Poetry Terminology

A figure of speech that uses like or as to compare two unlike ideas: Good as gold, Spread like wildfire, etc.

• denotation

• metaphor

• simile

• connotation

A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else.

• metaphor

• simile

• hyperbole

• personification

The imaginary voice a poet uses when writing a poem. The speaker is the character who tells the poem.

• denotation

• connotation

• personification

• speaker

The use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.

• symbolism

• personification

• connotation

• simile

The literal or dictionary meanings of a word.

• connotation

• speaker

• denotation

• metaphor

A meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly.

• personification

• onomatopeia

• hyperbole

• connotation

The regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem: AABBA, ABACDC, etc.

• metaphor

• stanza

• rhyme scheme

• connotation

Writing or speech that appeals to one or more of the 5 senses.

• rhythm

• sensory language

• annotation

• symbolism

The repetition of initial consonant sounds: She shares sushi in the show.

• Alliteration

• stanza

• onomatopeia

• rhyme scheme

The use of words that imitate sounds: buzz, screech, hiss, bang, pow, boom, etc.

• alliteration

• stanza

• connotation

• onomatopeia