Alliteration the Repetition of the Same Sounds Or of the Same Kinds of Sounds at the Beginning

Dictionary of Poetic Terms

Alliteration – The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in “on scrolls of silver snowy sentences.”

Allusion – The act of alluding; indirect reference: Without naming names, the candidate criticized the national leaders by allusion. An instance of indirect reference: an allusion to classical mythology in a poem.

Apostrophe – The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition.

Assonance – The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, especially in stressed syllables, with changes in the intervening consonants, as in the phrase tilting at windmills.

Blank verse – Poetry consisting of unrhymed lines but with a rhythmic pattern to the words.

Cacophony – Jarring, discordant sound; dissonance: heard a cacophony of horns during the traffic jam. The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition, as for poetic effect.

Caesura – a pause in a line of writing, often shown by an enlarged gap or by a “—“

Connotation – An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing: Hollywood holds connotations of romance and glittering success. The set of associations we have for a word in addition to its literal, dictionary meaning.

Consonance – The repetition of consonants or of a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words, as in blank and think or strong and string.

Couplet – Two lines that contain one complete thought with rhyming ends.

Denotation – The actual dictionary meaning of a word. This is related to but different than connotation.

Diction – refers to a writer’s choice of words. Using very long words that show advanced education have a different effect than using short, simple words like a child might. Euphony – any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds; "he fell asleep to the music of the wind chimes"; usually accomplished by using vowel sounds and non-percussive consonant sounds; most lullabies are euphonious.

Free verse – Poetry that has no end rhymes, no standard rhythmic patterns and no other rules.

Hyperbole – A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

Imagery – A line or phrase in a poem that the reader can understand through one of the five senses.

Malaprop – the misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar; Students must not conjugate in the halls or He was suspended for masticating in class.

Meiosis – a deliberate under exaggeration; the opposite of hyperbole; in Monty Python the Knight says It’s just a flesh wound after losing an arm

Metaphor – directly comparing without using like or as; Love is a rose

Metonymy – using a part of something to represent something related. “Paid for with the sweat from his brow” does not mean paying with bottled sweat but with hard work. “The long arm of the law.”

Mood – the predominant atmosphere. In poetry mood is often conveyed through imagery and word choice.

Narrative – A poem that tells a story.

Onomatopoeia – The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Oxymoron – A rhetorical device in which two seemingly contradictory words are used together for effect: “She is just a poor little rich girl” “Jumbo shrimp” “Random order” “American beer”

Paradox – A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true: the paradox that standing is more tiring than walking. Constant change. Random order. American beer.

Pastoral – A literary or other artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life and the natural world, usually in an idealized way. Personification – Giving something non-human human characteristics. “The trees danced in the wind.” “The chalk screamed across the board.”

Repetition – the repeating of a word or phrase to add to its importance.

Rhyme – rhyming words within lines (internal rhyme) or at the end of lines (end rhyme). End rhymes can be labelled by rhyme sets. Roses are Red is ABCB.

Rhythm – Rhythm is a musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhythm occurs in all forms of language, both written and spoken. Shakespeare’s plays, and a lot of everyday speech, use iambic pentameter

Simile – comparing two things using like or as; Love is like a rose.

Speaker – The person who is (assumed to be) talking in a literary work. This is not always just “the poet” as he/she might be taking on another personality.

Theme – The central idea(s) in a piece of writing. The theme of In the Vault could be “revenge”.