| A | B |
|---|
| Sonnet | a fourteen line poem with a single theme |
| Petrarchan sonnet | refers to the oldest form of the sonnet which is divided into an octave and a sestet, providing the ideal form for a question / answer, often abbaabba cdecde |
| Spenserian sonnet | divided into 3 quatrains and a couplet, but uses rhyme scheme to link the quatrains: abab bcbc cdcd ee |
| English (Shakespearean) sonnet | sonnet divided into 3 quatrains with a rhyming couplet: abab cdcd efef gg |
| Iambic metric foot | unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, i.e. bal-loon |
| Iambic pentameter | a line of poetry made up of five iambic feet |
| Sonnet sequence | a group of sonnets on a related theme |
| Rhyme Scheme | the pattern of rhymed lines in a poem |
| Quatrain | four line stanza, most common verse unit in English poetry |
| Octave | first eight lines of an Italian sonnet, usually abbaabba |
| Sestet | six line stanza or poem, or the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet |
| Couplet | a pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter |
| Turn or Shift | a place where the poet changes direction in a poem |
| Allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work |
| Pastoral | a type of literature that depicts pastoral life in idyllic, idealized terms |
| Extended metaphor | a figure of speech sustained through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem |
| Figurative language | language employing figures of speech; language not meant to be interpreted literally |
| Personification | a figure of speech in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics |
| Apostrophe | a rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses someone not present, a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate as if animate |
| Metaphor | a comparison without the use of like or as |
| Simile | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things by using like or as |
| Metaphysical Conceit | an unusual and surprising comparison between two seemingly unlike things by using like or as |
| Hyperbole | a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration |
| Metonymy | a figure of speech in which something closely related to a thing or suggested by a thing is substituted for the thing itself, for example, calling the king "the crown" |
| Carpe Diem | Latin phrase meaning "seize the day" |
| Speaker | the imaginary voice or persona assumed by the author of a poem |
| Satire | a kind of writing that ridicules human weakness, vice or folly in order to bring about social reform |
| Epigram | a brief, clever, usually memorable statement |
| Paradox | an apparent contradiction that is actually true; "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." |
