narrative or description intended to tell a story and/or teach a lesson
Allusion: an historical or literary reference used either explicitly or implicitly
________________________________________________________________________
Irony: language meant to indicate an incongruity between two things, situations, or people
________________________________________________________________________
Refrain: a repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines at a fixed position within a poem
Satire: ridicule, usually exaggerated, whose intention is to make the reader laugh and think
Theme: the major idea of a poem
Tone: the poet’s attitude toward his/her subject
Oxymoron: a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory ideas or terms