Common Terms

The terms widely used in writing a Poem are 

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds (usually at the beginning of words), in words occurring alongside, or close to each other). It is also known as "initial rhyme" or "head rhyme". 

Apostrophe: The addressing of a poem to a real or imagined person who is not present.

Assonance: The repetition of the same vowel sound in several words occurring in close proximity. 

Blank verse: Unrhymed verse, most commonly found in iambic pentameter (10 syllable lines).

Consonance: The repetition of a pattern of consonants in words. Different vowel sounds may separate these consonants.

Couplet: A pair of rhymed lines of verse. The term "heroic couplet" is used to describe two lines of rhymed iambic pentameter, as in Shakespeare's sonnets which end in rhymed couplets.

Dactyl: A poetic foot which has a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Epic: A long, narrative poem (written in an elevated style) that records the adventures of a hero. 

Foot / Poetic foot: A unit of poetic metre, composed of stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, an iambus  is represented by an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. 

Free verse: This name is given to poetry without a regular pattern of metre or rhyme.

Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.

Lyric : The most common of the three main types of verse, the others being narrative and dramatic verse. The characteristics of a lyric are brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling. 

Metaphor: A comparison where one thing is described in terms of its likeness to another. It is a direct comparison, without the use of the word "like" or "as".

Metre: The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems. 

Narrative verse: A poem that tells a story. 

Ode: A long, stately poem in stanzas of varied length, metre, and form; a serious poem on an exalted subject, with a high level of emotion and imagination.

Onomatopoeia: The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. Words such as "buzz" and "crash" are onomatopoetic.

Parody: A humorous, mocking imitation of another literary work, sometimes sarcastic, but often light-hearted and almost admiring of the original.

Personification: Personification is a special kind of metaphor that attributes human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract concepts.

Quatrain: A poem or a stanza of four lines.

Rhyme: The repetition of identical concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines.

Rhythm: The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse to produce a musical flow of language. Rhythm (or beat) is controlled by the various arrangements of the stressed and unstressed syllables .

 Sibilance: The repetition of s, sh, ch, or z sounds in neighbouring words.

Simile: A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using "like", "as".

Stanza: A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form - either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and metre, or with variations from one stanza to another.