alliteration |
The
repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the
beginning of words or in stressed syllables, e.g. “on scrolls of silver snowy sentences” (Hart Crane). |
couplet |
A unit of verse
consisting of two lines. Features are:-
- They usually
rhyme
- They usually have the
same metre (beat/ rhythm)
- They often form a
complete thought
|
imagery |
The use of
vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or
ideas |
metaphor |
A figure of
speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily stands for one
thing is used to stand for another, therefore making an understood
comparison, as in “a sea of
troubles” or “All the world's a
stage” (Shakespeare). |
onomatopoeia |
The
formation or use of words such as "buzz" or "murmur" that imitate
the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer
to |
personification |
A figure of
speech in which non-living objects are given human qualities or are
represented as possessing human form, e.g. "Hunger sat shivering on the road"
or "Flowers danced about the
lawn" |
rhyme |
Correspondence of sounds of words or of lines of
verse |
rhythm |
The pattern
or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and
unstressed syllables in verse (think of metre / beat in
music) |
simile |
A figure of
speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in
a phrase introduced by "like" or
"as", as in “How like the winter hath my absence been” or
“So are you to my thoughts as food to
life” (Shakespeare). |
verse /
stanza |
A division of a poem, similar to paragraphs in prose
writing (lines grouped together usually concentrating on one
idea)
|