Poetry Vocabulary

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

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Meter

An object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

• Symbol

• Theme

• Diction

• Onomatopoeia

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

• Meter

• Verse

• Diction

• Ballad

A unified group of lines in poetry.

• Stanza

• Verse

• Free Verse

• Rhythm

A story/narrative in poetic form.

• Ballad

• Verse

• Free Verse

• Meter

The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.

• Rhythm

• Meter

• Metaphor

• Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text.

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Enjambment

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

• Theme

• Tone

• Diction

• Simile

The author's specific word choice.

• Diction

• Enjambment

• Verse

• Tone

The attitude of the poem's narrator takes towards a subject or character.

• Tone

• Diction

• Rhythm

• Verse