Print › Nielsen Poetry Vocab

alliteration: repeated sounds at the beginning of words
apostrophe: addressing an imaginary person or thing, or a person who is not there person or thing that is not present
ballad: a poem in the form of a song that tells of love or adventure
caesura: a break or pause in the middle of a line
conceit: an image or metaphor that compares one thing to something very different
couplet: a pair of rhyming lines
elegy: a poem of mourning over the loss of a person, thing, way of life, etc.
end rhyme: a pattern of rhyming words at the end of a line
enjambment: when the end of a line of poetry does not have the end of a sentence; the sentence continues into the next line
figure of speech: a verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular effect
foot: the smallest grouping of stresses in a line that repeats itself in a pattern
free verse: poetry that can be rhymed or unrhymed, but which has no specific meter
hyperbole: extreme exaggeration
internal rhyme: words that rhyme with each other inside a single line
juxtaposition: placing two things together that normally don't go together
lyric: a poem that describes a poet's feelings
metaphor: comparing two things without using "like" or "as"
meter: the pattern of a line, arranged by the number of syllables and the pattern of stresses
narrative: tells a story, using the same elements as a short story
near rhyme: words that almost rhyme, like sad and said
onomatopoeia: a figure of speech, where words imitate sounds
personification: giving living qualities to non-living things
rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhyming words at the end of lines
scansion: the analysis of a poem's meter
simile: comparing two things using "like" or "as"
stanza: a "paragraph" of poetry; separated by spaces
stress: special emphasis when saying certain syllables
symbolism: when one image represents a different idea or thing