POETRYTerms

Poetry

a type of literature in which ideas and feelings are expressed in compact, imaginative, and often musical language. Written in lines, which may contain patterns of rhyme and rhythm and are grouped into stanzas

Figurative Language

presents ordinary things in fresh ways, communicating ideas that go beyond words’ ordinary meanings

Simile

a comparison between two things that share a similar characteristic that contains the words like or as

Example: “strong as steel”

Metaphor

a comparison between two things that share a similar characteristic that do not contain the words like or as

Example:“My father is a tall, sturdy, oak”

Personification

giving human qualities to an animal, object, or idea

Example:“the breeze caressed her cheek.”

Hyperbole

a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect

Idiom

A phrase or expression which means something different from what the words actually say

http://www.idiomsite.com/

Sound Devices

a technique used by poets to make their writing sound more musical and pleasant to the reader

Rhyme

the likeness of sounds at the ends of words

End Rhyme

the use of rhyming words at the end of lines

Example: “The baby bat cried out in fright;Turn on the dark, I’m afraid of the light!” (Shel Silverstein)

Internal Rhyme

the use of rhyming words within a line of poetry

Example:“Jack Sprat could eat no fatHis wife could eat no leanAnd so betwixt the two of themThey licked the platter clean”

Rhyme Scheme

the pattern of end rhyme in a poem

Shakespearean sonnets: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Rhythm

the pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Repetition

a technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis

Assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in a line of poetry

Example: “Till the shining scythes went far and wide, And cut it down to dry”

Alliteration

the repetition of an initial consonant sound

Example: “Little Larry leaped over the lounging leopards”

Consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds in a line of poetry

Example:“The sailor sings of ropes and thingsIn ships upon the seas”

Onomatopoeia

the use of a word whose sound makes you think of its meaning

Example: “Crash! The plate fell on the floor and shattered.”

Symbolism

using a person, place, an object, or an action to stand for something beyond itself

Imagery

words and phrases that appeal to readers’ five senses

Theme

the meaning, moral, or message about life or human nature that is communicated by a literary work.