Poetry+Terms

The following terms are helpful for students to know as they read, write, and discuss poetry.

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[|Teaching the heart of poetry]

Poetry Terms

 * **alliteration: This occurs when the poet uses a sequence of words that begin with the same letter or consonant sound. Example: "Waves want to be wheels." **


 * **meaning: This is the message or idea the poet is trying to convey. **


 * **mood: This is the feeling the poem conveys. Example: The following lines have a peaceful, gentle feeling: "I like the quiet breathing of the night, The tree talk, the wind-swish, the starlight."**


 * **end rhyme: This occurs when a poet uses words that rhyme at the ends of two or more lines of poetry. Example: "I taught my cat to clean my room, to use a bucket, brush and broom..." **


 * **onomatopoeia: This occurs when the poet chooses words whose sounds make you think of their meanings. Example: "The band comes booming down the street, The tuba oomphs, the flutes tweet tweet." **


 * **rhythm: Rhythm is the way a poem moves from one idea to the next. In may poems, words are arranged in patterns of accented and unaccented syllables. **


 * **imagery: A poet often uses words and descriptions that appeal to the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste **


 * **<span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">repetition: This occurs when the poet repeats words or phrases to create a rhythm or set a mood. Example: "The water dripped, ****<span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">dripped, dripped from the leaky faucet." **


 * <span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**<span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">personification: This is a figure of speech in which inanimate objects are given human qualities. Example" "The moon peeked over the treetops." **


 * **<span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">simile: This is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared, using the words // like // or //as.// Example: "The rain was like a little mouse, quiet, small, and gray." **


 * **<span style="color: #37b3a7; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">metaphor: This is a figure of speech in which the poet compares one thing to another without using the words // like // or //as.// **** Example: "Birds are flowers flying and flowers perched birds." **


 * ** stanza: A stanza is a set of lines in a poem, set apart by other sets of lines by space. **