Easy
Words that sound like the sound they represent (hiss, gurgle, bang).
Onomatopoeia
An image of contradictory terms (bittersweet, pretty ugly, deafening silence).
Oxymoron
Poetry without a defined form, meter, or rhyme scheme.
Free verse
A secondary story line that mimics and reinforces the main plot.
Parallel plot
A poem that tells a story.
Narrative Poem
The specific instruction a playwright includes concerning sets, characterization, delivery, etc.
Stage Directions
A metrical unit in poetry; a syllabic measure of a line.
Foot
A figure of speech in which a representative term is used for a larger idea.
Metonymy
A lengthy, elevated poem that celebrates the exploits of a hero.
Epic
A mode of writing based on ridicule, which criticizes the foibles and follies of society without necessarily offering a solution.
Satire
Direct address in poetry.
Apostrophe
A brief, witty poem often used for satirical purposes.
Epigram
Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Blank verse
The opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.
Understatement
A six-line stanza, usually paired with an octave to form a Petrarchan sonnet.
Sestet
A figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of a whole.
Synecdoche
Two lines of rhyming poetry; often used by Shakespeare to conclude a scene or an important passage.
Couplet
A type of poem that presents a conversation between a speaker and an implied listener.
Dramatic Monologue
A technique in poetry that involves the running on of a line or stanza. It enables the poem to move and to develop coherence as well as directing the reader with regard to form and meaning.
Enjambment
A break or pause within a line of poetry indicated by punctuation and used to emphasize meaning.
Caesura
A highly structured poetic form that comprises six stanzas: five tercets and a quatrain. The poem repeats the first and third lines throughout.
Villanelle