Poetry Terms and Figurative Language

the repetition of the first consonant sound of a word. For example the "w" sound: "when white moths were on the wing" from "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Couplet

• Diction

the repetition of vowel sounds within non-rhyming words - For example: "Wanders and watches, with eager ears" from "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Couplet

• Diction

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Couplet

• Diction

A writer's or speaker's choice of words

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Couplet

• Diction

a metaphor that is applied throughout the entire poem. The poem "The Railway Train" by Emily Dickinson is an extended metaphor.

• Extended metaphor

• Figurative Language

• Hyperbole

• Imagery

language used to create a particular effect - not meant to be taken literally. Forms of figurative language include simile, metaphor, and personification.

• Extended metaphor

• Figurative Language

• Hyperbole

• Imagery

Extreme exaggeration to make a point. For example: The speaker in the poem "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes states "I, too, am America." He creates a hyperbole when he states that he is America.

• Extended metaphor

• Figurative Language

• Hyperbole

• Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

• Extended metaphor

• Figurative Language

• Hyperbole

• Imagery

a comparison of two unlike things NOT using like or as to make the comparison

• Metaphor

• Meter

• Onomatopoeia

• The Speaker

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

• Metaphor

• Meter

• Onomatopoeia

• The Speaker