Poetry Terms

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What is a stanza?

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The basic unit of a poem, consisting of several lines grouped together, with white space above and below.

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What is a couplet?

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Two lines of poetry that stand alone or apart from the rest of the poem, often rhyming and having the same meter.

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What is free verse?

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A free-form poem with no particular structure or rhythm, lacking regular rhymes, and with lines of varying lengths and patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

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What is a sonnet?

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A poem that has 14 lines, each with exactly 10 syllables, written in iambic pentameter, typically with a rhyming couplet at the end.

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What is onomatopoeia?

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A word that sounds like what it represents, such as 'meow,' 'oink,' 'pop,' or 'click.'

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What is imagery in poetry?

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Descriptive language that appeals to the senses and creates vivid mental pictures.

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What is a metaphor?

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A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as.'

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What is a simile?

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A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as.'

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What is alliteration?

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The repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a sequence of words.

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What is a theme in poetry?

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The central idea or message conveyed by the poem.