Poetry Terms

Alliteration: the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter

Analogy: a similarity or comparability between like features of two things on which a comparison may be based

Assonance: rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables or rhyming words

Consonance: a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of repose

Ballad: any light, simple song, especially one of sentimental or romantic character, having two or more stanzas all sung to the same melody

Blank Verse: unrhymed verse, especially the unrhymed iambic pentameter most frequently used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse

Figurative Language: speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect of meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech

Free Verse: verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern

Haiku:a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons

Imagery: the formation of mental images, figures or likeness of things

Lyric Poem: a short poem of song-like quality

Narrative Poem: a poem that tells a story and has a plot

Ode: a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion

Rhyme: identity in sound of some part, especially the end, of words or lines of verse

Rhythm: movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like

Shakespearean Sonnet: a sonnet form developed in 16th century England and employed by Shakespeare, having the rhyme scheme  a b a b c d c d e f e f g g

Petrarchan Sonnet: a sonnet from popularized by Petrarch, consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme  a b b a a b b a and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as  c d e c d e or c d c d c d