| A | B |
|---|
| poet | the author of the poem |
| speaker | the narrator of the poem |
| form | the appearance of the words on the page |
| line | a group of words together on one line of a poem |
| stanza | a group of lines arranged together |
| couplet | a two lined stanza |
| heroic couplet | a two lined stanze, often emphasized with rhythm or rhyme |
| triplet/tercet | a three line stanza |
| quatrain | a four line stanza |
| quintet | a five line stanza |
| sestet | a six line stanza |
| octave | an eight line stanza |
| rhyme | words that share the same vowel and consonant sound |
| end rhyme | rhyme that occurs at the end of the lines |
| internal rhyme | rhyme within a line of poetry |
| approximate (slant) rhyme | consonant sound may be alike, but not a perfect rhyme |
| alliteration | the repetition of identical consonant sounds at the beginnings of words that are close together |
| assonance | the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together |
| consonance | the repetition of final consonant sounds after different vowel sounds |
| onomatopoeia | use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests it meaning |
| pun | play on the multiple meaning of a word or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings |
| repetition | using the same sounds, letters, words, phrases, structures, or lines to add meaning |
| refrain | repeated line or group of lines |
| rhythm | musical quality produced by repetition |
| meter | generally regular pattern of stressed and unstresed syllables in poetry |
| free verse | poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme |
| iambic pentameter | line of poetry made up of five iambs, a metrical foot made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable |
| mood | emotional atmosphere created by a literary selection |
| tone | poet's attitude towrd his or her subject |
| diction | an author's choice of words, especially with regard to range of vocabulary, use of slang and colloquial language, and level of formality |
| apostrophe | where the speaker directly addresses a person or object that cannot answer |
| personification | a comparison which a non-human thing or quality is given human characteristics |
| simile | a comparison using the words like or as |
| metaphor | a comparison between two things without using like, as or than |
| metonymy | referring to one thing by the name of a second thing with which it is associated |
| synecdoche | referring to part of something to denote the whole thing |
| idiom | an expression or phrase that is NOT meant to be taken literally |
| analogy | a comparaison that is more extensive than a metaphor or simile |
| paradox | a statement that seems to contradict itself, but may reveal a truth |
| ballad | song that tells a story |
| lyric | poetry that does not tell a story but is aimed only at expressing a speaker's emotions or thoughts |
| sonnet | fourteen-line lyric poem, usually wirtten in iambic pentameter |
| villanelle | a poem made up of 5 tercets followed by a quatrain |
| tanka | a Japanese poem with five lines |
