Elements of Poetry
Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable (e.g., “descending dew drops”).
Assonance is the repetition of similar internal vowel sounds (e.g., “I rose and told him of my woe“).
Figurative language is a form of language in which writers mean something other than the literal meaning of their words.
- Simile involves a comparison between unlike things using like or as (e.g., “My love is like a red, red rose”).
- Metaphor is a direct comparison between essentially unlike things without like or as (e.g., “My love is a red, red rose”).
- Synecdoche is a type of metaphor where a part signifies the whole (e.g., calling a gossip a “wagging tongue”).
- Metonymy is a type of metaphor where something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it (e.g., “silver screen” for motion pictures).
Imagery is the concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea that triggers a sensory experience. Images can be visual (seen), aural (heard), tactile (felt), olfactory (smelled), or gustatory (tasted).
Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables. The rhyme scheme describes the pattern of end rhymes.
Rhythm is the recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds. A caesura is a strong pause within a line. An end-stopped line has a pause at its end, while a run-on line or enjambment ends without a pause and continues into the next line.
A stanza is a grouping of lines, set off by a space, which usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme.
Tone conveys the speaker’s implied attitude toward the poem’s subject, derived from the poem’s language, diction, and syntax.
