Poem Terms Flashcards
A three-line stanza
Tercet
A four-line stanza in a poem
Quatrain
A six-line unit of verse constituting a stanza or section of a poem
Sestet
An eight-line unit, which may constitute a stanza
Octave
The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words.
Rhyme
A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.
Couplet
The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse
Rhythm
The repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line.
Alliteration
A brief, intentional reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, event, or movement.
Allusion
The repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme.
Assonance
A figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration
Hyperbole
A comparison that is made directly (for example, John Keats’s “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates its sense (for example, “choo-choo,” “hiss,” or “buzz”).
Onomatopoeia
A figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect, such as “jumbo shrimp” and “deafening silence.”
Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as if it were a person.
Personification
A comparison (see Metaphor) made with “as,” “like,” or “than.”
Simile
A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form–either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter.
Stanza
Something in the world of sense including an action that reveals or is a sign for something else often abstract or otherworldly
Symbol
