Poetry Terms Glossary: 60+ Terms Explained (A-Z)

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This poetry glossary explains 65 essential poetry terms in plain English, organized alphabetically from allegory to volta. Whether you need a quick definition of enjambment, the difference between meter and rhythm, or what a tercet is, you'll find it here — each term with a one-line definition and, where useful, a tiny example. Bookmark this page; it's the cheat sheet every poetry reader and writer needs.

A

Allegory — A story or poem with a hidden second meaning, often moral or political; every element stands for something else.

Alliteration — Repetition of the same beginning sound in nearby words: "slippery silver snake."

Allusion — A brief reference to another text, person, or event, expecting the reader to recognize it.

Anaphora — Repeating the same word or phrase at the start of successive lines, building rhythm and emphasis.

Apostrophe — Addressing someone absent, dead, or not human, as if they could hear: "O Death!"

Assonance — Repeating vowel sounds inside nearby words: "the rain in Spain."

B

Ballad — A narrative poem meant to be sung, with short stanzas and simple rhyme; see our narrative poem guide.

Blank verse — Unrhymed iambic pentameter; the meter of Shakespeare's plays and Milton's Paradise Lost.

C

Caesura — A pause in the middle of a line, often marked by punctuation, that breaks the rhythm deliberately.

Canto — A major division of a long poem, like a chapter in a book.

Cliché — An overused phrase that has lost its power to surprise or move readers; the enemy of fresh imagery.

Conceit — An extended, elaborate metaphor developed across an entire poem, often surprising in its logic.

Concrete poetry — Poetry whose words are arranged on the page to form a shape related to the subject; see how to write a concrete poem.

Consonance — Repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the ends of words: "pitter-patter."

Couplet — Two consecutive lines, usually rhyming, that work as a unit; two lines of verse.

D

Dactyl — A metrical foot of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones: DUM-da-da.

Diction — The poet's choice of words; formal, informal, or slang diction changes a poem's tone entirely.

Dramatic monologue — A poem in which a single speaker addresses a silent listener, revealing character through speech.

E

Elegy — A poem of mourning for someone who has died, often moving from grief toward consolation.

End rhyme — Rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines, the most common type of rhyme.

End-stopped line — A line that ends with punctuation and a complete thought, creating a pause.

Enjambment — Running a sentence across a line break without punctuation, creating momentum and surprise.

Epic — A long narrative poem about heroic deeds, such as The Iliad or Beowulf.

Epigram — A short, witty poem or saying that ends with a clever turn.

Epithet — A descriptive phrase attached to a name: "rosy-fingered dawn."

F

Foot — The basic unit of meter: one stressed syllable plus its surrounding unstressed syllables.

Free verse — Poetry with no fixed meter or rhyme scheme; see our full free verse guide.

G-H

Haiku — A Japanese three-line poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, usually about a single moment in nature; see how to write a haiku.

Hyperbole — Deliberate exaggeration for effect: "I've told you a million times."

I

Iamb — A metrical foot of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one: da-DUM; the most common English foot.

Iambic pentameter — Lines of five iambs (ten syllables): da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM.

Imagery — Language that appeals to the senses — sight, sound, taste, touch, smell — to create mental pictures.

Internal rhyme — Rhyme between a word inside a line and a word at the line's end or middle.

Irony — A gap between what is said and what is meant, or between what readers expect and what happens.

L

Limerick — A five-line comic poem with an AABBA rhyme scheme and a strong rhythm; see limerick vs. haiku.

Lyric — A short, musical poem expressing personal feelings; most modern poetry is lyric.

M

Metaphor — A comparison that claims two things are the same, without "like" or "as": "time is a thief."

Meter — The organized pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a formal poem.

Metonymy — Substituting a related word for the thing itself: "the crown" for the king.

N

Narrative poem — A poem that tells a story with characters, setting, and plot; see how to write a narrative poem.

O

Ode — A formal, dignified poem praising a person, object, or idea.

Onomatopoeia — Words that imitate sounds: "buzz," "hiss," "clang."

Oxymoron — Two contradictory words joined together: "deafening silence."

P

Paradox — A statement that seems contradictory but holds truth: "the more I learn, the less I know."

Personification — Giving human qualities to non-human things: "the wind whispered."

Q-R

Quatrain — A stanza of four lines, the most common stanza in English poetry.

Refrain — A line or phrase repeated at regular intervals in a poem, like the chorus of a song.

Rhyme — Repetition of identical or similar sounds, usually at the ends of lines.

Rhyme scheme — The pattern of rhymes in a poem, labeled with letters: ABAB, AABB, and so on.

Rhythm — The natural pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in speech; the pulse of a poem.

S

Sestet — A stanza of six lines; also the final six lines of a sonnet.

Simile — A comparison using "like" or "as": "as brave as a lion."

Sonnet — A fourteen-line poem, usually iambic pentameter, with a turn (volta) around line 9.

Spondee — A metrical foot of two stressed syllables: DUM-DUM.

Stanza — A grouped set of lines separated by blank space; a poem's paragraph.

Stress — The emphasis given to a syllable when spoken; the raw material of rhythm and meter.

Syllable — A single unit of sound in a word; the building block of meter and forms like haiku.

Symbol — An object that stands for something larger: a rose for love, a dove for peace.

Synecdoche — A part used to represent the whole: "wheels" for a car.

T

Tercet — A stanza of three lines; the building block of the villanelle.

Theme — The central idea or message of a poem, such as mortality, love, or loss.

Tone — The poet's attitude toward the subject, felt through word choice: playful, solemn, bitter, tender.

Trochee — A metrical foot of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one: DUM-da.

V

Verse — Poetry in general, or a single line of poetry; also a section of a song.

Volta — The "turn" in a sonnet or other poem, where thought shifts direction, usually around line 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?

A simile compares two things using "like" or "as" ("as brave as a lion"), while a metaphor claims they are the same thing without "like" or "as" ("he was a lion in the fight").

What is the difference between meter and rhythm?

Rhythm is the general pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in any poem. Meter is the organized, repeated foot pattern that formal poems follow, such as iambic pentameter.

What is enjambment?

Enjambment is when a sentence or phrase runs over the end of a line into the next one without punctuation, creating momentum — as in "so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow."

What is the difference between a stanza and a verse?

In English, a stanza is a grouped set of lines separated by blank space, and "verse" usually means poetry in general or a single line. A stanza is to a poem what a paragraph is to prose.

What is the most important poetry term to know first?

Start with stanza, rhyme, meter, and metaphor — the four building blocks. Once you can spot those in any poem, the rest of the vocabulary falls into place.

Keep Learning

Now that you know the terms, put them to work. Try writing a haiku to practice meter and imagery, explore the difference between forms, or draft a poem with the free generator at poemgenius.com and then label every device you used. Knowing the vocabulary is the first step; hearing the music is the second.