| alliteration |
Deliberate repetition of consonant sounds |
| apostrophe |
An address to a person absent or dead or to an abstract entity |
| assonance |
Deliberate repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds |
| diction |
Poet's distinctive choices in vocabulary |
| echo |
Repetition of key word or idea for effect |
| hyperbole |
Exaggeration for dramatic effect |
| imagery |
Words or phrases that appeal to any sense or any combination of senses |
| metaphor |
Comparison not using "as" or "like" when one thing is said to be another |
| meter |
See metre |
| metre |
Recurrence of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables |
| mood |
Feelings or meanings conveyed in the poem |
| onomatopoeia |
"Sound echoing sense"; use of words resembling the sounds they mean |
| oxymoron |
Seeming contradiction in two words put together |
| paradox |
Seeming contradiction that surprises by its pithiness |
| personification |
Attribution of human motives or behaviours to impersonal agencies |
| point-of-view |
Vantage point of the speaker, or "teller", of the story or poem; see foot-note |
| repetition |
Repeating of words, phrases, lines, or stanzas |
| rhyme |
Repetition of same sounds |
| rhyme scheme |
Sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first end sound is represented as the letter "a", the second is "b", etc. |
| rhyming couplet |
Pair of lines which end-rhyme expressing one clear thought |
| rhythm |
Internal feel of beat and metre perceived when poetry is read aloud |
| simile |
Comparison using "as" or "like" |
| stanza |
Grouping of two or more lines of a poem in terms of length, metrical form, or rhyme scheme |
| tone |
See mood |