Poetry Terms and Devices

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Allusion

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an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

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Caesura

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a strong pause within a line of verse

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Enjambment

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the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

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Free Verse

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Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme

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Line

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a single line of words in a poem

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Meter

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A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

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Quatrain

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A four line stanza

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Rhyme Scheme

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the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.

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Sonnet

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a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.

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Sound Devices

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stylistic techniques that convey meaning through sound