Poetry Terms

Definitions and Examples

RYHTHMThe pattern created by the arrangement of stressed syllables. Rhythm gives poetry a musical quality.

RHYMEThe repetition of identical or similar sounds at the ends of words or close to one another.

End RhymeRhyme that occurs at the end of each line.

Example:

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

RHYME SCHEMEThe pattern formed by the END RHYME in a poem. The rhyme scheme is shown by the use of a different letter of the alphabet to name each new rhyme.See next slide…

Rhyme Scheme Example

There was an Old Man with a beard, A

Who said, “It is just as I feared! – A

Two owls and a hen, B Four Larks and a wren, B

Have all built their nests in my beard.” A

-Edward Lear

In a foul and filthy cavern A

Where the sun has never shown, B

The one-eyed ogre calmly gnaws C

A cold and moldy bone. B

He sits in silence in the slime A

that fills his fetid home B

and notes the nearing footsteps C

in the monstrous catacomb B

INTERNAL RHYMERhyme that occurs within lines of poetry.

Examples:

Chain link clinks in the wind.

The queen of doom upon her broom.

STANZAA paragraph in Poetry. Several lines grouped together in a poem.

See next slide…

2 Stanzas Oh, Mom, don’t make me go today.

I’m feeling worse than yesterday.You don’t know what I’m going through.I’ve got a strange, rare case of flu.

My body aches, my throat is sore.I’m sure I’m knocking on death’s door.You can’t send me to school—achoo!‘Cause everyone could get it, too.

HYPERBOLEA figure of speech frequently used in poetry; an exaggeration.

Example: He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

PERSONIFICATIONA Figure of Speech in which human qualities are given to animals, objects, or ideas

Example:

The wind stood up, and gave a shout; He whistled on his fingers, and Kicked the withered leaves about And thumped the branches with his hand…

SIMILEA figure of speech using “Like” or “As” to compare seemingly unlike things.

Example:

In garments black as pitch

METAPHORA figure of speech that compares unlike things without using the words “like” or “as”

Examples:

They put me in the cage, I am the animal.

IMAGERYLanguage that helps the reader see, hear, feel, smell, and taste things that are described in the work.Examples:

1. Listen to the grating roar Of pebbles in the waves

2. Masses of flowers load the cherry branches in colors of yellow and red

ONOMATOPOEIAThe use of a word or phrase that actually imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.

Example:

A tap tap tap on the window pane

Then one slow sharp scratch

REPETITIONThe recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a piece of writing. When a line or stanza is repeated in a poem, it is called a REFRAIN.EX: Step, step, step; Dig, dig, dig,

Twirl, twirl, twirl the bat.

ALLITERATIONThe repetition of consonant sounds, most often at the beginnings of words and syllables.

Examples:

1. A crackling crone with brittle bones.

2. The sweet smell of success.

ASSONANCE

The repetition of vowel sounds.

Examples: 1. Like weeds in the deep green sea

2. The child of silence and time

FREE VERSEPoetry that has no fixed pattern of rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement.

Example:

Bright lights Dry mouth, stiff fingers Insides shaking

CINQUAINA poem that doesn’t rhyme, is based on word count, and has 5 lines.

Don’t copy this:

LINE 1: NounLINE 2: 2 Adjectives describing the nounLINE 3: 3 Verbs showing action of the nounLINE 4: 4 Words that describe a feeling about the nounLINE 5: Repeat the Noun (use a synonym)

CINQUAINExample

Hamsters (noun)Furry, friendly (2 adjectives)Twitching, running, digging (3 verbs)Loving, cozy, fluffy cotton (4 feeling)Friend (synonym to noun)

Coupletcouplet – A two-line poem that rhymes. Each line

contains the same number of syllables.

I found a starfish in the bayWhen I was fishing yesterday.

HAIKUA Japanese form of poetry that has three lines and seventeen syllables. The first and third lines have 5 syllables each; the middle line has 7 syllables.

EX – see next slide

HAIKU

one lone wailing voicein the lovely cold forestblack timberwolf song

LIMERICKA short, usually humorous poem with a regular rhythm pattern and set rhyme scheme of a / a / b / b / a.

EX – see next slide

LIMERICKThere was an old lady named Betty

Who feasted on only spaghetti.

When to her surprise

She met her demise

By eating instead some confetti.