Meaning in Poetry

A comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”

• symbolism

• personification

• metaphor

• simile

Compares two unlike things by speaking of one thing as if it were another

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• hyperbole

When nonhumans (animals, objects) are represented as being human or as having human attributes

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• hyperbole

Overstatement; extreme exaggeration for the purpose of making a point

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• hyperbole

Use of an object, person, place, or event that has both a meaning in itself and stands for something larger

• personification

• symbolism

• hyperbole

• allusion

A metaphor carried throughout the text

• allusion

• metaphor

• extended metaphor

• symbolism

An implied or indirect reference to something the reader should recognize

• symbolism

• extended metaphor

• metaphor

• allusion

Group of lines forming a unit in a poem or song, similar to paragraph in prose

• refrain

• stanza

• allusion

• symbolism

A passage repeated at regular intervals with variations, usually in a poem or song

• refrain

• stanza

Poetry not written in a regular, rhythmical pattern, or meter

• extended metaphor

• allusion

• freeverse

• soliloquy