Poetry Terms

Consonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.

• The repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, in a chunk of text.

• The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.

• Poetry that does not rhyme or have a measurable meter.

Stanza

• Poetry that does not rhyme or have a measurable meter.

• The central meaning or dominant message the poet is trying to deliver to the reader.

• A unified group of lines in poetry. This is often marked by spacing between sections of the poem.

• The attitude the poem’s narrator (this may or may not be the actual poet) takes towards a subject or character.

Meter

• The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.

• A brief reference to a real or fictional person, event, place, or work of art.

• The measured arrangement of sounds/beats in a poem, including the poet’s placement of emphasis and the number of syllables per line.

• A single line of poetry.

Enjambment

• a line of poetry that has a strong pause or stop within a line

• Where there is a break at the end of a line, denoted by strong punctuation

• The author’s specific word choice.

• This occurs when one line ends without a pause or any punctuation and continues onto the next line.

Allusion

• A brief reference to a real or fictional person, event, place, or work of art.

• The author’s specific word choice.

• A story/narrative in poetic form

Rhythm

• A unified group of lines in poetry. This is often marked by spacing between sections of the poem.

• The attitude the poem’s narrator (this may or may not be the actual poet) takes towards a subject or character.

• The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.

• The central meaning or dominant message the poet is trying to deliver to the reader.

end-stopped line

• The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

• The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.

• Where there is a break at the end of a line, denoted by strong punctuation

• The measured arrangement of sounds/beats in a poem, including the poet’s placement of emphasis and the number of syllables per line.

Onomatopoeia

• The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

• The central meaning or dominant message the poet is trying to deliver to the reader.

• A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things without using connecting words, such as “like” or “as.”

• A word that sounds like what it means.

Assonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.

• The repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, in a chunk of text.

• The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.

• Poetry that does not rhyme or have a measurable meter.

Diction

• The measured arrangement of sounds/beats in a poem, including the poet’s placement of emphasis and the number of syllables per line.

• The author’s specific word choice.

• The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

• The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.