Know the Poetry Lingo

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

• alliteration

• consonance

• assonance

• onomatopoeia

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

• euphamism

• metaphor

• symbol

• enjambment

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

• meter

• rhythm

• rhyme

• idiom

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

• verse

• stanza

• paragraph

• diction

Two lines of poetry that have an AA rhyme scheme.

I will not eat green eggs and ham.

I will not eat them, Sam-I-Am!

• Couplet

• Quatrain

• Euphamism

• Enjambment

Four lines of poetry that have a rhyme scheme.

• Couplet

• Quatrain

• Stanza

• Verse

A story or narrative in poetic form. These were often sung.

• Sonnet

• Haiku

• Free Verse

• Ballad

The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry. This poetic device can make a poem sound fast, slow, choppy, or smooth.

• rhythm

• rhyme

• tone

• meter

The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of texts.

• alliteration

• assonance

• consonance

• idiom

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

• enjambement

• tone

• allusion

• theme