Poetic Terms

Unlocking the poem

Alliteration

The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or any vowel sounds

in successive or closely associated syllables, especially stressed syllables

Peter Piper had a peck of pickled peppers

Shelby sells seashells by the sea shore

Rubber baby buggy bumpers

Allusion

A figure of speech that makes a brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object. It taps the knowledge and memory of the reader to secure a resonant emotional effect

Assonance

Same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds

Lake / Fate

Toad / Rope

Consonance

The relation between words in which the final consonants in the stressed syllables agree, but the words that precede them differ

Torn / Burn

Mill / Fall

Dissonance

Harsh and inharmonious sounds, a marked breaking of the music of poetry, which may be intentional

Enjambment

The continuation of the sense and grammatical construction of a line on the next verse or couplet

Hyperbole

Grand exaggeration

“I ate a million fries.”

“I died of embarrassment.”

“He slept for 100 hours.”

Image

Representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses

Metaphor

An analogy identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more of the qualities of the second

MeterThe recurrence in poetry of a rhythmic

patters, or the rhythm established by the regular occurrence of similar units of

sound

• Iambic - /• Trochaic / -• Spondaic //

• Anapestic - - /• Dactylic / - -• Pyrrhic - -

Metonymy

A figure of speech which substitutes one term with another being associated with that term

All hands on deck

The rancher owns 5000 head of cattle

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like the sound they describe

Bam! Bang!

Crash! El-Kabong!

Oxymoron

A self-contradictory combination of words

Jumbo shrimp

Long shorts

Country music

Paradox

A statement that, although seemingly contradictory or absurd, may actually be well-founded or true

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to non-human entities

Mickey Mouse A smiling dog

Thomas the Tank Engine

Any of the Toy Story movies

Rhyme

Identity of terminal sound between accented syllables, usually occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse. The correspondence of sound is based on the vowels and succeeding consonants.

Simile

A comparison of two dissimilar things using “like” or “as”

My love is like a red, red rose

Life is like a box of chocolates

He was red as a beet

Stanza

A recurrent grouping of two or more verse lines in terms of length, metrical form, and, often, rhyme scheme. Breaks are made in thought as well as form; a poet’s paragraph

Symbolism

The use of one object to represent or suggest another

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole

“The White House asked the television networks for air time next week.”

“Detroit is still hard at work on an SUV that runs on rain forest trees and panda blood.” --Conan O’Brien

Synaesthesia

Describing one sense in terms of another

Loud shirt

The smell of turquoise

Tone

The attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work