Understand the Terminology of the Language of Poetry

Are there any words for talking about poetry that you find confusing? Here is a brief guide to help you understand some of them:

 

 

Accent: The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word poetry, the accent (or stress) falls on the first syllable.

Alliteration: The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words, e.g. "fluffy flakes of falling snow".

Assonance: The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, within a word, especially vowel sounds, e.g. "fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks"

Figure of speech: A verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular effect.

Lyric: A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem may resemble a song in form or style.

Meter: The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables.

Metaphor: A figure of speech in which two things are compared, by saying one thing is another, e.g. The sea is an angry dog.

Onomatopoeia: A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds, e.g. buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, and tick-tock.

Personification: A figure of speech in which things or abstract ideas are described like people, e.g. The autumn wind's a pirate.

Quotation: Exact words taken from a poem, maybe when writing about it. refrain (or chorus): A line or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.

Rhyme: When the same or similar sounds are at the end of two or more words.

Rhyming couplet: In a poem, a pair of lines that rhyme, are the same length and form a complete thought.

Rhythm: The beat of the poem, how the words are arranged in a pattern.

Simile: A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as", e.g. as hot as mustard.

Stanza: A verse of a poem.

Sonnet: A lyric poem that is 14 lines long

Stress: see 'accent'. The emphasis given to particular syllables. Stressed syllables usually stand out because they have long, rather than short, vowels,

Theme: What the poem is about, or the message it is giving.

 

What a lot to remember!

 

 

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