Glossary of Terms

STRUCTURE/FORM

Point of View The author’s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or “teller” of the story or
poem. This may be considered the poem’s “voice” — the pervasive presence behind the overall work.
This is also sometimes referred to as the persona.
• 1st Person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her
perspective (uses “I”).
• 3rd Person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters through
the limited perceptions of one other person.
• 3rd Person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to “know” and describe what
all characters are thinking.
Line The line is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from
prose. Poetry is arranged into a series of units that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but
rather to a series of metrical feet. Generally, but not always, the line is printed as one single line on the
page. If it occupies more than one line, its remainder is usually indented to indicate that it is a
continuation.

There is a natural tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but the careful reader
will follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur. In traditional verse forms,
the length of each line is determined by convention, but in modern poetry the poet has more latitude
for choice.
Verse One single line of a poem arranged in a metrical pattern. Also, a piece of poetry or a particular form
of poetry such as free verse, blank verse, etc., or the art or work of a poet. The popular use of the word
verse for a stanza or associated group of metrical lines is not in accordance
with the best usage. A stanza is a group of verses.
Stanza A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of
meter and rhyme throughout the poem; a unit of poetic lines (a “paragraph” within the poem). The
stanzas within a poem are separated by blank lines (leave a space).

Stanzas in modern poetry, such as free verse, often do not have lines that are all of the same length and
meter, nor even the same number of lines in each stanza. Stanzas created by such irregular line
groupings are often dictated by meaning, as in paragraphs of prose.
Stanza Forms The names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as: couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain
(4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8). Some stanzas follow a set rhyme scheme and meter in
addition to the number of lines and are given specific names to describe them, such as, ballad meter,
ottava rima, rhyme royal, terza rima, and Spenserian stanza.
Stanza forms are also a factor in the categorization of whole poems described as following a fixed form.
Enjambment The continuation of the logical sense — and therefore the grammatical construction — beyond the
end of a line of poetry.
This can even be done with the title, which in effect becomes the first line of the poem.
Form The arrangement or method used to convey the content, such as free verse, ballad, haiku, etc. In other
words, the “way-it-is-said.” A variably interpreted term, however, it sometimes applies to details within
the composition of a text, but is probably used most often in reference to the structural characteristics
of a work as it compares to (or differs from) established modes of conventionalized arrangements.
• Open: poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and
metrical form
• Closed: poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern
• Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter (much of the plays of Shakespeare are written in this
form)
• Free Verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure — the poet determines all the variables as
seems appropriate for each poem
• Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhymed; this is the shortest stanza
• Heroic Couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter (traditional heroic epic form)
 • Quatrain: a four-line stanza, or a grouping of four lines of verse
Fixed Form A poem which follows a set pattern of meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form, and refrain (if there
is one), is called a fixed form.

Most poets feel a need for familiarity and practice with established forms as essential to learning the
craft, but having explored the techniques and constraints of each, they go on to experiment and extend
their imaginative creativity in new directions.
A partial listing includes:
• Ballad: a narrative poem written as a series of quatrains in which lines of iambic tetrameter alternate
with iambic trimeter with an xaxa, xbxb rhyme scheme with frequent use of repetition and often
including a refrain. The “story” of a ballad can be a wide range of subjects but frequently deals with
folklore or popular legends. They are written in a straight-forward manner, seldom with detail, but
always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing. Many of the oldest
ballads were first written and performed by minstrels as court entertainment. Folk ballads are of
unknown origin and are usually lacking in artistic finish. Because they are handed down by oral
tradition, folk ballads are subject to variations and continual change. Other types of ballads include
literary ballads, combining the natures of epic and lyric poetry, which are written by known authors,
often in the style and form of the folk ballad.
• Ballade: a French form, it consists of three seven or eight-line stanzas using no more than three
recurrent rhymes, with an identical refrain after each stanza and a closing envoi repeating the rhymes
of the last four lines of the stanza
• Concrete /Sjape Poetry: also known as pattern poetry or shaped verse, these are poems that are printed
on the page so that they form a recognizable outline related to the subject, thus conveying or
extending the meaning of the words. E.g. a tree-shaped poem about nature. Pattern poetry retains its
meaning when read aloud, whereas the essence of concrete poetry lies in its appearance on the page
rather than in the words; it is intended to be perceived as a visual whole and often cannot be effective
when read aloud. This form has had brief popularity at several periods in history.
• Epigram: a pithy, sometimes satiric, couplet or quatrain comprising a single thought or event and
often aphoristic with a witty or humorous turn of thought
• Epitaph: a brief poem or statement in memory of someone who is deceased, used as, or suitable for,
a tombstone inscription; now, often witty or humorous and written without intent of actual funerary
use
• Haiku: a Japanese form of poetry consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five
syllables. The elusive flavor of the form, however, lies more in its touch and tone than in its syllabic
structure. Deeply imbedded in Japanese culture and strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, haiku are
very brief descriptions of nature that convey some implicit insight or essence of a moment.
Traditionally, they contain either a direct or oblique reference to a season
• Limerick: a light or humorous form of five chiefly anapestic verses of which lines one, two and five
are of three feet and lines three and four are of two feet, with a rhyme scheme of aabba. Named for a
town in Ireland of that name, the limerick was popularized by Edward Lear in his Book of Nonsense
published in 1846, and is generally considered the only fixed form of English origin.
While the final line of Lear’s limericks usually was a repetition of the first line, modern limericks
generally use the final line for clever witticisms and word play. Their content also frequently tends
toward the ribald and off-color.
Lyric Derived from the Greek word for lyre, lyric poetry was originally designed to be sung. One of the three
main groups of poetry (the others being narrative and dramatic), lyric verse is the most frequently used
modern form, including all poems in which the speaker’s ardent expression of a (usually single)
emotional element predominates. Ranging from complex thoughts to the simplicity of playful wit, the
melodic imagery of skillfully written lyric poetry evokes in the reader’s mind the recall of similar
emotional experiences.
Ode Any of several stanzaic forms more complex than the lyric, with intricate rhyme schemes and irregular
number of lines, generally of considerable length, always written in a style marked by a rich, intense
expression of an elevated thought praising a person or object.
Elegy A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
Sestina A fixed form consisting of six 6-line (usually unrhymed) stanzas in which the end words of the first
stanza recur as end words of the following five stanzas in a successively rotating order, and as the
middle and end words of each of the lines of a concluding envoi in the form of a tercet. The usual
 ending word order for a sestina is as follows:
First stanza, 1- 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
Second stanza, 6 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 4 - 3
Third stanza, 3 - 6 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 5
Fourth stanza, 5 - 3 - 2 - 6 - 1 - 4
Fifth stanza, 4 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 6 - 2
Sixth stanza, 2 - 4 - 6 - 5 - 3 - 1
Concluding tercet:
middle of first line - 2, end of first line - 5
middle of second line - 4, end of second line - 3
middle if third line - 6, end of third line – 1
Sonnet A fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; its subject was
traditionally love. Three variations are found frequently in English, although others are occasionally
seen:
• Shakespearean Sonnet: a style of sonnet used by Shakespeare with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef
gg
• Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet: a form of sonnet made popular by Petrarch with a rhyme scheme of
abbaabba cdecde or cdcdcd
• Spenserian Sonnet: a variant of the Shakespearean form in which the quatrains are linked with a
chain or interlocked rhyme scheme, abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Sonnet Sequence: a series of sonnets in which there is a discernable unifying theme, while each retains
its own structural independence. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets, for example, were part of a sequence.
RHYME

Rhyme Scheme The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by
using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as ababbcc .

Capital letters in the alphabetic rhyme scheme are used for the repeating lines of a refrain; the
letters x and y indicate unrhymed lines.
In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme of abab is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme. The abba
scheme is called envelope rhyme, and another one frequently used is xaxa (This last pattern, when
working with students, is generally easier for them to understand when presented as abcb, as they
associate matched letters with rhymed words).
Full rhyme Occurs when two words are identical in sound from the last stressed vowel onwards, provided
the consonants preceding the vowels are different: mud/blood, trained/drained.
End-rhyme Rhymed on the terminal (end) syllables of the verses.

There are two kinds of "end rhymes." The first, is a rhyme in which the last word at the
end of each verse is the word that rhymes. The second type of "end rhyme" generally
refers to words that rhyme on their "end" or last syllable, for instance, if you rhymed
"bungee" with "me," the "-gee" in "bungee" is what is meant by an "end" rhyme.

An end rhyme is a rhyme where the sound consisting of the final vowel sound and all
following consonants is exactly the same as another word. It doesn't necessarily mean
that the final syllables are the same, because in a syllable you could have a consonant
sound preceding a vowel sound. If the sounds of the final syllables of two words are the
same, then that would be called a "last syllable rhyme". Here's an example: "Constable"
has the last syllable "-ble". That means that any word with that same exact sound would be
a last syllable rhyme. Therefore, "tenable" and "edible" are last syllable rhymes of
"constable". However, an end rhyme of the word "constable" does not necessarily include the "b" sound
found in the last syllable. Instead, any word ending with the sound "uhl" would be an end
rhyme. Therefore, "angel" and "barrel" are both considered end rhymes of "constable."
INTERNAL RHYME Rhyme that occurs in a single line of verse. ‘The Raven’ by EA Poe exhibits internal
rhyme:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door

Half-rhyme The rhyming words are identical only in their final consonant sounds: bald/old, eyes/close.

NB: consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sound) on the final consonants of the
words involved (e.g. ill with shell). Many half/slant rhymes are also eye rhymes.

Eye /Sight rhyme Also called visual rhyme and sight rhyme, is a similarity in spelling between words that are
pronounced differently and hence, not an auditory rhyme. An example is the pair slaughter and
laughter.

Many older English poems, particularly those written in Middle English or written in The
Renaissance, contain rhymes that were originally true or full rhymes, but as read by modern
readers they are now eye rhymes because of shifts in pronunciation. They are called historic
rhymes.

Pararhyme A rhyme in which two words are identical in consonant sounds after and before different
(also known as stressed vowel sounds: leaves/lives, braiding/brooding. Critics do not always distinguish between
partial or half-rhyme and pararhyme.
imperfect rhyme) When the consonants in two different words are exactly the same but the vowels vary
 The word was first coined, apparently, by Edmund Blunden in his Memoir of Wilfred Own.

SLANT RHYME Another term for assonance.

LANGUAGE DEVICES (not an exhaustive list, but this will get you started!)

Allegory A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning. Sometimes it can be a

single word or phrase, such as the name of a character or place. Often, it is a
symbolic narrative that has not only a literal meaning, but a larger one
understood only after reading the entire story or poem
Allusion A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, or Biblical or
mythological
situation or character.
Ambiguity A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in its context. Poets
often search out
such words to add richness to their work. Often, one meaning seems quite
readily apparent, but
other, deeper and darker meanings, await those who contemplate the poem.
Example: Robert Frost’s ‘The Subverted Flower’
Analogy A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with something familiar.
Example: The plumbing took a maze of turns where even water got lost.
Apostrophe Speaking directly to a real or imagined listener or inanimate object; addressing
that person or
thing by name.
Example: O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done…
Cliché Any figure of speech that was once clever and original but through overuse has
become outdated. If
you’ve heard more than two or three other people say it more than two or three
times, chances are the
phrase is too timeworn to be useful in your writing.
Example: busy as a bee
Connotation The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and
associations
apart from its literal meaning. Often, this is what distinguishes the precisely correct
word from one that
is merely acceptable.
Contrast Closely arranged things with strikingly different characteristics.
Example: He was dark, sinister, and cruel; she was radiant, pleasant, and kind.
Denotation The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any
associations or connotations.
Students must exercise caution when beginning to use a thesaurus, since often
the words that are
clustered together may share a denotative meaning, but not a connotative one, and the
substitution of a
word can sometimes destroy the mood, and even the meaning, of a poem.
Euphemism An understatement, used to lessen the effect of a statement; substituting
something innocuous
for something that might be offensive or hurtful.
Example: She is at rest. (meaning, she’s dead)
Hyperbole An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.
Example: He weighs a ton.
Irony A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from what
appears to be true.
Example: Wow, thanks for expensive gift...let’s see: did it come with a Fun Meal
or the Burger King
equivalent?
Metaphor A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or
does the action
of the other.
Example: He’s a zero. Example: Her fingers danced across the keyboard.
Metonymy A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something
closely
associated with it.
Example: The White House stated today that... Example: The Crown reported
today that...
Oxymoron A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other. Example: a
pointless point of view; bittersweet
Paradox A statement in which a seeming contradiction may reveal an unexpected truth.
Example: The hurrier I go the behinder I get.
Personification Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract
idea.
Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
Pun Word play in which words with totally different meanings have similar or
identical sounds.
Example: Like a firefly in the rain, I’m de-lighted.
Simile A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Example: He’s as dumb as an ox.
Example: Her eyes are like comets.
Symbol An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached
extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to
represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation.
Example: A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of
Philip’s death.
ANAPHORA Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of
successive sentences or clauses. It's used to embed an idea in the reader's or
listener's mind. The effect is that the anaphoric word or phrase stays with the
person long after the reading is finished. One very famous use of anaphora is in
Winston Churchill's speech in World War II, using the anaphoric phrase “we
shall.”
We shall fight on the beaches /we shall fight on the landing grounds /we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets /we shall fight in the hills; / we shall never surrender…
Anadiplosis Anadiplosis is a cousin to anaphora, in that it also uses repeated words or phrases. The
difference is that the word or phrase from the end of one sentence is repeated at the
beginning or very near the beginning of the next sentence. This can be used in fiction
writing to enhance a feeling or to heighten an expectation. Anadiplosis will pull a
reader's eyes from one sentence to the next.
Notice the use of the words “her throat” in the following example:
Her hair rose on the nape of her neck, the cold, prickly fingers of fear reaching around her throat. Her
throat constricted, choking her scream into a croaking cry for help.
Now an entirely different feeling is evoked with the words “glorious day.”
Her ring sparkled in the sunlight of the glorious day. The glorious day that signified the end of her
misery and the beginning of a new life.
IMAGERY
Imagery The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental images, not only of the
visual
sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to
figurative
language, imagery can apply to any component of a poem that evoke sensory experience
and emotional
response, and also applies to the concrete things so brought to mind.
Poetry works it magic by the way it uses words to evoke “images” that carry depths of
meaning.
The poet’s carefully described impressions of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch can be
transferred to
the thoughtful reader through imaginative use and combinations of diction. In addition to
its more
tangible initial impact, effective imagery has the potential to tap the inner wisdom of the
reader to
arouse meditative and inspirational responses.
Related images are often clustered or scattered throughout a work, thus serving to create a
particular
mood or tone.
Figurative language Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else. See simile,
metaphor, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, idioms, clichés.
Sensory Imagery Examples:
• Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown’s ears.
• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but distinct
thump
thump thump.
• Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s cheek.
• Taste: A salty tear ran across onto her lips.
• Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.
Synesthesia An attempt to fuse different senses by describing one kind of sense impression in words
normally used to describe another.
Example: The sound of her voice was sweet.
Example: a loud aroma, a velvety smile
Tone, Mood The means by which a poet reveals attitudes and feelings, in the style of language or
expression
of thought used to develop the subject. Certain tones include not only irony and satire, but
may be
loving, condescending, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, and a host of other emotions and
attitudes.
Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading
atmosphere
intended to influence the readers’ emotional response and foster expectations of the
conclusion.
Another use of tone is in reference to pitch or to the demeanor of a speaker as interpreted
through
inflections of the voice; in poetry, this is conveyed through the use of connotation, diction,
figures of
speech, rhythm and other elements of poetic construction.
SOUNDS
Onomatopoeia Words that sound like their meanings. In Hear the steady tick of the old hall clock, the
word tick sounds like the action of the clock, If assonance or alliteration can be
onomatopoeic, as the
sound ‘ck’ is repeated in tick and clock, so much the better. At least sounds should suit the
tone – heavy
sounds for weightiness, light for the delicate. Tick is a light word, but transpose the light T
to its
heavier counterpart, D; and transpose the light CK to its heavier counterpart G, and tick
becomes the
much more solid and down to earth dig.
Example: boom, buzz, crackle, gurgle, hiss, pop, sizzle, snap, swoosh, whir, zip
Assonance Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent
lines.
These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that
are unaccented.
Example: He’s a bruisin’ loser
Example: Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot
In the second example above, the short A sound in Andrew, patted, and Ascot would be
assonant.
Consonance Repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed near each other, usually on the
same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather
than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. This produces a pleasing kind of near-rhyme.
Example: boats into the past
Example: cool soul
Sibilance A form of alliteration using softer consonants creating sibilant sounds – these are
characterized by a hissing sound (like s or sh). These consonants and digraphs include s, sh,
th, ch, z, f, x, and soft c (as in “face” not the hard c in “cake”). Can create the effect of a
hushed tone when read aloud; also replicates whispering sound associated with certain
words e.g. ‘hushed silence’ is sibilant and also onomatopoeic.
Alliteration Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually on
the
same or adjacent lines. A somewhat looser definition is that it is the use of the same
consonant in any part of adjacent words.
Example: fast and furious
Example: Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot
In the second definition, both P and T in the example are reckoned as alliteration. It is
noted that this is a very obvious device and needs to be handled with great restraint, except
in specialty forms such as limerick, cinquain, and humorous verse.
Cacophony A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sounds helps to convey disorder. This is often
furthered
by the combined effect of the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation.
Example: My stick fingers click with a snicker
And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light-footed, my steel feelers flicker
And pluck from these keys melodies.
—“Player Piano,” John Updike
Euphony A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony and beauty to the
language.
Example: Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.
 — “A Bird Came Down the Walk,” Emily Dickenson (last stanza)
Repetition The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with
longer
phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a
central part
of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their unifying
elements.
Example: I was glad; so very, very glad.
Example: Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward…
…
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d…
Rhyme This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words
that
have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel
sound and
everything following it, are said to rhyme.
Example: time, slime, mime
Double rhymes include the final two syllables. Example: revival, arrival, survival
Triple rhymes include the final three syllables. Example: greenery, machinery, scenery
A variation which has been used effectively is called slant rhyme, or half rhyme. If only the
final
consonant sounds of the words are the same, but the initial consonants and the vowel
sounds are
different, then the rhyme is called a slant rhyme or half rhyme. When this appears in the
middle of lines
rather than at the end, it is called consonance.
Example: soul, oil, foul; taut, sat, knit
Another variation which is occasionally used is called near rhyme. If the final vowel sounds
are the same, but the final consonant sounds are slightly different, then the rhyme is called
a near rhyme.
Example: fine, rhyme; poem, goin’
Less effective but sometimes used are sight rhymes. Words which are spelled the same (as
if they
rhymed), but are pronounced differently are called sight rhymes or eye rhymes.
Example: enough, cough, through, bough
Rhythm Although the general public is seldom directly conscious of it, nearly everyone responds on
some
level to the organization of speech rhythms (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of
accented syllables
separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.
Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUSsyCAT.
Such patterns are sometimes referred to as meter. Meter is the organization of voice
patterns, in terms
of both the arrangement of stresses and their frequency of repetition per line of verse.
Poetry is organized by the division of each line into “feet,” metric units which each consist
of a particular
arrangement of strong and weak stresses. The most common metric unit is the iambic, in
which an
unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one (as in the words reverse and compose).
 Scansion is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a
line of poetry.
Stressed syllables are labeled with an accent mark: / Unstressed syllables are labeled with a
dash: –
Metrical feet may be two or three syllables in length, and are divided by slashes: |
There are five basic rhythms:
Pattern Name Example
– / Iamb/Iambic invite
/ – Trochee/Trochaic deadline
– – / Anapest/Anapestic to the beach
/ – – Dactyl/Dactylic frequently
/ / Spondee/Spondaic true blue
Meter is measured by the number of feet in a line. Feet are named by Greek prefix number
words
attached to “meter.” A line with five feet is called pentameter; thus, a line of five iambs is
known as
“iambic pentameter” (the most common metrical form in English poetry, and the one
favored by
Shakespeare).
The most common line lengths are:
monometer: one foot tetrameter: four feet heptameter: seven feet
dimeter: two feet pentameter: five feet octameter: eight feet
trimeter: three feet hexameter: six feet
Naturally, there is a degree of variation from line to line, as a rigid adherence to the meter
results in
unnatural or monotonous language. A skillful poet manipulates breaks in the prevailing
rhythm of a
poem for particular effects.

Sources: http://www.chaparralpoets.org/devices.pdf; http://suite101.com.

As you engage in close study of TS Eliot’s

poems, add any new terms you encounter
to this document.