Simile

1. Simile • A comparison of two things using like or as • Example – My love is like a red, red rose. • It is a comparison of the qualities of a rose and the qualities of his love.

2. Metaphor • A comparison of two things using is or are • Example – You are the honey on my pancakes. It is a comparison of how well honey and pancakes go together and how well the speaker gets along with the other person.

3. Alliteration • The repetition of initial sounds in a series of words. • Ex. Silver bark of beech, and sallow bark of yellow birch and yellow

4. Assonance • The repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words. • Ex. All is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil

5. Meter • The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables each repeated unit of which is called a foot. • Ex. Ronnie, Ricky, Bobby and Mike If I like the girl who cares who you like

6. Imagery • Words and phrases that describe the concrete experience of the five senses. • Ex. Nothing is so beautiful as spring When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush, Thrush’s eggs look like low heavens

7. Consonance • Repeated consonant sounds within words • Ex. I’ll look to like if looking liking move

8. Onomatopoeia • When words sound like what they are describing • Ex. Snap, crackle and pop

9. Personification • Giving human qualities to things that are not human. • Ex. Today the light is in love And proposes to anyone

10. Oxymoron • Phrases that combine two opposites • Ex. Jumbo Shrimp

11. Hyperbole • Intentional overstatement or exaggeration • Ex. If there were world enough and time he’d spend centuries adoring each part of his lover’s body

12. enjambment • When the flow of a verse runs over into the next line Ex. In that blest moment from his oozy bed Old Father Thames advanc’d his head

13. Symbol • An object that represents a concept, idea or emotion. • Ex. Red roses symbolize romantic love.

14. Connotation • Feelings or associations made with certain words that may be different than the literal definition. • Ex. The word molest simply means to annoy or irritate, but whenever we hear the word we usually give it a sexual meaning.

15. Denotation • The literal definition of a word

16. Allusion • A reference to a historical figure or character or events from well-known literature or history

17. End rhyme • When rhyme occurs at the end of two verses • Ex. George was fat He wore an ugly hat

18. Internal Rhyme • When the rhyming sounds occur within the lines of poetry • John went and spent his money for the rent

19. Irony • When the expected meaning of words or actions is different than the actual meaning

20. Speaker • The person that appears to be speaking in the poem • Hint: The speaker in the poem is not always the author. In fact, it is a mistake to assume that the person speaking in the poem is supposed to be the author. The speaker in a poem is most often a character other than the author himself.

21. Stanza • A block of lines similar to a paragraph in prose

22. Verse • A single line of poetry • Also used as another word for poetry