| A | B |
|---|
| Lyric | subjective, reflective poetry with rhyme scheme and meter that reveals the poet's thoughts and feelings to create a single, unique impression |
| narrative | nondramatic, objective verse with regular rhyme scheme and meter that relates a story or narrative |
| sonnet | a rigid 14 line verse form, with variable structure and rhyme scheme according to type. (Shakespeare/Italian) |
| Ode | elaborate lryic verse that deals seriously with a dignified theme |
| blank verse | unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter |
| free verse | unrhymed lines without regular rhythm |
| Epic | a long, dignified narrative poem that gives the account of a hero important to his nation or race |
| dramatic monologue | a lyric poem in which the speaker tells an audience about a dramatic moment in his/her life and, in doing so, reveals his/her character |
| elegy | a poem of lament, meditating on the death of an individual |
| ballad | simple, narrative verse that tells a story to be sung or recited; the folk ballad is anonymously handed down, while the literary ballad has a single author |
| idyll | lyric poem describing the life of the shepherd in pastoral, bucolic, idealistic terms |
| villanelle | a french verse from, strictly calculated to appear simple and spontaneous; five tercets and a final quatrain, rhyming aba aba aba aba aba abaa |
| light verse | a general category of poetry written to entertain, such as lyric poetry, epigrams, and limmericks. It can also have a serious side, as in parody or satire |
| haiku | japanese verse in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables often depicting a delicate image |
| limerick | humorous nonsense-verse in five anapestic lines rhyming aabba, a-line being trimeter and b-line being diameter |
| rime | old spelling of rhyme, which is the repetition of like sounds at regular intervals, employed in versification, the writing of verse |
| internal rhyme | rhyme contained within a line of verse |
| rhyme scheme | pattern of rhymes within a unit of verse; in analysis, each end rhyme-sound is represented by a letter |
| masculine rhyme | rhyme in which only the last, accented syllable of the rhyming words correspond exactly in sound; most common kind of end rhyme |
| feminine rhyme | rhyme in which two consecutive syllables of the ryming words corresponding, the first syllable carrying the accent; double rhyme |
| half rhyme(slant rhyme) | imperfect, appoximate rhyme |
| assonance | repetition of two or more vowel sounds within a line |
| consonance | repetition of two or more consonate sounds within a line |
| alliteration | the repetition of one or more intial sounds, usually consonants, in words within a line |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning |
| euphony | the use of compatiable, harmonious sounds to produce a pleasing, melodious effect |
| cacophony | the use of inharmonious sounds in close conjunction for effect; opposite of euphony |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison of unlike objects by identification or substitution |
| simile | a direct comparison of two unlike objects using like or as |
| conceit | an extended metaphor comparing two unlike objects with powerful effect. |
| personification | a figure of speech in which objects and animals have human qualities |
| apostrophe | an adress to a person or personified object not present |
| metonymy | the substitution of a word that relates to the object or person to be named, in place of the name itself |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole object or idea |
| hyberbole | gross exaggeration for effect: overstatement |
| litotes | a form of understatement in which the negative of an antyonm is used to achieve emphasis and intensity |
| irony | the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning |
| symbolism | the use of one subject to suggest another, hidden object or meaning |
| imagery | the use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory descriptions |
| paradox | a statement that appears self'contradictory, but that underlines a basis of truth |
| oxymoron | contradictory terms brought together to express a paradox for strong effect |
| allusion | a reference to an outside fact, event, or other source. |
