| A | B |
|---|
| alliteration | the repetition of sounds at the beginnings of words and of sounds within words |
| allusion | a short reference to a person, a place, an event, or another work of literature |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| caesura | the pause or break in a line of poetry, usually created by punctuation |
| conceit | a lengthy, unusual comparison, often extended throughout an entire poem |
| concrete poem | a poem whose shape reflects an idea or image; a poem that draws its impact from its visual appearance |
| consonance | repetition of ending consonant sound |
| couplets | two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme |
| dramatic monologue | a long speech by one character in a play or poem, usually revealing the character's thoughts |
| enjambment | a run on line; a line of poetry that has no pause at the end but flows into the next line |
| free verse | poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that avoids a predetermined verse structure |
| iamb | a poetic foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: U / |
| Imagism | an influential literary movement that took place in Europe and America from about 1910 to 1920 that emphasized the use of concrete images |
| irony | the awareness by author, character, or reader of a contrast or difference between the way things seem and the way they really are |
| juxtaposition | the placement side by side of something for impact and contrast |
| metaphor | comparison between two unlike things saying one thing is the other |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words with sounds that suggest their meanings |
| pathetic fallacy | attributing human feelings to things nonhuman |
| repetition | a device used to emphasize the importance of words and ideas particularly in persuasive writing and poetry |
| rhyme scheme | the pattern of end rhymes in a poem. They rhyme scheme is determined by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyming sound |
| simile | a comparison between two things using like or as |
| speaker | the voice of the poem, sometimes of the poet, sometimes that of a fictional person or even a thing |
| stream of consciousness | a technique of writing that imitates the flow of thoughts, feelings, images, and memories through the mind of a character in a work of fiction |
| tone | the attitude the writer takes toward a subject |
| typography | how the print is set on the paper; margins, spacing, font, style, which can add meaning to the poem |
