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:

1. Stanza: a grouping of lines in a poem

2. Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhyming

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1. Personification: the use of language that gives human qualities to things which are not human

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1. Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sound imitates its meaning

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1. Rhyme: the repetition of identical or similar sounds in stressed syllables

2. Meter: a controlled pattern of rhythm within a poem or line

3. Rhyme scheme: the pattern of the end rhymes in a poem or stanza

4. Free verse: poetry with no set meter or rhyme scheme

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1. Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds of words

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1. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words

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1. Consonance: the repetition of consonants within nearby words in which the separating vowels differ

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1. Sonnet: a fourteen-line lyric poem with formal patterns of rhyme, rhythm, and line structure

2. Allegory: a narrative or description intended to tell a story and/or teach a lesson

3. Allusion: an historical or literary reference used either explicitly or implicitly

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1. Irony: language meant to indicate an incongruity between two things, situations, or people

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1. Refrain: a repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines at a fixed position within a poem

2. Satire: ridicule, usually exaggerated, whose intention is to make the reader laugh and think

3. Theme: the major idea of a poem

4. Tone: the poet’s attitude toward his/her subject

5. Oxymoron: a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory ideas or terms