Poet’s Glossary
Glossary Compiled by Mrs. Garcia
Senior Poetry Elective
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Welcome,
Are you excited to look up and write definitions for 100+ poetic devices and terms?
Just kidding—I’ve done it for you already! 
In order to understand each other when discussing poetry, we need to establish a
common vocabulary. Learning these terms within the context of the poems in the
poetry anthology will make them come to life. Using cool poetic devices will make
your poems soar and sound different from poems by the average Mickey or Minnie.
Wouldn’t you like to say you used epizeuxis? (Yes, it’s a real word.) 
This is most likely your first major experience with poetry; therefore, no one expects
you to use every poetic device available to humankind. However, as part of the
skill-building in the course, you are expected to explore your options and select a
handful of them to use effectively. Should you choose to come back to other devices
later in your poetic career, they will be here waiting for you. This comprehensive
glossary has been provided so that you can choose the devices that best fit your
purpose as a poet. As the saying goes, “When all you have is a hammer, everything
starts looking like a nail.” Therefore, you are being provided with various tools.
Directions: Read this glossary to become familiar with the terms. If you read even
just one page a day, you’ll be finished in a few weeks. You do not need to memorize
these definitions,  but you will need to be able to have a brief “working
definition” for each term, meaning that you put it in your own everyday words.
Any of these terms could be on a test or quiz, so I don’t want to say that certain
terms are “more important” that others, but I have underlined the main terms (about
half of the terms) that you need to know in order to keep up and follow along in the
course. When you read and annotate the poems in the poetry anthology packet—as
well as when we discuss in class—mark examples of the poetic devices you find.
Although you do not need to memorize the structures of each of the verse forms,
you need to be able to recognize a form when it is shown to you, and you should be
able to describe a few of its defining characteristics. In other words, a blues poem
neither looks nor sounds like a sonnet, and you should be able to tell them apart.
KEEP this glossary—although we aren’t going into 100% depth on every term, this
guide has helped students immensely who were studying for the English AP exam, as
well as students who had a poetry unit as part of a future college course.
Ready? You will soon speak the language of poetry!
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abstract: Language is abstract when it refers to intangible attributes of qualities—love, freedom,
ideas, justice. Abstract does not point to the material, physical bases of experience. Abstractions
appeal to the intellect rather than the senses. Abstract is the opposite of concrete.
accent: In poetry, equivalent to stress. Accent occurs when a syllable receives greater emphasis in
pronunciation than those around it. STU-dent. TEACH-er. va-CA-tion.
acrostic: A series of lines or verses in which the first letters when taken in order spell out a word or
phrase. This format is somewhat gimmicky and is often used for elementary/middle school students.
Sometimes referred to as a “name poem.”
alliteration: Repetition of identical consonant sounds at the beginning of words or emphasized
syllables in close proximity, as in “swirling secrets,” and “sitting in the skies.”
allusion: An indirect reference to a person, place, or event from history, literature, religion,
mythology, politics, sport, science, pop culture, etc. For example, the title of Sylvia Plath’s “Lady
Lazarus” alludes to the Bible, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45).
anadiplosis: Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause:
Here is no question of whiteness,
White is as white can be, with a purple mole
At the center of each flower.
Each flower is a hand’s span…
from William Carlos Williams’ “Queen Anne’s Lace” (1921)
anaphora: Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or clauses.
The opposite of epistrophe.
antaclasis: A trope-like rhetorical device in which the poet uses the same word or phrase with two
different meanings (pun). Example:
If we don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately – BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
antithesis: The placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to
form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death,” or Alexander Pope’s “to
err is human, to forgive, divine.”
aposiopesis: Ending a sentence abruptly, as if it has been interrupted (usually with a dash—).
apostrophe: (not to be confused with the ’ punctuation) Direct address to something you wouldn’t
ordinarily address, such as an abstraction (“Oh, love!”) or an object in nature (“Oh, trees! Oh,
rocks!”). It is a way to bring new life to things with which we are normally silent, a quick way to
become intimate with unexpected things. One subtle was to personify is through the use of
apostrophe, or direct address.
ars poetica: An ars poetica is a poem about the art of poetry, or the nature of writing. In Latin, it
translates to “the art of poetry” or “on the nature of poetry.” Although nearly every poet has written
at least one of these, some magazine editors have said that they aren’t interested in printing any
poems about poetry! I say, a strong poem is a strong poem, no matter what the topic—so write an
ars poetica if you want to!
assonance: The rhyming of vowel sounds in non-rhyming words. It is the repetition of identical or
similar vowel sounds in close proximity, as in “fetch the message.” Baseball player Julio Lugo’s
name contains assonance!
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ballad: A narrative, rhythmic saga of a past affair, sometimes romantic and inevitably catastrophic,
which is impersonally related, usually with foreshortened lines and simple repeating rhymes, and
often with a refrain. It uses quatrains and has a distinctive and memorable rhythm. The ballad
stanza consists of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and trimeter. The characteristic ballad
meter uses iambic tetrameter for the first and third lines, and iambic trimeter for the second and
fourth. See below for longer definition and criteria:
 (“Sir Patrick Spens” is a good example.)
 It is a short narrative, which is usually arranged in four-line stanzas with a distinctive and
memorable meter.
 The usually ballad meter is a first and third line with four stresses—iambic tetrameter—and
then a second and fourth with three stresses—iambic trimeter
 The ballad maker use popular and local speech and dialogue often and vividly to convey the
story. This is especially a feature of early ballads.
blank verse: The short definition is “unrhymed iambic pentameter.” Widely used by Shakespeare,
but also used by the New Formalists of today. See below for longer definition and criteria:
 It is an iambic line with ten stresses and five beats.
 It is unrhymed.
 It is traditionally associated with dramatic speech and epic poetry.
 The lack of rhyme makes enjambment more possible and often more effective.
 It is often identified as the poetic form closest to human speech.
blues: The structure of the blues is simple. The first line is repeated, sometimes with a slight
change, and the stanza ends with a rhyming third line. Since the repeating lines happen right after
each other, it is a special challenge to make each line sound fresh, The most important aspects of
writing blues are to keep the imagery vivid, the language direct, and the emotion true. The blues is
uniquely American poetic form, based on the pattern of lyrics of blues songs that African American
musicians developed in the South after the Civil War, drawing from West African work songs will a
call-and-response pattern. The first blues poems were written in the Harlem Renaissance by poets
such as Langston Hughes (such as “Weary Blues” and “Love Again Blues”) and Countee Cullen,
but this classic song form has inspired African American poets, and more recently poets of other
races. One example of a blues song we can listen to is “Monday Morning Blues” by Mississippi
John Hurt.
caesura: A caesura is a strong pause within a line, and is often found alongside enjambment. If all
the pauses in the sense of the poem were to occur at the line breaks, this could become dull; moving
the pauses so they occur within the line creates a musical interest. A caesura may be marked like
this: ||
catharsis: A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions. A release of emotional tension, as
after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit. A technique used in the field
of psychology to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to
consciousness. The therapeutic result of this process. Catharsis can be the result for poets within the
“confessional” school of poetry—as well as for you, if you write confessional poems.
cliché: Stale phrase, usually figurative, that reveals the writer’s unwillingness to work hard for
something fresh. Such borrowed formulas of expression as “it takes two to tango” have lost their
original strength through overuse. See also dead metaphor.
closed form poetry: (see also fixed form) Poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern.
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conceit: An extended figure; a complex image developed over several lines of poetry
concrete: Concrete diction points to particular, and most often to materials objects, their qualities,
and their motions. The concrete fastens upon palpable experience. Concrete is the opposite of
abstract.
confessional poetry: Poetry of the personal or "I." This style of writing emerged in the late 1950s
and early 1960s and is associated with poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. The
confessional poetry of the mid-twentieth century dealt with subject matter that previously had not
been openly discussed in American poetry. Private experiences with and feelings about death,
trauma, depression and relationships were addressed in this type of poetry, often in an
autobiographical manner. Sexton in particular was interested in the psychological aspect of poetry,
having started writing at the suggestion of her therapist. The confessional poets were not merely
recording their emotions on paper; craft and construction were extremely important to their work.
While their treatment of the poetic self may have been groundbreaking and shocking to some
readers, these poets maintained a high level of craftsmanship through their careful attention to and
use of prosody. The confessional poets of the 1950s and 1960s pioneered a type of writing that
forever changed the landscape of American poetry. The tradition of confessional poetry has been a
major influence on generations of writers and continues to this day. Sharon Olds is a contemporary
poet whose writing largely draws upon her personal experience.
connotation: The implied or suggested meaning connected with a word.
consonance: Loosely, the echoing of terminal consonants in end words. More narrowly, a kind of
slant rhyme in which patterns of consonants surround contrasting vowels: blood / blade.
Other examples: pink / monk
doll / intellectual
convention: A widespread general agreement on how to do something. Poetry is full of such things.
You could call rhyme a convention.
couplet: A pair of lines, a two-line stanza. Usually, but not always, the pair of lines written in the
same form (in terms of length, meter, and rhyme).
dead metaphor: Overworked metaphor that has lost its figurative vividness and its image content.
A dead metaphor is often a cliché.
denotation: The dictionary meaning of a word.
diction: Word choice. Groups of words of the same social register, as in high diction (extremely
formal of pretentious language) or low diction (slang or informal language). Avoid archaic or
antique diction such as (Hark! Thou art my love, not she who makes merry in ye olde tavern.) You
live in the 21st century. If you write that way, we will require you to wear a puffy shirt to class and
write with a quill pen.
doggerel: Poetry with cliché, or overly sentimental content, forced or imprecise rhymes, faulty
meter, misordering of words to force correct meter, trivial subject matter, or inept handling of the
subject. You don’t want to write doggerel!
dramatic poetry: (One of the three modes of poetry). A dramatic poem is a play in poetry (Finch
97). It could also be a dramatic monologue. “The persona poem is a lyric poem in an imagined
speaker’s voice but not addressed to another character” (Finch 103).
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drowning a few puppies: Not just poets, but journalists and writers of all types need to consider
that sometimes it is necessary to “drown a few puppies”—or cut out what might be good, but
unneeded—for the greater good of their writing. Part of serving your audience means being ruthless
and efficient with your words. It means making the tough decisions about what is absolutely
necessary. You may LOVE a particular line, but it might not be serving your poem. This is also
known as “murdering your darlings.” Rob Parnell says, “Murder your darlings” was a phrase first
coined by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (or Fitzgerald or Faulkner or Nabakov or even Stephen King,
depending on who you believe)….Editing out…is the hardest thing a novice writer has to do…
When you start out, every word you write is precious. The words are torn from you. You wrestle
with them, forcing them to express what you’re trying to say. As you progress in your writing
career, you become less touchy about your words. You have to. Editors hack them around without
mercy. Agents get you to rewrite great swathes of text they don’t like. Publishers cut out whole
sections as irrelevant. All this hurts – a lot. But after a while, you realize you’re being helped. That
it’s not the words that matter so much as what you’re trying to communicate.” (It happens in
business too. For a brief time, Pepperidge Farm made the Rialto—a delicious chocolate cookie with
raspberry filling—but they had to discontinue it because it was priced too high and wasn’t selling
well. Sadly, they had to say farewell to that “puppy.”)
ekphrastic poem: A poem inspired by a work of art.
elegy: A formal lament/mourning, either for a dead person, or as an expression of a tragic sense in
life. An elegy is a poem celebrating a person who is deceased, any poem in tribute to a person (or
even a thing) that is no longer living. It is a tribute that often lists the virtues of the deceased. Not
since classical time has the elegy been associated with any fixed metrical pattern.
elision: An omission or glossing over of a vowel. To avoid extra syllables, poets used elisions such
as ev’ry instead of every and wand’ring instead of wandering.
end rhyme: Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines.
end-stopped lines: Lines that terminate with some degree of grammatical completeness and with
punctuation, causing a definite pause or break when read aloud or “heard” silently.
enjambment: Also called a run-on line. Carrying on of an idea from one line to another, with no
pause at the end of a line. The grammatical structure (and sense) “runs on” from one line to the
next. (Note: Enjambed or run-on lines have nothing to do with run-on sentences or abandoning
good rules of grammar!) Think of enjambed lines as those that WRAP AROUND.
envoi: A brief ending, usually not more than four lines long—most often to the ballad, but also to
the sestina—which contains a summary and rounding off of the subject and argument of the poem.
(Think envoy, envelope, as in a sending off)
epigraph: A relevant quotation at the beginning of a poem, book, chapter, etc.. (Not to be confused
with epigram). Before Michael Cirelli’s poem “Brown Skin Lady,” his epigram is a line from The
Smiths’ song, “Ask.”
epistrophe: The opposite of anaphora: repetition of the same word at the ends of successive lines
or clauses.
epizeuxis: Emphatic repetition of a word with no other words between:
Who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars, boxcars racketing through snow
toward lonesome farms in grandfather night
from Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”
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figure: An image combined with an idea; any word or phrase that evokes an overtone or sensory
impression that is beyond the literal meaning. i.e. “sea of troubles” or “bud of love”
figurative language (figure of speech): Expressing one thing in terms of something else.
Figurative language exploits words for more than their literal meanings. Major figures of speech
include metaphor, simile, and personification.
figurative meaning: Associative or connotative meaning; representational.
formal poetry / formalism: (also called closed form or fixed form): A poem whose structure is
defined by a set pattern of meter, rhyme, and sometimes repetition of line or phrase. The sonnet,
villanelle, sestina, rondeau, and triolet are among more popular fixed forms. (NOTE: Although the
sestina is a fixed form, is it not always metrical. There are some poets who have written it in iambic
pentameter.) Haiku do not fall into this category.
foot: A single rhythmic unit. In metrical poetry, a unit combining stressed and unstressed syllables
in a set pattern. See meter. Lines are measured by the number of feet they contain. Although we
will be dealing mainly with the iamb, there are other feet:
anapest: duh-duh-DUH, as in Get away!
dactyl: DUH-duh-duh, as in honestly
iamb: duh-DUH, as in alas!
trochee: DUH-duh, as in pizza
spondee: DUH-DUH, as in humdrum
fourteeners: A seven-foot line which simply combines two lines of the ballad stanza into one line
of seven iambs (iambic heptameter).
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free verse: (see also open form) Poetry of any line length and any placement on the page, with no
fixed measure or shape to the final form. Lines that follow no fixed metrical pattern, though they are
often loosely rhythmical. Free verse often employs parallel grammatical phrasing, verbal repetition,
and typographical patterning as means of expression. NOTE: FREE VERSE DOES NOT RHYME,
except for the occasional random rhyme. Annie Finch says, “The word “verse” comes from the
Latin word versus, meaning ‘the turning of a plow at the end of a furrow.’ This turning back to
create lines gives free verse its repeating pattern. If you ever feel that free verse is more modern that
traditional forms, consider the following free verse poem” (A Poet’s Craft 418). She is referring to
George Herbert’s free verse poem of 1585, entitled “The Collar.”
There are six types of free verse; they will be outlined in more depth on a separate handout:
1. long-lined, oral-based free verse
2. short-lined free verse
3. literary or medium-lined free verse
4. variable-lined free verse
5. open field or projective free verse
6. prose poems
generosity: I learned this unofficial term from David Yezzi. It’s the idea that a poet should have a
spirit of generosity, not just when writing a poem, but also when performing live for an audience.
For example: Walk up to the podium slowly, give the audience a few moments to take a good, long
look at you, and then smile. If you do this, without rushing, and before even announcing the title of
your poem, they will appreciate it tremendously. You will give them the impression that you have it
all under control, and that for the next few minutes, they are in good hands. If you rush through the
title and first few lines, the listeners won’t even hear them—they will still be busy taking their first
look at you, what you’re wearing, and sizing you up.
haiku: A Japanese lyric verse form (sometimes having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five
syllables), traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons. An unrhymed Japanese poem
recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived, in which Nature is linked to human nature.
(See senryu for comparison.) NOTE: Haiku do NOT have to always be 5-7-5, as along as they have
17 or fewer syllables in total. You will receive a separate Haiku Anthology.
heterometric stanza: A stanza using lines of differing lengths.
hyperbole: (It’s high-PER-buh-lee. It’s not pronounced like Superbowl.) Exaggeration for
emphasis (the opposite of understatement). I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
iamb: A unit of measure in poetry: a short syllable followed by a long syllable. i.e. I am.
iambic pentameter: Pentameter is Greek for five measures. This line has five measures and ten
syllables. It is the measure used in the villanelle, sonnet, and is the signature meter in blank verse. It
is a 10-syllable line of poetry that is made up of five 2-syllable feet of iambs (unstressed syllable,
stressed syllable). ta-TUM, ta-TUM, ta-TUM, ta-TUM , ta-TUM.
image / imagery: Concrete representation of sensory reality. Thing or quality that can be
experienced by one or more of the five senses. Imagery is the collective character of the images in a
particular work: its sensory content and the suggestive nature of the content.
imperative: A sentence in which the “mood” of the verb commands or requests, as in Listen! Go!
See Godbey’s “Daughters of China.”
irony: A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens
and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite
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of what they mean. In irony of circumstance or situation, the opposite of what is logically expected
occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the
audience or to the other characters. Flannery O'Connor's short stories employ all these forms of
irony, as does Poe's "Cask of Amontillado."
isometric stanza: A stanza using lines of the same length.
kenning: A conventional poetic phrase used for or in addition to the usual name of a person or
thing, especially in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon verse, as “a wave traveler” for “a boat.” More
information, from Annie Finch: “One of the most ancient kinds of metaphors, kennings are
increasingly appreciated by contemporary poets. A kenning is a circumlocution, a riddle-like,
concise metaphor that appears frequently in Old English and Norse poetry. Often, kennings
developed because of various metrical requirements; if an Anglo-Saxon poet who was improvising
a poem orally needed a way to say “sea” with two stressed syllables, he or she could use a kenning
as a preexisting poetic phrase (also called a “formula”). Two-syllable kennings for “sea” would
include “whale-road” or “swan-road.” Mysterious, evocative, and beautiful, kennings pepper the
poems of those cultures with phrases such as “bone-house” (body), “world-candle” (sun), and
“spear-trees” (warriors). “Kenning” is related to the word “ken,” meaning “awareness,” and to the
words “kin” and “kinship” (162-63). See Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “Speech to the Young.”
light verse: Verse that is written to entertain, amuse, or please, often by the subtlety of its form
rather than by its literary quality. (Limericks and clerihews are light verse.) Most editors of today’s
literary magazines are not looking for light verse. Also referred to as Hallmark or greeting-card
verse. The exception is a reputable journal such as Light Quarterly, which publishes light verse
exclusively. However, it is highly sophisticated light verse, and it knows it is light. What you want
to avoid is writing a poem that you think is serious, but it comes across as light to others. If
someone refers to your poem as “light,” it might not be a compliment.
limericks: Short, sometimes bawdy, humorous poems of consisting of five anapestic lines (see
rhythm). Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a limerick have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another.
Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other. Edward Lear is famous
for his Book of Nonsense which included the poetry form of limericks:
There was an Old Person whose habits,
Induced him to feed upon rabbits;
When he'd eaten eighteen,
He turned perfectly green,
Upon which he relinquished those habits.
line: Unit of composition in poetry. Line as an expressive concern is one of the few absolute
distinctions between poetry and prose. The line lengths for meter are as follows. Remembering
them is easy if you look at the prefixes:
 Monometer- one foot
 Dimeter- two feet
 Trimeter- three feet
 Tetrameter- four feet
 Pentameter- five feet
 Hexameter- six feet
 Septameter- seven feet
 Octameter- eight feet
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line break: Convention of how lines end in a particular poem or how a particular line ends. Line
breaks may coincide with or counterpoint sense and syntax. They may be preset or unpredictable.
They may or may not be reinforced by repeated sounds.
literal: Limited to the simplest, ordinary, most obvious meaning. Denotative, without figurative
suggestion or embellishment. “Jane looks like Mary” is a literal composition; “Jane looks like a
goddess” is figurative (a simile). In translation, a capturing of the exact meaning of the original:
“Word for word.”
litotes: a form of understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the
negative of its contrary, as in “not bad at all” or “not unattractive.” The opposite of hyperbole.
lyric poetry: “…in poetry the term ‘lyric’ tends to mean any poem focusing on the emotions of a
first-person speaker” (Finch 91). Loosely defined as any short poem other than narrative and drama,
where poets express their state of mind. (Lyric poems include epics, odes, and elegies.) An ancient
subdivision of poetry, the lyric celebrates a single theme or motif. “In classical times, lyric poems
were poems about the writer’s state of heart or mind usually sung accompanied by a lute or other
instrument, like the lyrics to songs today.” (Finch 89).
manuscript format: The typed format used when submitting your poems (a manuscript) to a
publisher for consideration. 1) Always type; never handwrite. 2) Use plain white paper and standard
black ink. 3) Use a standard font/size (Times New Roman or Arial 11 or 12-point). 4) Put your
contact info. (name, address, phone, e-mail) in the upper left-hand corner. 5) Put your poem’s title
and number of lines in the upper right-hand corner. 6) Approx. 10 lines from the top of the paper,
type your title again, skip two spaces, and type your poem single-spaced. Note: If you have a silly email address, consider setting up a separate, more conservative address by which publishers may
contact you. Although your friends and family may be amused to know you as
FunkySkateboardWeasel@gmail.com, it doesn’t radiate professionalism!
meiosis: (understatement) a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of
saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants - an understatement. A litotes is a
form of meiosis. The speaker's words convey less emotion than is actually felt. A good example of
these literary terms are illustrated in this excerpt from Mary Howitt’s “The Spider and the Fly”:
“Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
“'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I've a many curious things to show when you are there."
meta: (adj. or noun) self-referential, something that refers to itself, sometimes in a self-parodying
manner. An ars poetica may be a bit meta. Other examples include: a movie-within-a-movie, or a
song about singing in a rock band. Some meta works are effective; however, it is worth noting that
it is not unusual for some pieces to be criticized as being too meta for their own good, especially if
that characteristic detracts from the piece.
metaphor: In short, a direct comparison between two dissimilar things. A figure of speech that
depends on an unexpected area of likeness between two unlike things that are said to be identical.
Metaphors tend to be literally impossible assertions: “The moon is a gold balloon.” Metaphor is
from the Greek word for “transfer.” You could say a metaphor transfers meaning from one word to
another, and it does so quite explicitly. A metaphor often has a stronger impact than a simile.
Although similes use “like,” in a metaphor, the “like” is implied.
meter: The recurrent rhythmic pattern in a poem, made up of stressed syllables, or feet. Feet are the
individual building blocks of meter. Metrical lines are defined by type and number of feet. For
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example, iambic pentameter is a term that describes the type of foot (iamb) and line length (5
iambs). The word meter comes literally from the Greek word for “measure.”
metonymy: is referring to something by referring to something associated with it. We say “The
White House” when we mean the President or the government. We say “the suits” when we mean
“the executives.” Military leaders are “the brass.” It’s really easy to mix up metonymy and
synecdoche since they are so similar.
metrical contract is a term, coined by John Hollander, for the understanding that reader and poet
share about a poem’s meter. The reader comes to count on a certain meter in a particular poem; if
the poem suddenly breaks the meter, it is a violation of this unspoken contract. The metrically
literate reader may respond in different ways: by feeling betrayed, getting bored, getting distracted,
or just deciding the poet doesn’t know how to use meter.
modes of poetry: Poetry’s three modes are narrative, lyric, and dramatic; however, there may be
some occasional overlap. Refer to individual definitions. “‘Modes’ refers to the three sweeping
poetic approaches of lyric, narrative, and dramatic outlined by Aristotle. ‘Genres’ refers to more
specific types of poetry, usually distinguished by subject matter as well as style, such as the elegy,
ode, or love poem, or even narrower categories such as ‘the baseball poem,’ ‘the wedding lyric,’ or
‘the science fiction epic’” (Finch 89).
music: Also word-music. A catch-all term to cover the sum of all the sound and rhythms in a piece
of poetry; everything in a poem that strikes the ears. “…all the patterns made by the sounds of
consonants and vowels together: assonance (repeated vowel sounds), consonance (repeated
consonant sounds), alliteration (a special term for consonance or assonance at the beginning of
words), and rhyme (a combination of assonance and consonance in a stressed syllable at the end of
a word)” (Finch 191). Poets also use onomatopoeia to create word music. They carefully consider
the sounds and how they will affect a poem’s mood and tone. There is a huge International Phonetic
Alphabet chart, but just consider this brief list and how certain words feel in your nose, mouth and
face when you say them aloud:
o Plosives: P / B
o Dental: T / D / TH
o Sibilants: S /SH / Z
o Nasal: N / M / NG
o Fricative: F / V
o Guttural: G / K
narrative poetry: In a narrative poem, a narrator tells a story, typically from a third-person point of
view but sometimes in the first person or even the second person. The story usually has a beginning,
middle, and end. While the narrative poems that have historically had the most impact have tended
to be long epic poems such as The Odyssey, narrative poems don’t have to be long” (Finch 109).
The great majority of narrative poetry in English has been written in two ancient forms: the ballad
and the epic.
neologism: A new word, meaning, usage, or phrase; the introduction or use of new words or new
senses of existing words. For example, you turn a noun into a verb whenever you say that you are
going to “friend” someone on Facebook. That is a new part of speech for an existing word. You can
also invent or compound new words. In a recent poem I invented “mockingberry.” It is not a plant
that really exists; however I use it to mean fake, inedible, or poisonous berry. On a deeper level, the
mockingberry trope is a metaphor for something given to you (almost like food to a hungry person),
something that seems to be good, useful, or nourishing—but it’s really inedible, poisonous, or
Revised August 2012 / Instructor: Garcia / Poetry Glossary, Page 11 of 19
useless. In essence, it mocks your hunger. In Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” he invents entirely new
words.
New Formalism: New Formalism (or Neo-Formalism) was a late-twentieth century development in
American poetry that sought to draw fresh attention to traditional forms of verse in terms of meter,
rhyme, and stanzaic symmetry. Disheartened both by the overwhelming popularity of free verse
during the Cold War and by the notion that metrical patterns were somehow antithetical to organic
truth, New Formalist poets rallied behind the traditions, aesthetics, and practices they believed had
been all but abandoned by many of their contemporaries. I consider myself a New Formalist; the
majority of what I have published has been in a formal style. Other New Formalists include Kim
Bridgford, Jehanne Dubrow, Dana Gioia, R. Nemo Hill, Jeff Holt, Quincy Lehr, Austin MacRae,
Rick Mullin, and Marly Youmans.) Mezzo Cammin is an online journal of Formalist poetry by
women.
objective: (adjective) Not influenced by personal feelings, attitudes, opinions, or interpretations,
Based on facts; unbiased. The opposite of subjective. For example, multiple-choice and true/false
tests are called “objective tests” because they are based on facts, and there is only one right answer
for each question. The answers are not open for interpretation. For example grading a driver’s
license test would be much more objective than grading an orchestra’s performance (subjective).
objective correlative: T.S. Eliot’s terminology for using images that reflect a character’s of a
speaker’s inner state. “As Eliot put it in his essay on Hamlet, ‘The only way of expressing emotion
in the form of art is by finding an ‘objective correlative’; in other words, a set of objects, a situation,
a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such as that when the
external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately
evoked.’…it also provides a useful way to think about poetic imagery in general; strong poetic
imagery has the quality of inevitability that Eliot describes, and it can tell an entire emotional story
perhaps more powerfully because the emotions are not stated” (Finch 134-35). “Like a close-up or
zoom in film, an unexpected focus can add tremendous impact to images” (Finch 134).
octave: The first eight lines of a sonnet
ode: Poem generally celebrating a person, place, or event. A poem of commemoration. Odes used to
be solemn, heroic and elevated, but that is not necessarily so any longer. Although the early Greek
odes had a set form, odes in the English language vary in length and structure.
onomatopoeia: Simply put, a word whose sound imitates its meaning. Imitation in the sound of a
word (or word combination) of the sound connected to the action or thing named or described.
“Slap,” “swish,” and “ping-pong” are examples.
open-form poetry: If you think of poems that are metered or rhymed as closed forms, you may call
poems that reject those kinds of organization open. Free verse, for example, is an open form.
over the top: An unofficial term poets use to describe writing that comes on so strong that it
weakens the poem. It’s overkill, distracting, or perhaps too sentimental or cutesy. Think of your
favorite dinner—now think of it with a cup of cayenne pepper and jalapeños on it—too much, right?
This concept is illustrated well by this quotation from Logan Pearsall Smith: “What I like in a good
author is not what he says, but what he whispers.”
oxymoron: A phrase that contains a contradiction but nevertheless makes sense when one of the
terms is reinterpreted, as in “the sound of silence.” Most often an adjective-noun combination:
“gentle violence,” “terrible beauty” or “fortunate fall” or (humorously) “jumbo shrimp.”
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pastoral: A poem that seeks to imitate and celebrate the virtues of rural life. A “nature poem,” even
if the beautiful dream becomes a nightmare. A convention that celebrated the virtues of rural life
and largely idealized them. This idealization became an important part of poetry’s perspective on
itself as a value system seeking to recover a lost golden age. With the Industrial Revolution in
England the pastoral feel into disuse. But it remains a shadow behind natural poetry to this day.
personification: Referring to a nonhuman creature or inanimate object in human terms, such as “the
sleeping sea.” In contemporary writing this figure of speech is used sparingly and with great care—
otherwise it can come across as humorous when you didn’t intend it to be.
persona poem: “A lyric poem in an imagined speaker’s voice but not addressed to another
character” (Finch 103). Therefore, it also falls somewhat under the category of dramatic poetry.
po-biz: How experienced poets refer to the poetry industry. A play on the term “show biz.”
poetry: The art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful,
imaginative, or elevated thoughts; literary work in metrical form; verse. Poetry uses the patterns
and power of repetition, and in that sense, it differs from prose. “Like the drumbeat of a shaman,
poetic repetition not only makes a poem easy to remember; it can lull the logical part of the brain,
hypnotize a listener, transport a reader into a new state of mind, speak directly to the physical,
irrational part of our brains” (Finch 3).
polyptoton: Words are repeated as different parts of speech, or as different forms of the same wordstem:
Thou, whose shadow shadows both make bright—
How would they shadow’s form form happy show…
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43
prose: Ordinary written language that is NOT poetry. Short stories, letters, novels are prose. (Do
not confuse it with prosody, which is different.)
prose poem: Though the name of the form may appear to be a contradiction, the prose poem
essentially appears as prose, but reads like poetry. While it lacks the line breaks associated with
poetry, the prose poem maintains a poetic quality, often utilizing techniques common to poetry,
such as fragmentation, compression, repetition, and rhyme. The prose poem can range in length
from a few lines to several pages long, and it may explore a limitless array of styles and subjects.
Examples include Richard Blanco’s “Mango Number 61” and Stephen Dobyns’ “Loud Music.”
prosody: A general term for the metrical structure of poetry. Theoretically, anything that can be
repeated or counted—words, syllables, accented syllables, sentences, even line breaks—can be
experimented with as an element in prosody. (Do not confuse this term with prose, which is
different.)
protected: This is a term that I have used with dozens and dozens of students while conferencing
on their drafts. I say that the poem feels “protected “when it feels guarded or veiled. It is hiding the
real poem or narrative. The real poem is what you are not telling me. Often by encouraging the
student to write a poem that is less protected, amazing poems surface. Let the reader in. They aren’t
going to assume that the speaker is you. Poets get to wear the mask. It takes some guts to say what
one wants to say, what one needs to say. I say, “Go for it!” You won’t be sorry that you did. 
quasi-stanzaic: A loose grouping of line and paragraphs within a poem.
quatrain: A stanza of four lines linked by rhyme.
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repetition: Some classical rhetorical strategies involving repetition include: anadiplosis,
anaphora, antanaclasis, epistrophe, epizeuxis, polyptoton, and symploce, These have all been
defined for you separately. Try to use some of these devices in your poems.
repetition (poetic forms that use repetition in their structure): Poems with repeating structures
include: blues, canzone, ghazal, kyrielle, pantoum, rondeau, sestina, triolet, tritina, villanelle. You
may look up their individual definitions and patterns in this glossary or elsewhere.
repetend: A repeating line. For example, villanelles have repetends.
restraint: Restraint is a concept that experienced poets try to exercise. The term used to describe
how, although poets want to be “poetic,” they aim to keep balance by not writing in a way that is
“over the top” or “trying too hard” to be “poetic.” Think of what Charles Bukowski said: "An
intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way." Lack of
restraint can result in lines that come across as melodramatic, overkill, distracting, or perhaps too
sentimental or cutesy. Sometimes being less forceful allows poems to be stronger. Think of your
favorite dinner—now think of it with a cup of cayenne pepper and jalapeños on it—too much, right?
This concept is illustrated well by this quotation form Logan Pearsall Smith: “What I like in a good
author is not what he says, but what he whispers.”
rhyme: (There is a great website if you Google “Alberto Rios Glossary of Rhymes”). True rhyme is
the agreement in the last vowel and final consonant (if there is one) of two or more words:
“Terrence this is stupid stuff/You eat your victuals fast enough” (A.E. Houseman). Rhyme is no
longer a sure sign that you are in the presence of poetry. Contemporary poets tend to avoid the
blatancy of true rhyme in favor of less intense echoes, known collectively as off-rhyme or slant
rhyme. These include consonant echoes “leaf/chaff”) and even the more subdued mating of similar
but not identical sounds (“meat/lad”). For some poets, the occurrence of the same sound(s)
anywhere in the last syllable (or word) represents a rhyme (“lass/slip”). One special kind of off
rhyme is consonance, in which a pattern of identical sounds surrounds any vowel: “kiss/case.”
true rhyme (also known as perfect rhyme)
(breath, death)
slant rhyme (also known as)
(dizzy, easy)
(Some other types of slant rhyme are sometimes called squint, near, off, virtual, or imperfect
rhyme, but not all poets necessarily agree on the slight differences between them.)
sight rhyme
(gone, bone)
Rhymes can also be masculine or feminine:
masculine: the stress is on the final syllable of the words. (rhyme, sublime)
feminine: the stress is on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. (motion, ocean)
rhythm: Flow of stressed and unstressed syllables, pauses, line breaks, and other devices the writer
can control for musical effects. While we most frequently speak of “rhythm” or the lack thereof
when considering poetry, prose also has rhythms that can add to or detract from your work.
Although the iamb is the only unit that you need to memorize as slack-STRESS, you at least
need to be able to recognize that the other words are names of metrical feet.
iamb
(slack-STRESS)
trochee
(STRESS-slack)
anapest
(slack-slack-STRESS)
dactyl
(STRESS-slack-slack)
spondee
(STRESS-STRESS)
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scansion: The act of scanning (or examining) a line of verse for its weak and strong accents. When
we scan, we use graphic symbols to indicate and highlight the essential features. Scansion does not
create these features; it only indicates what they are by conventional markings. Stressed syllables
are indicated by slashes ( / ) placed over the syllables, unstressed syllables by hyphens ( - ) or
breves ( ˘ ) over the unstressed syllables, feet by vertical lines between the syllables ( ), and
caesuras by doubled vertical lines (  ) at the pauses. Rhyme schemes are described by equating
the rhymed syllables to letter symbols. Thus a poem in rhymed couplets: aa bb cc, etc; a poem in
terza rima: aba bcb cdc dcd, etc.
senryu: An unrhymed Japanese lyric verse form (sometimes having three unrhymed lines of five,
seven, and five syllables). Although senryu is similar in structure to haiku, senryu is concerned
with human nature and emotions; it is often humorous or satiric. NOTE: senryu do not always have
to be 5-7-5 syllables, as long as they contain 17 or fewer.
sensory detail: Using imagery incorporating the five senses in order to engage the reader and make
the writing come alive: sight (visual), sound (auditory), taste (gustatory), touch (tactile), smell
(olfactory). Compare these sentences:
 Dull: The mountains are beautiful.
 Sensory: The mountains are stacked like dominos, their white caps crisscrossing the western
sky.
 Dull: She was very pretty.
 Sensory: Grandmother’s painted crimson lips were always smiling, he high cheekbones and
deep, topaz eye reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor.
 Dull: The turkey was good.
 Sensory: The Thanksgiving turkey was moist and tender, the apply stuffing permeating each bit
of delicate white meat.
sestet: The last six lines of a sonnet
sestina: (the short definition) A form of thirty-nine (39) lines and six (6) stanzas, with a three-line
envoi at the end. There are no rhymes. The form works by repetition and end-words, (sometimes
called telutons, from the Greek word telos meaning end), six (6) in all, which are repeated
throughout the poem in a shifting order with a fixed pattern. See below for longer definition and
criteria:
 (Refer to Anthony Hecht’s “The Book of Yolek” to see a good example.)
 It is a poem of thirty-nine (39) lines.
 It has six (6) stanzas of six (6) lines each, followed by an envoi of three (3) lines.
 All of these are unrhymed
 The same six (6) end-words must occur in every stanza but in a changing order that
follow a set pattern. (NOTE: You cannot make up your own pattern!)
 This recurrent pattern of end-words is known as “lexical repetition.”
 Each stanza must follow on the last by taking a reversed pairing of the previous lines
 The first line of the second stanza must pair its end-words with the last line of the first.
The second line of the second stanza must do this with the first line of the first and so on,
 The envoi of last three lines must gather up and deploy the six (6) end words.
 Sestinas are not usually written in iambic pentameter; however, I have seen it done.
simile: In short, an indirect comparison between two dissimilar things. Usually described as a
comparison using “like” or “as,” the simile is a type of analogy in which the quality of one thing is
used to identify it with what is essentially a different thing: “A state is like a ship.” “She is as
beautiful as a rose.” Simile is the Latin word for “like.” Effective similes give us a sense of an
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unknown through a known. See figure of speech and metaphor. Similes make explicit
comparisons, whereas metaphors make implicit comparisons.
slant rhyme: Off rhyme, squint rhyme, virtual rhyme, imperfect rhyme, such as dizzy and easy
sonnet: (the short definition) Poem in 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, rhyming in one or
another of the major sonnet traditions or a variation thereof. Two common types of sonnets are
Shakespearean sonnets (English) and Petrarchan (Italian) sonnets. See below for longer definition
and criteria:
 It is a poem of fourteen (14) lines, usually iambic.
 There are three kinds of sonnets, with very different histories behind their different
forms: the Petrarchan, Spenserian, and Shakespearian. (We will focus only on the
Shakespearian.)
 The Petrarchan sonnet is Italian in origin, has an octave of eight lines and a sestet of six.
The rhyme scheme of the octave is abagbcdcd and of the sestet cdecde.
 The Shakespearean sonnet was developed in England and has far more than just surface
difference from the Petrarchan.
 The rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet is ababcdcdefefgg. There is no
octave/sestet structure to it. The final couplet is a defining feature.
sound devices: These include alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme.
speaker: The speaker of the poem is the voice. The speaker of the poem could be the author;
however, it is very important to note that the speaker of the poem isn’t necessarily the author, and
an intelligent reader should not automatically assume they are the same. In my online poetry
workshop, I have seen some poets refer to the speaker as the narrator, or simply “N” on the
feedback posts, but “speaker” is more accurate.
split couplets: A poem consisting of couplets in which the first line is iambic pentameter, and the
second line is iambic dimeter. The couplets follow this 10 syllable / 4 syllable pattern. The poem
may be of any length.
stanza/stanzaic: (the short definition) Group of poetic lines that seem to belong together, defined
by a space break from another group of lines. In most traditional, rhymed verse, all stanzas have a
predictable or regular form. In free verse, any sequential group of lines that appear to stand together
may be considered a stanza. Though both stanza and paragraph are divisions that assume there is
some type of internal organization, we do not use the word “paragraph” when speaking of poetry.
See below for longer definition:
 Any unit of recurring meter and rhyme—or variants of them—used in an established
pattern of repetition and separation in a single poem.
 The stanza can be made up of lines of the same length. This called an isometric stanza.
 The stanza can also be made up of lines of different lengths. This is called heterometric.
 There can also be a loose grouping of lines and paragraphs of verse. This is called quasistanzaic.
 The effect of the stanza is gained by the combination of accumulating sense, from stanza
to stanza, combined with repeated sound through the repetition of lineation and rhyming.
The stanza units are:
o
o
o
o
Monostiche- one-line stanza
Couplet- two-line stanza
Tercet- three-line stanza
Quatrain- four-line stanza
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o
o
o
o
o
Cinquain- four-line stanza
Sestet- six-line stanza
Septet- seven-line stanza
Octave- eight-line stanza
Spenserian or nine-line stanza
stichic: a continuous, unbroken poem.
subjective: Open for interpretation. Based on personal tastes, attitudes and opinions. The opposite
of objective. For example, grading an orchestra’s performance would be much more subjective than
grading a driver’s license test (objective).
substitutions or variations: Acceptable deviations from a strict line of meter. There are “rules” for
substituting, though. You’ll learn more about that in a separate handout on meter.
syllabic verse: Verse in which lines are defined by the number of syllables. When writing syllabic
verse, it is preferable to use odd numbers (7, 9, 11). For example, Donald Justice’s “The Tourist
from Syracuse.” Lines with an even number of syllables run the risk of creating a singsong sound
like a nursery rhyme, so as a contemporary poet, avoid those even numbers.
symploce: A combination of anaphora and epistrophe. It is the repetition of the same word or
word or phrase at the beginning of a line, as well as at the end of it. Example:
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs it muzzle on the window-panes
from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1917)
synecdoche: A figure of speech, a kind of metaphor that substitutes a part for the whole, as in
calling a runner “Legs” or referring to a shelter as “a roof over your head.” It’s really easy to mix up
synecdoche and metonymy since they are so similar.
synesthesia: The description of a sense impression (smell, touch, sound etc) but in terms of another
seemingly inappropriate sense e.g. 'a deafening yellow'. Synesthesia is particularly associated with
the French symbolist poets. Keats also uses synesthesia in “Ode to a Nightingale” with the term
'sunburnt mirth'. Example: the velvet sound.
syntax: The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue. The organization
of words and phrases and clauses in sentences of prose, verse, and dialogue. As a 21st century poet,
you want to avoid sounding like you are from another century or planet. Think of how in the Star
Wars trilogy Yoda inverts his word order when he says, “Do or do not; there is no try,” and “Judge
me by my size, do you?” Well, you are not Yoda. In the following example from Robert Frost,
normal syntax (subject, verb, object order) is inverted: "Whose woods these are I think I know."
tenor: In a metaphor or simile, it is the thing being described. A tenor is often less vivid and less
specific than the vehicle that describes it. Example: in the metaphor “his eyes were daggers,”
“daggers” is the vehicle being used to describe eyes. Even if the order were switched, the tenor, or
thing being described, is still “eyes”:
“His eyes (tenor) were daggers (vehicle).”
“When he looked at me, I was pierced by daggers.”
“He flashed his dagger eyes.”
tercet: A stanza of three lines. A triplet rhymes aaa.
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terza rima: Three-line stanza interlocked with adjoining tercets rhyming aba bcb cdc and so forth.
Find Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” to see a good example.
tone: A poem’s overall attitude or mood—like a tone of voice.
trope: A figure of speech, in which words are not used in their literal (or actual) sense but in a
figurative (or imaginative) sense. A general term for describing one thing in terms of something
else. The two most common types of trope, simile and metaphor, use one thing (the vehicle) to
describe another (the tenor). The etymology of the word “trope” leads us to the Greek word for “to
turn.” Kinds of tropes include allegory, analogy, antaclasis, double entendre, kennings,
metaphors (extended and implied), metonymy, personification, simile, symbol, synecdoche, and
synesthesia.
understatement: A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she
means; the opposite of hyperbole/exaggeration. (Litotes and meiosis are forms of understatement.)
vanity publishing: The practice of paying someone to publish your poems. It is frowned upon by
serious poets. Publishers should pay you, either in money or with free copies. Any egomaniac with
enough cash —no matter how poorly written his or her poems may be—can pay to have poems
published. Some vanity publishing is disguised as “contests” that you “win” and then pay $60 to
obtain the book in which your poem has been published. On the other hand, serious poets’ poems
are accepted and published based on their literary merit.
vehicle: The part of a metaphor or simile that is being used for comparison. A vehicle is often
more vivid and specific than a tenor, which is why it casts light on the tenor and enables us to
understand something new about it. A well-chosen vehicle makes your writing strong. Example: in
the metaphor “his eyes were daggers,” “daggers” is the vehicle being used to describe eyes. Even
if the order were switched, “daggers” is still the vehicle:
“His eyes (tenor) were daggers (vehicle).”
“When he looked at me, I was pierced by daggers.”
“He flashed his dagger eyes.”
verse: This word has multiple meanings, so let’s clear them up. We use # 1, 2, and 3.
1. Poetry written in metrical form. This is what we usually mean when we say verse in class.
2. Also, we refer to one line of a metrical poem as a verse.
3. A particular type of metrical line, as in a pentameter verse or a hexameter verse.
4. Casually, some people refer to any piece of poetry—or even a stanza—as a verse-but that’s
not what we mean here when we speak of it more technically.
villanelle: (short definition) A closed form of nineteen (19) lines. It has five stanzas. Each of these
are three (3) lines long, with a final stanza of four lines. The first line of the first stanza is repeated
as the last line of the second and fourth stanzas. See below for longer definition and criteria:
 Examples include Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” and Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not
Go Gentle Into That Good Night.”
 It is a poem of nineteen (19) lines.
 The lines are in iambic pentameter.
 The first line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the second and fourth
stanzas.
 The third line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas.
 These two refrain lines follow each other to become the second-to-last and last lines of
the poem.
 The rhyme scheme is aba. The rhymes are repeated according to the refrains.
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voice: Combination of diction, syntax, and persona, forming the total tonality. The impression of a
personality behind a piece of writing. Although the term voice is often used as synonymous with the
word style, it’s actually the impression that style leaves of the stylist’s character.
volta: The “turn” after line 8 of a sonnet, often signaled by a word such as “but” or “yet,” where the
poem takes on a new perspective or attitude.
white space: Both positive space (the text) and negative space (or white space) make meaning in a
poem. White space can emphasize a word or phrase, give the reader room to pause, or facilitate
movement between ideas.
word-music: See music.
workshop: A setting—either in person or online—in which poets share their work in order to give
and receive constructive criticism (feedback) so that they made revise and improve their poems. It is
important to follow workshop etiquette (manners). Feedback may be verbal, written, or both.
Groups may be small or large. For example, I work with some poets one-on-one, but I also belong
to an online poetry workshop with over 6,800 members worldwide.
If you are interested, there are types of poems to look up: aubade, bop, clerihew (“light”), epigram,
epithalamium, ghazal, glosa, kyrielle, pantoum, renga, tanka, and tritina.
Definitions culled and adapted from

Finch, Annie. A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (2012)

Garcia, Nicole Caruso

Jason & Lefkowitz. Creative Writer’s Handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Strand, Mark and Eavan Boland. The Making of a Poem: Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New York: Norton & Co., 2000.

<http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/narrativelyricdrama.htm>

William Packard’s The Art of Poetry Writing

Poetry for Dummies (2001)
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