Poetry Terminology by Sonia Aguilar Ransay

Simile

emilyvalle722 — 2025-02-03 23:05:24 UTC

A simile is a rhetorical device used to compare two things (typically using the words “like,” “as,” or “than”)

Example:

The protagonist’s heart beat like a drum.

Rhythm

evannysalazar03 — 2025-02-04 00:15:31 UTC

The repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line. Rhymed words conventionally share all sounds following the word's last stressed syllable.

Example:

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,

Together mixed; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please,

With meditation.

Personification

2025-02-05 20:49:50 UTC

It refers to an idea which gives human attributes and feelings. This allows writes to create life and motion within inanimate objects and animals.

For example:

My phone is not cooperating with me today.

Rhyme

2025-02-06 17:44:28 UTC

It is a repitition of similar sounds in two or more words. Rhyming is particulary common in many types of poetry, especially at the ends of lines and is a requirement in formal verse.

Example:

SEE THE BUG

See the bug on the rug

I will give his legs a tug

See him run, see him go

He did not like it, no! no!

See him hop, on the mop.

Metaphor

2025-02-06 18:26:24 UTC

Metaphor is a figure of speech using to describe something by saying or comparing it is something else.

Example:

Luisa is a pig when she eats.

He is an angel.

Onomatopoeia

2025-02-06 18:49:46 UTC

Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate natural sounds.

Example: The bee buzzed around the garden.

Alliteration

2025-02-07 01:36:04 UTC

Alliteration is a literary device where the same consonant sound is the beginning of closely connected words. It is often used in poetry.

Example

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Allusion

2025-02-08 22:57:40 UTC

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

Example:

To my dog, our neighborhood park is the Garden of Eden. (alludes to the Christian Bible)

Definitions

2025-02-10 03:40:24 UTC

Allusion: A reference to a famous person, place, event, or work, meant to add deeper meaning. Example: “He was a real Romeo” (alluding to Romeo and Juliet).

Tone: The author’s attitude toward the subject (serious, sarcastic, hopeful).