| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Meter | the number and the pattern of beats (syllables) in a line of poetry |
| Rhymed verse | Poetry with both meter and rhyme. |
| Blank verse | Poetry with meter but no rhyme |
| Free verse | Poem of music without meter or rhyme |
| End Rhyme | where the rhyme occurs at the end of each line. |
| Internal Rhyme | When two or more words in the same line rhyme |
| Rhyme scheme | The pattern of end rhymes in a poem |
| Alliteration | Repetition of the same sound at the beginning |
| Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds anywhere in the phrase |
| Consonance | Repetition of the same consonant sound anywhere in a series of word |
| Onomatopoeia | A word that imitates a sound |
| Refrain | A repeating of two or more lines at the end of a stanza |
| Repetition | The restating of a word or line. |
| Oxymoron | Word or phrase made up of opposite words or phrasing. |
| Apostrophe | The act of addressing something not there |
| Hyperbole | An exaggeration |
| Litotes | An understatement (formed by using the opposite) |
| Metaphor | A comparison between two totally different things using is |
| Simile | A comparison of two totally different things using like or as |
| Personification | Giving human qualities to non-humans |
| Symbol | Something concrete that stands for something else |
| Metonymy | Substitution of one thing for something closely related |
| Synecdoche | Using a part to represent the whole |
| Stanza | Division of lines in a poem |
| Quatrain | A stanza consisting of four lines |
| Couplet | Two consecutive lines that rhyme |
| Heroic couplet | Two consecutive lines in poetry that express a complete thought in meter and that rhyme |
| Sonnet | A poem with fourteen lines |
| Italian sonnet | eight line stanza followed by a six line stanza (abbaabba- cdecde or cdccdc) |
| English sonnet | uses three quatrains each with a different rhyme (abab cdcd efef gg) |
| Haiku | Three line Japanese poem, 5-7-5 (with question and answer) |
| Poetic license | Freedom given to a poet for rhyme or meter |
| Limerick | (aabba) dirty Irish poem. |
| Epic | heroic poem involving good and evil |
| Lyric | a short poem of songlike quality |
| Antithesis | two phrases that are opposites |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace