MOST COMMON POETRY TECHNIQUES & LITERARY DEVICES

1. allegory=a short moral story
2. alliterationuse of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
3. assonancethe repetition of similar vowels in successive words
4. consonancethe property of sounding harmonious
5. enjambmentcontinuation from one line of verse into the next line
6. imagerythe ability to form mental pictures of things or events
7. metaphora figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
8. rhymecorrespondence in the final sounds of two or more lines
9. moodcharacteristic state of feeling
10. tonethe distinctive property of a complex sound
11. coupleta stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse
12. foreshadowingthe act of providing vague advance indications
13. free versepoetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter
14. hyperboleextravagant exaggeration
15. ironyincongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
16. literallimited to the explicit/direct meaning of a word or text
17. figurative not literal language
18. metonymysubstituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
19. apostrophea mark used to indicate the omission of one or more letters
20. narrator someone who tells a story
21. speaker someone who expresses in language
22. onomatopoeia using words that imitate the sound they denote
23. plot a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation/setting
24. point of view a mental position from which things are perceived
25. protagonist the principal character in a work of fiction
26. antagonist someone who offers opposition
27. stanza a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem
28. rhythm an interval during which a recurring sequence occurs
29. satire witty language used to convey insults or scorn
30. setting the physical position of something
31. simile a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
32. synecdoche using part of something to refer to the whole thing
33. symbol something visible that represents something invisible
34. theme the subject matter/message of a conversation or discussion
35. allusion passing reference or indirect mention
36. personification attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas
37. repetition the act of doing or performing again
38. oxymoron conjoining contradictory terms
39. syllable a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme
40. connotation an idea that is implied or suggested
41. denotation the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression
42. pun a humorous play on words
43. paradox a statement that contradicts itself