glossary of poetry

Alliteration the repetition of the first letter sounds
in words that are close together, for example: ‘The
green leaves lapped lazily in the breeze.’
Allusion a reference, often indirect, to another text,
person, event or idea.
Ambiguity when two or more meanings can be
taken from a text.
Assonance the similarity of vowel sounds without
actual rhyme, for example fate/save five/lies.
Ballad a poem or song that narrates a story.
Chronology the arrangement of events in their
order of occurrence.
Colloquial informal language with familiar or local
speech patterns.
Couplet a pair of rhyming lines of verse.
Diction the type or style of language. Simile a form of comparison, which uses the
Half-rhyme a rhyme in which words contain similar words ‘as’ or ‘like’, for example: ‘He roared like a
sounds but do not completely rhyme, for example lion’
hell/hall or rhyme created by assonance. Stanza another name for a verse in a poem, with a
Imagery using words to convey a picture or idea in
the reader’s imagination.
Internal rhyme a line in poetry where the rhyming
is inside the line.
Lyrical having the quality of a short song-like
poem which expresses the poet’s thoughts and
feelings.
Metaphor an implied comparison when one thing
becomes something else for effect, for example:
‘Her anger was a raging torrent of wild water’.
Narrative poem a poem in which a story is told.
Onomatopoeia a word which sounds like what it is
describing, for example: sizzles, cuckoo, squelch,
and buzz.
Personification when human qualities are given to
represent non-human things, for example: ‘The tiny
flame looked so vulnerable.’
Prosaic language which is like prose, perhaps eve-
ryday and simple, lacking the beauty of poetry.
Repetition when a word or an idea is repeated to
achieve a particular effect.
Rhyme where words or the endings of words share
the same sounds.
Rhythm what moves a poem along; the flow of
words determined by the relationship of syllables.
Sibilance a series of words with a hissing sound
such as ‘s’ and ‘sh’.
set number of rhymes.
Surreal writing that is not realistic; it has strange or
dreamlike qualities.
Symbolism when a writer uses symbols or objects
to express ideas or emotions and create impres-
sions rather than describe things accurately.