Poetic Terms

The repetition of initial consonant sounds

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Repetition

• Theme

The repetition of vowel sounds

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Theme

• Personification

Words or phrases that appeal to any of the five senses or any combination of senses

• Onomatopoeia

• Imagery

• Tone

• Meter

A comparison between two objects with the intent of giving clearer meaning to one of them. Often forms of the "to be" verb are used, such as "is" or "was", to make the comparison

• Simile

• Comparison

• Metaphor

• Imagery

The recurrence of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

• Stanza

• Organization

• Alliteration

• Meter

The use of words which imitate sound

• Metaphor

• Interjection

• Meter

• Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, or inanimate objects with human traits or abilities

• Stanza

• Rhyme

• Personifcation

• Point of View

The author's perspective concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or "teller", of the story or poem (1st person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective, 3rd person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters but limits information about what one character sees and feels, 3rd person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to "know" and describe what all characters are thinking)

• Point of View

• Character

• Repetition

• Theme

The repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas

• Simile

• Personification

• Repetition

• Meter

The similarity of ending sounds existing between two words

• Rhyme

• Stanza

• Point of View

• Simile