Poetry Terms

a rhetorical device involving contradictions of expectation or knowledge and divided into three primary types: verbal, situational, and dramatic.

rhyme in the middle of the line and not at the end

a four-line stanza, or unit of four lines of verse, rhymed or unrhymed. - shakespeare

an object or action that stands for something beyond itself.

the continuation of a sentence or clause across one poetic line break.

the implied or suggested meaning associated with a word or phrase.

the repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginnings of words.

poetry that engages with, describes, or considers the natural world.

a six-line stanza, or unit of six lines of verse, or the final six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet, rhymed or unrhymed.

the repetition of similar consonant sounds.

the use of language that sounds like the thing or action it describes.

a rising meter form consisting of five pairs of unstressed and stressed or accented syllables as five iambic feet per line.

a rhyme formed with words with similar but not wholly identical sounds; also called an off rhyme, half rhyme, and imperfect rhyme.

two line stanza

an eight-line stanza, and also refers to the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet, usually in iambic pentameter and with a rhyme scheme. - petrarchan

a comparison between essentially unlike things, or the application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally applicable.

extended metaphor

a poem also known as a dramatic monologue in which the poet assumes the voice of another person, fictional character, or identity.

rhetorical shift that marks the change of a thought or argument in a poem.

a comparison between two essentially unlike things using words “such as,” “like,” and “as.”

a fourteen-line poem traditionally written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization.

a reference to a person, event, or literary work outside the poem.

poet gives human characteristics to nonhuman things

language in a poem representing a sensory experience, including visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory.

a pause for a beat in the rhythm of a verse, often indicated by a line break or by punctuation.

a grouping of lines that forms the main unit in a poem.

a literary device that conveys the author’s attitude toward the subject, speaker, or audience of a poem.

the structure of a poem, including its line lengths, line breaks, meter, stanza lengths, and rhyme scheme.

exaggeration for emphasis.

a three-line stanza, or unit of three lines of verse, rhymed or unrhymed.

the arrangement of language and order of words used to convey the poem’s content.

a narrative or visual representation with an underlying meaning, moral message, or political significance.

3 quatrains. Ends in a couplet

Octave and Sestet