Poetry Terms

Poetry- a piece of literature written in meter or verse.

Ex. Any poem or song

Literal-The standard meaning of a word, phrase or sentence.

Ex.The grass looks green.

Prose-everyday reading or writing.

Ex. I live in Texas.

Figurative-departure from the standard meaning of a word to achieve some special meaning or effect.

Ex.mtge grass looks like spikey green hair.

Hyperbole- an extreme exaggeration.

Ex. I have a million things to do today.

Simile- a comparison of one thing with another by the use of the word "like" or "as".

Ex. "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get.

Metaphor- a figure of speech in which a person, an object, or an idea is compared to something else without using like or as.

Ex. Time is a thief

Time isn't really stealing anything, this metaphor just indicates that time passes quickly and or lives pass us by.

Personification- granting human qualities to things that are not human

Ex. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.

Refrain- a word phrase, line, or groups of lines repeated in a poem, usually at the end of each stanza

Rhythm- of stressed and unstressed sounds in a line of poetry.

Ex. Because I could not stop for death-

He kindly stopped for me-

The carriage held but just Ourselves-

And immortality.

Imagery- the use of concrete details that refer to the five senses.

Ex. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. - "Screaming" and "Shouting" appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.

Cacophony- a succession of harsh, jolting sounds.

Ex. K,s,t

Euphony: A succession of smooth, harmonious sounds.

Ex. O,m,y

Rhyme: repetition of sounds.

They put me in a cake

I was a bad cake

Internal Rhyme- Rhyme that occurs with a line.

Ex: the plain man wondered

What train should I take?

He further pondered

Maybe I should walk.

Repetition- In poetry, to occur over and over again.

If I should fail, what poverty

And yet as poor as I

Have ventured all upon a throw;

Have gained! Yes hesitate so

This side the victory

Verse- one line of poetry

Ex. Fire and Ice- Frost

Some say the world will end in fire

Stanza- a group of lines in a poem