General
Line
Rhyme
The similarity of sounds in two words or their endings.
Metaphor
When a word is applied to another that would not normally make sense, such as "This place is a hole."
Free Verse
Free verse is a form of poetry without the need for rhyming.
Irony
A difference between what is spoken and what is meant.
Stanza
A stanza is a group of lines, which are often separated by blank lines or indentation.
End Rhyme
Rhyme in the last words of verses.
Simile
A figure of speech using "like" or "as" to draw a comparison, such as "Silent as a mouse".
Epic
A long poem that narrates history or the deeds of a heroic person.
Alliteration
The repetition of a sound at the beginning of words, such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”.
A phrase, word, or line repeated throughout the poem.
Rhythm
A recurring type of sound or speech.
Hyperbole
A large exaggeration in a sentence, such as "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
Haiku
A small poem with seventeen syllables in three lines.
Paradox
A self-contradictory phrase.
Couplet
Two lines of verse joined by a rhyme.
Internal Rhyme
A rhyme within a single sentence.
Personification
The addition of human characteristics to a non-human thing in a sentence, such as "The sun smiled down on us."
Ballad
A story consisting of short stanzas, usually are passed down through generations in different cultures, and have no known author.
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds in a sentence that has no repeating consonants.
Caesura
A break between words within a metrical foot.
Rhyme Scheme
Which lines rhyme with each other in a stanza, often signified by corresponding each rhyme to a letter.
Onomatopoeia
A word that doesn't normally mean anything used to convey a sound through a word.
Elegy
A poem often spoken aloud at funerals in respect for the dead, reflecting on their lives.
Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence that goes to the right-hand margin, rather than being cut off.