Poetic Terms Compiled by Ms Stein Alliteration Repetition

Poetic Terms Compiled by Ms. Stein

Alliteration • Repetition of initial consonant sounds at the beginning of the word • Example – We do whatever we want to

Assonance • Repetition of vowel sounds throughout a piece • Example: – Listening to the rain makes one insane – Deep, Deep sleep

Consonance • Repetition of similar consonant sounds at the ends of accented syllables • “t” and “ch” sounds • Example: – I have been acting like sour milk fell on the floor. – High school girls with clear skin smiles

Onomatopoeia • Use of words that imitate sounds • Example: – Times up, over Bloah! – Crash into me!

Repetition • Repeated sounds, words, phrases, and sentences • Example: – This we cannot change I’m a woman Phenomenally Phenomenal Woman That’s me

Simile • Comparison of two things using like or as • Example: – Night is like a chimney pushing its blackness over all of the earth.

Metaphor • Comparison between two things • Example: – My English teacher is a bear when it comes to late assignments. – Juliet is the sun.

Personification • Non-human subject is given human characteristics • Time grabs you by the wrist and directs you where to go. • The blues swallow me whole.

Hyperbole • Great exaggeration • Example: – You’re the closest to heaven, I’ll ever be. – My lips are on fire after eating the pepper.

Paradox • Statement containing contradictory or incompatible elements • Example – It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Rhythm • Pattern or beats or stresses in spoken or written language

Stanza • Formal divisions of lines in a poem • • Couplet= 2 Triplet = 3 Quatrain = 4 Quintet = 5 Sestet = 6 Septet = 7 Octave = 8

Rhyme • Repetition of sounds at the end of a word • Example: – So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

End Rhyme • Rhyme comes at the end of lines • Example: – The span of my hips – The curl of my lips

Internal Rhyme • Rhyming words appear on the same line • Example – I want to ride down the slide.

Rhyme Scheme • Regular pattern of rhyming words within a poem

Meter • Rhythmical pattern (foot + number of feet) • Example: – Iambic Pentameter

Free Verse • Not written in a regular rhythmical pattern