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Krause
English 1
Poetry Terms
This is not a comprehensive list of terms used to discuss the techniques used by a poet, but a list of common terms used. Of
course, not every term is relevant for every poem, but each bold-faced term should at least be considered for each poem.
Diction
The vocabulary chosen by the poet.
Denotation
The dictionary meaning(s) of a word; the literal meaning
Connotation
The meanings the word suggested beyond its literal meaning
Imagery
Sense experience represented through language

Visual imagery, Sound imagery, Scent imagery, Taste imagery, Tactile (touch) imagery, Internal imagery
(hunger, fatigue, nausea, etc.)
Figurative Language
Language using figures of speech; that is, non-literal uses of language
Simile
A comparison using like or as; the comparison is directly expressed
Metaphor
An implied comparison between two unlike objects; the comparison is not directly expressed, but created when a
figurative term is substituted for or identified with the literal term.
Personification
Giving the attributes of a human being to an animal, object, or concept.
Symbol
Something that means more than what it is; an element of the poem that means what it is and something more, too.
The meaning of a symbol extends from the parameters of the poem; a reader cannot simply make a symbol mean
anything. Whatever our interpretation of a symbol within a poem, it must be tied firmly to the facts of the poem.
Irony


Verbal irony: saying or implying the opposite of what one means
Dramatic irony: the difference between what a speaker says and what the poem or situation means.
Sarcasm
Bitter, mean-spirited speech intended to hurt feelings; when it is used, the opposite of what is said is meant.
Apostrophe
Addressing someone absent or dead or something nonhuman as if it were present and alive and could reply
Mood
The emotional atmosphere within the poem produced by the poet’s use of language
Tone
The poet’s or speaker’s attitude towards the subject, the reader, or himself/herself
Rhythm
Any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound
Stress
When prominence is given to a particular syllable in pronunciation
End-stopped Line
The end of line of poetry corresponds with a natural speech pause
Run-on Line
A poetry line in which the sense/idea of the line moves on without pause to the next line
Caesura
A pause that occurs within a line, either grammatical or rhetorical
Meter
Identifying characteristics of rhythmic language; metrical poetry is arranged so that the accents of the language
occur at equal intervals.
Sound
Used to reinforce or enhance meaning and intensify communication
Onomatopoeia
Words whose sound in some way suggest their meaning
Euphony
Smooth and pleasant sounding effect; vowels are musical tones and tend to be pleasing
Cacophony
Rough and harsh sounding effects
Pattern
Selection and arrangement of language to communicate the chaos of experience
Continuous Form
Design is slight; The lines follow each other without formal groupings, with breaks dictated by units of meaning.
Stanza Form
Poetry written in stanzas, repeated units having the same number of lines and usually the same meter and rhyme
Fixed Form
A traditional pattern applied to a whole poem, such as a sonnet
Krause
English 1
Poetry Terms
This is not a comprehensive list of terms used to discuss the techniques used by a poet, but a list of common terms used. Of
course, not every term is relevant for every poem, but each bold-faced term should at least be considered for each poem.