Sound Devices
The repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text. EXAMPLE: "Ivan will trY to lIght the fIre."
Assonance
A single line of poetry.
Verse
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things using the connecting words "like" or "as." EXAMPLE: Love is like a battlefield.
Simile
The author's specific word choice.
Diction
A brief reference to a real or fictional person, event, place, or work of art.
Allusion
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. EXAMPLE: "From Forth the Fatal loins of these two Foes; A pair of star-crossed lover take their life."
Alliteration
Poetry that does not rhyme or have a measurable meter.
Free Verse
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things without using the connecting words "like" or "as." EXAMPLE: Love is a battlefield.
Metaphor
Enjambment
The central meaning or dominant message the poet is trying to deliver to the readers.
Theme
The repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels in a chunk of text. Example: "A worM naMed Maurice took he garden by storM."
Consonance
An object or action that means something more than the literal meaning.
Symbol
Giving human characteristics to animals or non-living things.
Personification
The attitude the poem's narrator takes towards a subject or character:
Serious, humourous, sarcastic, ironic, concerned, tongue-in-cheek, solemn, objectives, etc.
Tone
A figure of speech that puts together opposite elements. The combination of these contradicting elements serves to confuse or give the reader a laugh.
EXAMPLE: Her room is an organized mess, or controlled chaos, if you will.
Oxymoron
A word that sounds like what it means. EXAMPLE: Buzz! Click! Bang! Whoosh!
Onomatopoeia
A story or narrative in poetic form.
Ballad
Seemingly contradictory statement is given that, upon closer examination, reveals a compelling truth.
Paradox
The measured arrangement of sounds/beats in a poem, including the poet's placement of emphasis and the number of syllables per line.
Meter
A joke based on the interplay of homophones- words with the same pronunciation but different meanings. It can also play with words that sound similar, but not exactly the same.
“Mine is a long and a sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. "It is a long tail, certainly, but why do you call it sad?”
Pun
The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry. Depending on how sounds are arranged, the _____ of a poem may be fast or slow, choppy or smooth.
Rhythm
Quatrain
A phrase that expresses a figurative meaning different from the actual meaning of the words used. EXAMPLE: "Kick the bucket" is means "death."
Idiom
Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
Imagery
Rhyming structures with words that share similar sounds but aren't exactly perfect rhymes. Typically used in songs.
They can be words that have the same consonant sounds with different vowel sounds, or the same vowel sounds with different consonant sounds.
Slant Rhyme