Poetry Terms You Need to Know

Simile

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.

Example: The car was as slow as a snail.

Example: The fish’s scales sparkled in the sunlight like rare jewels.

Predictable Poor as a church mouse.

strong as an ox, cute as a button, smart as a fox.

thin as a toothpick, white as a ghost,

fit as a fiddle, dumb as a post. bald as an eagle,

neat as a pin, proud as a peacock,

ugly as sin. When people are talking you know what they'll say as soon as they start to

use a cliché. © 2000 Bruce Lansky

Find the similes in this poem by Bruce Lansky!

Metaphor

A metaphor is a direct comparison between two unlike things. It does not use the words like or as.

Example: Maria’s new puppy is an eating machine.

Example: The pen is a mighty sword.

Alliteration

Alliteration is when the same sound is repeated at the beginning of several words of a line of poetry or a sentence.

Example: Bobby blew ten big bubbles.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is when words are used that sound like the noises they describe.

Examples: Ding dong! Pow! Buzz! Bang!

Idiom

An idiom is a common expression that makes no sense unless you know its figurative meaning. Example: That test was a piece of cake. Example: She got a taste of her own medicine. Example: That shirt cost me an arm and a leg.

Personification

Personification gives animals or objects human qualities.

Example: That chocolate cake on the counter called out to Jose, begging him to take a bite.

Couplet

A couplet is a poem with two rhyming lines. Both have the same rhythm.

Example:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are.

Limericks

Limericks have five lines, and they are usually funny or silly. The rhyme scheme is AABBA. Example: There was a young lady whose chinresembled the point of a pin;so she had it made sharp,and purchased a harp,and played several tunes with her chin.

-Edward Lear

Hyperbole

A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement.

Example: I’m so hungry that I could eat a bear.

Concrete Poem

Concrete poems are shape poems spaced to form pictures of what the poem is about.

Autobiographical PoemAn autobiographical poem is a poem that the author

writes about himself.

Line 1: Your first name

Line 2: Four adjectives that describe you

Line 3: Son/daughter of ...., Brother/sister of ....

Line 4: Lover of (three people or ideas or a combination)

Line 5: Who feels (three sensations or emotions

Line 6: Who find happiness in (three things)

Line 7: Who needs (three things)

Line 8: Who gives (three things)

Line 9: Who fears (three things)

Line 10: Who would like to see (three things)

Line 11: Who enjoys (three things)

Line 12: Who likes to wear (three things)

Line 13: Add something you want to say

Line 14: Your last name only

Haiku

A haiku is a short poem invented in Japan. It often describes nature with very simple observations about the world around us. A haiku consists of three unrhymed lines of 5-7-5 syllables.

So many breezes

Wander through my summer room:

But never enough

Rhyme

Rhyme is a technique that creates rhythm using words with the same end sound.

Example: cat, hat, bat, rat, sat, mat, gnat

Diamonte Poem

Poem written about two opposite things in a diamond shape. Line 1—one noun (subject #1)

Line 2—two adjectives(describing subject #1)

Line 3—three participles (ending in –ing, telling about subject #1)

Line 4—four nouns (first two related to subject #1, second two related to subject #2)

Line 5—three participles (about subject #2)

Line 6—two adjectives (describing subject #2)

Line 7—one noun (subject #2)

Example of Diamonte Poem

Cat

clever, cuddly

crouching, pouncing, purring

meow, feline, canine, bark

running, sniffing, yelping

lovable, smart

Dog

Acrostic Poem

An acrostic poem uses each letter of a word to begin each line.

Elizabeth Jane Smith

Loves animals

Is a great student

Zoos are a favorite place to visit

Always tries to have a smile

Believes in being a good friend

Eats pizza and fries

Thinks that I want to be a doctor

Has a great family

Imagery

The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.

Sensory details

Sensory details appeal to the readers’ five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

“Dreams” by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.