English Poetry terms

• Allegory


  An extended metaphor in which the details of the narrative carry some sort of deeper meaning, often with religious or ethical undertones.
• Alliteration


  The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of several words throughout one or more lines for rhythmic effect.
• Allusion


  An indirect reference to something else, often treated as a throwaway line, usually acts to contextualize a moment or situation.
• Anaphora


  Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive lines or statements for emphasis.
• Assonance


  The repetition of a vowel sound throughout one or more lines for rhythmic effect.
• Blank Verse


  Poems that are metered but not rhymed.
• Cadence


  The natural rhythm that occurs in speech or nonmetered poetry.
• Consonance


  The repetition of consonant sounds throughout one or more lines, but not necessarily at the beginning of each word (see: Alliteration).
• Elegy


  A melancholic poem that mourns a recent death but usually ends on an uplifting note.
• Found Poetry


  A type of poetry in which words and phrases from other sources will be reframed into a new poem.
• Free Verse


  Poetry that is not obligated to any particular form. Often considered the antithesis to formal poetry, free verse has no particular rhyme or meter.
• Haiku


  A popular form of short poem that has three lines. These lines have 5 syllables, then 7, then 5 again.
• Hyperbole


  A phrasing that is purposely written to be absurdly exaggerated. Usually used to express emphasis or the passion of the speaker.
• Imagery


  The use of descriptive, concrete images in poetry to facilitate visualization in the reader.
• Invocation


  Also called "invocation of the muse." A tradition that started with the Greek performing arts in which a poem or drama will begin with an explicit statement inviting inspiration to the writer or performer.
• Metaphor


  A comparison between two, unlike things or concepts that do not use comparative words in the statement, often using the various "to be" verbs instead.
• Meter


  Refers specifically to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a formal poem.
• Motif


  A central idea or common setting that connects the work to a wider genre or literary conversation.
• Ode


  A poem dedicated entirely to a specific person, event, or topic, almost always in sobering reverence.
• Onomatopoeia


  A subset of words that were specifically made to describe a sound.
• Oxymoron


  Using contradictory words together in a phrase to achieve a unique literary impact.
• Palindrome


  A word or phrase in which reversing the order of the letters would reveal the same letters in the same order.
• Personification


  Humanizing a non-human subject to exploit relatability.
• Repetition


  Though usually avoided in prose, repeated words or phrases are used frequently in poetry to express importance or emphasis.
• Rhyme


  When two words share the same end sound.
• Simile


  A comparison between two unlike things or concepts that specifically uses comparative words (like, as, so, than, etc.) in the statement.
• Stanza


  One set of lines in a poem. A poem with multiple sets of lines will typically divide its stanzas with line breaks.
• Theme


  The message, moral, or underlying idea that the poem keeps connecting back to in its details or implications.
• Line breaks are used to separate lines of poetry, and are indicated by a line break character (LBR)
• Line in poetry: A line of poetry is a group of words that are separated by spaces.
• rhythm in poetry: the repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line. 
• symbolism poetry: the use of symbols to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
• couplet in poetry: two lines of verse that rhyme and have a similar structure
• Irony:A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used