Poetry Terms

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What is Hyperbole?

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Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration that cannot possibly be true. Example: 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.'

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What is Personification?

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Personification is giving human-like qualities to an object or animal. Example: 'The wind whispered through the trees.'

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What is Assonance?

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Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. Example: 'The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.'

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What is Alliteration?

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Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sentence. Example: 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore.'

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What is Onomatopoeia?

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Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents. Example: 'buzz', 'hiss', 'clang'.

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What is an Oxymoron?

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An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Example: 'deafening silence'.

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What is Imagery?

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Imagery is descriptive language that appeals to the senses and creates a picture in the reader's mind. Example: 'The golden sun set over the calm, blue sea.'

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What is a Simile?

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A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using 'like' or 'as'. Example: 'Her smile was as bright as the sun.'

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What is a Metaphor?

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A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things without using 'like' or 'as'. Example: 'Time is a thief.'

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What is a Stanza?

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A stanza is a grouped set of lines in a poem, often separated by a space from other stanzas.