Poetry terms

Poetry Glossary

A quick reference for the terms you need when reading, analyzing, or writing poems.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses and helps a poem feel vivid, physical, and memorable.

The attitude or emotional coloring a poem takes toward its subject, speaker, or reader.

The voice speaking inside the poem. The speaker may or may not be the poet.

The deeper idea or concern the poem explores, such as love, grief, memory, or identity.

A line break that pushes the reader into the next line without a full stop, creating motion or surprise.

A pause within a line, often created by punctuation, that changes pacing or emphasis.

A turn in thought or argument, especially common in sonnets and other structured poems.

The recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that shapes a poem’s rhythm.

The pattern of end rhymes in a poem, often labeled with letters like ABAB or AABB.

Poetry that does not follow a fixed meter or rhyme scheme but still uses deliberate structure.

The repetition of beginning consonant sounds, often used to add music or emphasis.

When an image or object stands for a larger idea or feeling beyond its literal meaning.