Accent

The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word poetry, the accent (or stress) falls on the first syllable.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words. Some famous examples of alliteration are tongue twisters – “She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells.”

Assonance

The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds. An example is “Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.”

Ballad

A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. Froggy Went A-Courtin’ is an example of a ballad.

Consonance

The repetition of similar consonant sounds at the ends of words, as in “Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone.

But when she got there, the cupboard was bare. And so the poor dog had none.”

Couplet

In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.

Epic

A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey are two of the most famous epic poems.

Free verse

Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter.

Haiku

A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku often reflect on some aspect of nature.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.

Meter

The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables.

Narrative

Telling a story. Ballads and epics are different kinds of narrative poems.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words are buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, cock-a-doodle-do, pop, splat, thump, and tick-tock.

Rhyme

The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words.

Simile

A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as." Walter Dean Myers demonstrates a simile in “Love That Boy” with “Love that boy, like a rabbit likes to run.”

Sonnet

A lyric poem that is 14 lines long.

Stanza

Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme.

Stress

The prominence or emphasis given to particular syllables. Stressed syllables usually stand out because they have long, rather than short, vowels, or because they have a different pitch or are louder than other syllables.