POETRY TERM CHART
Mrs. Kirk—English
You are responsible for finding or creating AND UNDERSTANDING your own example for each term. Use any seemingly reliable
resource you’d like, and feel free to share the work with friends who will share the work with you. I suggest you begin to study these
terms immediately; maybe you and a friend can develop a Quizlet or make flash cards. These are terms that will be on worksheets,
the end of unit poetry test, and the final, so learn them, you must! Options:
 Adjust the font size and spacing to your liking so you can write in your own examples
 Save a copy to your own computer and type/copy and paste the examples you find
 Feel free to adjust the layout to your preference, but keep all four column categories and differentiate each section of the list
Once complete, print a copy of the list (we will break it into three parts). Store the list in your binder and keep a copy forever.
GENERAL TERMS
TERM
DEFINITION
Speaker
the voice speaking in the poem;
NOT the author; we can make
inferences about the speaker based
on details in the poem
Tone
the speaker’s attitude toward the
subject; created by diction and
choice of detail
Diction
writer’s word choice; can be
described in many ways: formal,
informal, colloquial (using
language specific to a certain
region), or jargon (language
associated with a specific
profession or area of expertise)
EXAMPLE
MY EXAMPLE
In “Honesty” the
speaker is someone
whose lover had lied to
him.
The song “Fifteen” by
Taylor Swift has a
solemn tone (tending
toward sad reflection)
Atticus Finch uses very
formal diction (ex:
bathroom invective
rather than “potty
language”) and even
uses legal jargon
(“concede the
necessity”); on the other
hand, George uses
colloquial expressions
(“bindle stiffs”) and
informal language
(“gave us a bum steer”)
Connotation
Denotation
Stanza
End stop line
Enjambment
a word’s associations or attitude,
described as positive, negative, or
neutral
a word’s dictionary definition
scrawny and skinny
have nearly the same
denotation, but scrawny
has a more negative
connotation, and is
associated with being
weak
a unit of lines in a poem; a stanza is x
x
to a poem what a paragraph is to
prose
a line that ends with a grammatical “If I has a million dollars
pause and represents a phrase or
I would buy you a
clause that could be or is ended
house”
with a piece of punctuation
“Whenever Richard
Corey went down town/
We people on the
pavement looked at
him”
a line that must be read into the
“Let me not to the
next line in order for its meaning
marriage of true
to be understood
minds /
Admit impediments.
Love is not love /
Which alters when it
alteration finds
Or bends with the
remover to
remove.”
Poetic inversion the reversal of normal syntax
(word order) for a poetic effect
(“Yoda speak”)
“Not the least objection
made he.
Not a minute stopped or
stayed he.”
typical syntax is “s-vcomplement” Example:
He did not make the
least objection. He did
not stop or stay a
minute.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Simile
a comparison of unlike things
using like or as
Metaphor
a direct comparison of unlike
things without using like or as
“Life is like a box of
chocolates; you never
know what you’re going
to get”
“The blood-red paint…”
“No man is an island
unto himself”
“Middle school is a
tween prison”
Indirect or
implied
a comparison that is not directly
stated, but suggested. It is up to
the reader to infer what is being
compared
“Hope is the thing with
feathers that perches in
the soul” (Implying that
hope is a BIRD)
Extended
A comparison that is used
throughout the entire poem
“Hope is the thing with
feathers that perches in
the soul
And sings the tune
without the words and
never stops at all…
I’ve seen in the farthest
land and in the
strangest sea
But never in extremity it
asked a crumb from me”
Personification
Imagery
The attribution of human actions
or qualities to non-humans
(animals, inanimate objects)
The cruel mirror
laughed at my botched
haircut
The paintbrush danced
across the canvas
the descriptive appeal or use of the The crisp, cold Doctor
five senses
Pepper fizzled on my
dry tongue.
Pun
a play on the double meaning of
words or on words that sound
alike
Symbol
a tangible/concrete object that
represents something abstract
The crusty red sore
oozed with green pus
and smelled of rotten
meat
The chef battered his
assistant for
butchering their new
recipe
A dog house is place
where a dog can pause
for rest to rest his paws
The mourners had
grave looks on their
faces
Eagle=freedom
Crossroads=life’s
choices
Hyperbole
an intentional exaggeration
Allusion
a reference within literature to
history, culture, religion,
mythology, art, literature or
another well known idea or
concept
Idiom
Paradox
an expression whose words have
no connection to its literal
meaning; usually specific to a
certain language
a seeming contradiction that
actually reveals a deep truth (an
idea)
My math teacher
assigned a million
problems.
My backpack weighs a
ton.
“It was all a dream. I
used to read Word Up
magazine. Salt n Peppa
and Heavy D. up in the
limousine”
In TKM when Scout
mentions that they
“have nothing to fear
but fear itself” (alludes
to FDR’s address to the
country)
“Raining cats and dogs”
“Fall in love”
“dead as a doornail”
Love, the hardest thing
to learn, is the least
complicated emotion.
All we heard was the
sound of silence
Oxymoron
a pair of words that have opposite
meaning (NOT an idea—a thing)
jumbo shrimp
Synecdoche
using a part of something to
represent the whole or the whole
to represent a part
All hands
(crewmembers) on deck
(the ship)
The U.S. won twelve
gold medals (Not the
actual, WHOLE US, but
American Olympic
athletes)
Metonymy
use of something associated with a The Oval Office made an
concept to stand in for it.
announcement.
(Actually the president
did, but we associate
Oval Office with the
president)
We use the word “Band
Aid,” a brand name,
instead of “bandage” the
object, and “Advil”
instead of “ibuprofen”
SOUND TERMS/MUSICAL DEVICES
Meter
number and pattern of stressed
Whose woods these are
and unstressed syllables in a poem I think I know (8) (A)/
His house is in the
village though (8) (A)/
Rhyme Scheme pattern of rhyme in a poem;
He will not see me
indicated by letter, each new
sound, being assigned a new letter standing here (8) (B)/
To watch his woods fill
up with snow (8) (A)
End Rhyme
The repetition of similar sounds at
the ends of consecutive lines
Internal Rhyme
The repetition of sounds within a
line of poetry
Words that sound similar or LOOK
like they rhyme, but do not
produce an exact echo of each
Approximate or
slant rhyme
“Whose woods these
are I think I know
His house is in the
village though”
“I’m stuck to you just
like krazy glue
Call me up and we’ll
rendezvous”
Jack and Jill went up the
hill…
“bargain,” “rain,” and
“end” share similar “n”
sounds with variations
other
Alliteration
Consonance
repetition of consonant sounds at
the BEGINNING of consecutive
words
repetition of consonant sounds at
beg./end/within words
on vowels and final
sound
Peter piper picked…
Dusk goes down to day
That struts and frets his
hour upon the stage
And the silken, sad
uncertain, rustling of
each purple curtain
Assonance
repetition of vowel sounds at
beg./end/within words
"It beats as it sweeps as
it cleans."(Slogan for
Hoover vacuum
cleaners)
“And by the night tide, I
lay down by the side, of
my darling, my darling,
my life and my bride”
Onomatopoeia
words that replicate sounds
The pitter-patter of the
rain drops soothed me.
The dogs bark and howl
in the night.