Literary Terms for Poetry

What is the attitude or feelings expressed by the writer or speaker towards the subject or audience called?

What is the emotional atmosphere created for the reader by a text called?

What is the overall structure or shape of a text, like a poem, novel, or play, called?

Which point of view is used if the story or poem is told from the perspective of "I"?

What is the arrangement of a poem using a regular stanza length, line length, and rhyme scheme called?

What type of poetry lacks regular rhythm, rhyme scheme, or a structured form?

What is the organization of ideas in a text, including the opening, development, ending, turning points, and contrast, called?

What are moments of change in a poem's narrative, argument, or tone called?

What are the groups of lines in a poem, such as tercets (3 lines) or quatrains (4 lines), called?

What are lines of poetry called that flow without pause or punctuation into the next line?

What are lines of poetry called that end with punctuation, creating a clear pause?

What is a pause or break within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation, called?

What term is used to describe the use of language to convey meanings beyond the literal?

What is the term for deliberate, often figurative exaggeration for emphasis or effect?

What term describes attributing human qualities to non-human objects or concepts?

What is a direct comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as" called?

What is a comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as" called?

What term describes language that conveys exactly what is meant without embellishment or symbolic meaning?

What term describes language that appeals to the senses?

What is language that appeals to the sense of sight called?

What is language that appeals to the sense of hearing called?

What is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words called?

What is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words called?

What is the repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words called?

What is the repetition of 's' or 'sh' sounds to create a hissing or soothing effect called?

What kind of sounds are consonant sounds like 'p', 'b', 't', 'd', that create sharp percussive effects?

What category of sounds includes vowel sounds and liquid, fricative, and sibilant sounds that are gentile?

What are smooth sounds like 'l' and 'r' called?

What are sounds produced by friction, such as 'f', 'v', 'th', called?

What are sounds like 's' and 'sh' that create a soft, hissing or soothing effect called?

What is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line called?

What is a line, stanza, or poem that includes a repeated pattern or unstressed and stressed syllables so that you can feel and hear a beat to the poetry called?

What is a beat with four jambs (unstressed-stressed) per line called?

What is unstructured or varying patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables such that there is no regular beat called?