English 131 Introduction to Literature: Poetry Terminology
Here is a partial list of poetry terminology and literacy devices to help you gain a better understanding of the poetry we will be reading.
| Term | Definition |
| Alliteration | repetition at close interval consonant sounds of accented syllables |
| Apostrophe | a figure of speech addressing someone dead, absent, or nonhuman as if it were alive and could answer |
| Assonance | repetition at close interval vowel sounds in accented syllables |
| Ballad | short narrative poem written in song-like stanzas |
| Cacophony | choosing words that to create harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounds |
| Connotation | what a word suggests beyond its dictionary meaning |
| Consonance | repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sound of accented syllables |
| Denotation | dictionary meaning of a word |
| Euphony | choosing words that create a smooth, pleasant sound |
| Foot | the basic unit used to scan the meter of a line of poetry; usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllable |
| Free Verse | Non metrical poetry which has the basic rhythmic unit |
| Hyperbole | overstatement or exaggeration |
| Irony | using language or a situation involving some sort of incongruity or discrepancy |
| Rhyme Scheme | a fixed pattern of rhyming words in a poem or a stanza |
| Scansion | the process of measuring metrical verse--marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech that creates a comparison between two things that are essentially the same |
| Meter | regular patterns of accent that underline metrical verse; the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables |
| Onomatopoeia | words that mimic their meaning in sound (boom, click) |
| Oxymoron | a paradoxical use of words in which two words used together seem to contradict each other |
| Paradox | a contradictory statement |
| Personification | giving human attributes to animals, objects, or concepts |
Source; Garp, Thomas R., and Greg Johnson. Sound and Sense: An Introduction of Poetry. 11th edition 2005