| A | B |
|---|
| conceit | a far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things; an extended metaphor that gains appeal from its unusual or extraordinary comparison. |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis and is not to be taken literally: “rivers of blood” “sweat to death” |
| understatement | saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants. |
| pun | humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings. |
| oxymoron | A compact paradox; a figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side: bittersweet; living death; wise fool |
| paradox | A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements that nevertheless rings true upon closer examination |
| carpe diem | a Latin expression that means “seize the day”; such poems urge the reader (or the person to whom they are addressed) to live for today and enjoy the pleasures of the moment. A famous poem of this genre by Robert Herrick begins “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…” |
| pastoral | a poem, play or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepherds and shepherdesses. The term has also come to refer to an artistic work that portrays rural life in an idyllic or idealistic way |
| Petrarchan/Italian: | sonnet form divided usually between eight lines called the octave, using two rimes arranged a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, and six lines called the sestet, using any arrangement of either two or three rimes: c-d-c-d-c-d and c-d-e- c-d-e are common patterns. The division between octave usually corresponds to a division of thought. |
| Shakespearean/English: | sonnet form composed of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, riming a-b-a-b c-d-c-d e-f-e-f g-g. |
| sonnet | typically 14-line poem; from the Italian for “little song” |
| couplet | two-line stanza |
| quatrain | four-line stanza |
| sestet | six-line stanza |
| octave/octet | Eight-line stanza |
| caesura | a pause within a line of poetry |
| simile | figurative comparison between two things, using as or like, etc. |
| metaphor | figurative comparison between two things |
| slant (imperfect) rhyme | imperfect rhyme (near/dire) |
| sight rhyme | words which appear to rhyme but do not (height/weight, how/mow) |
