"Discover the language of poetry, from alliteration to zeugma."
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ballad | A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas, often with a repeated refrain. | Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a famous ballad. |
| Bathos | An abrupt transition from a serious or elevated subject to a trivial one, often for comedic effect. | "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't." |
| Blank Verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter. | "The dreams are clues that tell us take chances." |
Our comprehensive Poetry Glossary, designed for students, teachers, and poetry enthusiasts alike. Whether you're delving into poetic forms, exploring rhyme schemes, or understanding the nuances of metrical feet, our glossary is an essential resource to enhance your study of poetry.
Our glossary covers a wide range of poetry terms, from alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds, to the structure of free verse, which flows without a fixed metrical pattern. Learn about how stressed and unstressed syllables form the foundation of metrical feet, or explore how a rhyme scheme organizes the pattern of sounds at the end of lines in a poem.
Use the search function to quickly find terms like group of lines in a stanza or the repetition of sounds in a poem or section. Whether you're looking to understand how a series of words creates rhythmic patterns or how the number of syllables affects the flow of a line of poetry, our glossary has the definitions and examples you need.