English
Alliteration
Same sound or letter at the beginning of close words
Symbolism
When a symbol is used to represent something
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds
Consonance
Repeated sounds throughout the text (consonant sounds)
Oxymoron
Contrasting words with opposite meanings (one after the other) in a small two word phrase
Irony
A contrast between expectation and reality
Juxtaposition
Contrasting elements throughout the poem
Apostrophe
The speaker addresses an absent person or non human object
Tone
Conveys the authors attitude toward the subject
Mood
The atmosphere and feelings evoked
Paradox
A contradiction but it contains some truth, theme, or humor
Cacophony
Unharmonious sounds like: k, g, p, t, ch, and sh
Epiphora
The repetition at the end of a phrase
Dissonance
Disruption of the rhythm and harmony
Euphony
A pleasing sound
Chiasmus
When words, grammatical constructions or concepts are repeated in reverse order
Synecdoche
When a part of something is used to substitute the whole (saying wheels instead of car, or hired hand for workers)
Metonymy
Change the name of something to a related name
Symbol
Something used to represent an idea
Voice
What distinguishes the poet for one another, the style
Theme
The message the author wants to communicate
Tanka
A poem with syllables 5-7-5-7-7
Senryu
A three line poem that focuses on human nature with an ironic or darkly comedic edge
Sonnet
14 line poem with variable rhyme scheme
Slam
A performance poetry that includes writing, competition, and audience participation
Free verse
A poem with no defined meter, no consistent rhyme scheme, no specific length or requirements
Acrostic
A poem that the first letters form a word
Ballad
A poem that tells a story, composed of four-line stanzas that follow an ABCB rhyme scheme
Ode
A cerimonious lyric poem that often celebrates a person, place, thing or idea
Elegy
A melacholic poem that laments the subject's death but ends in consolation
Carmen
A poem in the form of a spell, prayer or curse
Blackout
A blacked-out poem in which only some words are readable
Terza rima
A poem made of tercets
Pantoum
A poem with four line stanzas
Etheree
A poem with lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables in order or reversed
Mesotich
A poem in which the letters of a word form a vertical phrase