Poetry Vocabulary
Sound Devices
Figurative Language
Poem Details
100

This is a section of a poem, a group of lines separated by a blank space.

Stanza

100

The repetition of similar or identical sounds at the end of words, often used to create a pattern in a poem.

Rhyme

100

A comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as."

Simile

100

In the William Carlos Williams poem, this cold and sweet fruit was eaten from the icebox.

Plums

200

This figure of speech is a comparison of two different things using the words like or as.

Simile

200

The repetition of a specific consonant sound at the beginning of words that are close together, like in the phrase "Fierce fire flies."

Alliteration

200

A direct comparison that states one thing is another thing, such as "The moon is a silver coin."

Metaphor

200

The speaker in Walt Whitman's poem, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer," goes outside to look at these after leaving the boring lecture.

Stars

300

This is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of a series of lines in a poem.

Anaphora

300

The repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry, such as in "The light on the green leaves."

Assonance

300

An extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or humor, like "I have a million things to do today!"

Hyperbole

300

The poem "One Art" lists losing keys and cities, but this is the largest and most difficult item the speaker admits is hard to lose.

Continent

400

This is a single row of words in a poem.

Line

400

Words that sound like the noises they describe, such as hiss, buzz, or meow.

Onomatopoeia

400

The use of an object or idea to stand for something else, like a dove representing peace.

Symbolism

400

The insect the bird is described as eating raw in the Emily Dickinson poem "A Bird, came down the Walk—".

Angleworm (or earthworm)

500

This poetic form, used in the poem "One Art," has nineteen lines and a set pattern of repeating lines

Villanelle
500

A recognizable pattern of beats or stressed and unstressed syllables that gives poetry its musical quality.

Rhythm or meter

500

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words close together, such as "six silly spiders spinning."

Alliteration

500

The color of the snake's arrowy scales in Denise Levertov's poem "To the Snake."

Gold

M
e
n
u