Poetry terminology
Speaker
The voice or person which the poem is narrated.
Line
Group of words arranged into a row within a poem, for purpose of flow or rhyming.
Repetition
Repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas.
E.G. Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
or Split life
Split skin
Split tongue
Split kin
Tactile imagery
What you touch/feel
E.G. The rough bark of the ancient oak
Alliteration
A series of words that begin with the same consonant sound. E.G. Claire closed her cluttered.
Subject
The idea or thing that the poem concerns or represents
Stanza
A series of lines grouped together in a poem(poem's version of a paragraph)
Symbol
An object, image, character, or action, representing something.
E.G. Dove=peace, Red rose= love.
Gustatory imagery
What you taste
E.G. The wine, a ruby kiss, tasted of sun-soaked grapes and spice
Onomatopoeia
A word that sounds like what it is referring to. E.G. Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed
Theme
The underlying message or universal idea the author explores and wants to convey through the poem
Rhyme
Matching of similar sounds. The end of each word does not have to be spelt the same, it just needs to sound the same.
E.G. true, blue, frame, tame, ect
Visual imagery
Uses descriptive language to create mental pictures the reader's mind, appealing to the sense of sight, including colors, shapes, sizes, and pattern.
E.G. The city hummed with a million flickering lights, casting long, dancing shadows on the cobblestone.
Kinesthetic imagery
The actions and movements of an object or a character.
E.G. The dancer's graceful leap
Consoance
The repetition of the same consonant sounds within a line of text
E.G. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew
Mood
The overall feeling or atmosphere the poem in the reader, shaped by word choice, subject matter, and the author's tone.
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence from one line to the next.
Auditory imagery
What you hear
E.G. The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
SOUND DEVICE:
Assonance
Repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in a series of words or syllables.
E.G. Mike's bike had bright white stripes
Sibilance
The repetition of letter sounds that have a hushing or hissing quality
E.G. Seven sisters slept soundly on the sand
Tone
The poet's attitude toward the poem's speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader
Caesura
A metrical pause or break within a line when one phrase ends and another begins. It is marked with a comma or two slashed lines.
Olfactory imagery
What you smell
E.G. The air hung heavy with the sweet, cloying scent of overripe peaches
LINE BREAK:
What's a end-stop?
full stop, comma, or semicolon, the end of a phrase
Euphony/Cacophony
The combination of words or sounds which create a musical and pleasing sound/harsh and inharmonious sounds