"Discover the language of poetry, from alliteration to zeugma."
Showing 273 poetry terms
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | The rhythmic flow of language, the rise and fall of sounds in speech or verse. | The cadence of Whitman's free verse mimics natural speech patterns. |
| Caesura | A break between words within a metrical foot. | The poet used a caesura to add a dramatic pause. |
| Caesura | A pause in a line of verse, often near the middle. | "To err is human; || to forgive, divine." |
| Canzone | An Italian or Provençal lyric poem, typically about love, with a complex stanza structure and intricate rhyme scheme. | Petrarch's canzones influenced Renaissance poetry throughout Europe. |
| Carpe Diem | A theme in poetry that encourages readers to seize the day and make the most of the present moment. | Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is a classic carpe diem poem. |
| Catalectic | A line of verse that is missing one or more syllables at the end, making it metrically incomplete. | A catalectic trochaic line might end with a single stressed syllable. |
| Chant Royal | An elaborate French poetic form with five stanzas of eleven lines each, plus a five-line envoi, all with the same five rhymes. | The chant royal is one of the most challenging traditional French forms. |
| Chiasmus | A rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures. | "Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You." |
| Clerihew | A whimsical, four-line biographical poem with an AABB rhyme scheme. | "Sir Humphry Davy Abominated gravy. He lived in the odium Of having discovered sodium." |
| Common Meter | A poetic meter consisting of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, often used in hymns and ballads. | "Amazing Grace" is written in common meter (8-6-8-6 syllables). |
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.
Finding terms is easy:
Tip: Try searching for "rhyme," "meter," or "sonnet" to get started!
Every entry includes three key parts:
Iambic Pentameter: A rhythm pattern of 10 syllables per line, alternating unstressed-stressed.
Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (Shakespeare)
Note: Most common meter in English sonnets.
Our examples help you see poetry terms in action:
Our glossary covers all major areas of poetry:
Rhyme schemes, meter, alliteration, assonance
Metaphor, simile, personification, symbolism
Sonnets, haikus, villanelles, free verse
Stanzas, lines, caesura, enjambment
Sonnets are one of poetry's most beloved forms. Here's how to explore them:
Structure: 3 quatrains + 1 couplet
Rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Famous: "Shall I compare thee..."
Structure: 1 octave + 1 sestet
Rhyme: ABBAABBA CDECDE
Origin: Italian tradition
• Click "S" in the alphabetical menu
• Search "sonnet" to see all types
• Look for related terms like "quatrain" and "couplet"