You Can Write Poetry - Jeff Mock [56]
repetition: a rhetorical device that repeats a word or phrase or reiterates an idea.
rhyme: the repetition of identical vowel and consonant sounds, such as alone, bone and cone (true rhyme). Rhyme may also be the repetition of similar but not identical vowel and consonant sounds, as in bent and pant (slant rhyme). Also see apocopated rhyme, end rhyme, internal rhyme, masculine rhyme and feminine rhyme.
rhyme scheme: a consistent pattern of rhyme in a stanza or poem, as in the English sonnet, which rhymes ababcdcdefefgg.
septet: a stanza of seven lines.
sestet: the final six lines of an Italian sonnet. The sestet provides a resolution to the situation developed in the octave.
simile: a figure of speech that explicitly compares one thing to another through the words like or as. "O my Luve's like a red, red rose" (from "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns) is a simile comparing the speaker's "Luve" to a rose.
slant rhyme: an imperfect rhyme in which alliteration, assonance: or consonance are substituted for true rhyme. Examples of slant rhyme are love and give (slant rhyme using alliteration), lake and fate (slant rhyme using assonance) and speak and spook (slant rhyme using consonance).
sonnet: a poetic form consisting of fourteen iambic pentameter lines and following one of several rhyme schemes. The Italian sonnet rhymes abbaabbacdecde (or cdccdc, cdcdcd). The English sonnet rhymes ababcdcdefefgg. The Spenserian sonnet rhymes ababbcbccdcdee.
speaker: the voice (or character) that "speaks" the poem. Also see persona. The speaker is not necessarily the poet.
specific term: a word referring to an individual type of a larger group: maple and oak are specific terms; tree is a general term. Contrast with general term.
spondee: a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both strongly stressed (DUM-DUM).
stanza: a group of lines set apart from other groups of lines by blank lines. Stanzas are often determined by length, metrical structure and rhyme scheme. In some poems, the stanza is dictated by units of thought rather than formal concerns. Common stanzas are the couplet, tercet and quatrain.
synaesthesia: a figure of speech in which something perceived by one sense is described in the terms of another sense. Synaesthesia occurs in the image "the creaking empty light" (from "Aubade" by Edith Sitwell). While light is perceived through the sense of sight, here it's described in terms of hearing.
synecdoche: a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or the whole represents a part. Synecdoche occurs when "wheels" is used to refer to a car (a part representing the whole) and when "the law" is used to refer to a police officer (the whole representing a part).
tercet: a stanza of three lines. Originally, the lines of a tercet stanza ended with the same rhyme. Also see terza rima.
terza rima: a tercet that interlocks the rhyme from one stanza to the next: aba bcb cdc, and so on.
tetrameter: a line of poetry consisting of four feet. See meter.
tone: similar to tone of voice, tone reveals the poet's attitudes toward the poem's subject. Tone may be playful, ironic, wry, somber, highfalutin, intimate, slangy, formal, suave or any of numerous other attitudes.
trimeter: a line of poetry consisting of three feet. See meter.
trochee: a metrical foot consisting of two syllables—a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (DUM-ta).
true rhyme: the repetition of identical vowel and consonant sounds. In words of multiple syllables, the rhyme appears in the stressed syllables, as in avow (aVOW) and allow (alLOW). See rhyme.
understatement: a figure of speech in which something is presented as less than it actually is. Understatement creates emphasis through the reader's recognition of the difference between what is said and what is. Contrast with overstatement.
villanelle: a complex poetic form of nineteen lines, generally iambic pentameter. It consists of five tercets and a quatrain, rhymed aba aba aba aba aba abaa. In addition to its rhyme scheme, the villanelle makes use of an intricate