The following is a brief explanation of words or expressions that are referred to within this site. It is not intended to be considered as an exhaustive authority, but merely a general explanation...

The poetic terminology detailed below, is split into four separate sections, namely: Basic Terms, Figurative Language, Poetic Devices, and Poetic Forms... One or more of these, go into the construction of either a poem, a poetic thought, or an expression in a poetic way...


Basic Terms...

connotation: the implied or suggested meaning connected with a word.

denotation: the dictionary meaning of a word.

figurative meaning: associative or connotative meaning; representational.

literal meaning: limited to the simplest, ordinary, most obvious meaning.

meter: measured pattern of rhythmic accents in a line of verse.

rhyme: correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse.


Figurative Language...

apostrophe: a direct address of an inanimate object, abstract qualities, or a person not living or present.

hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis (the opposite of understatement)... example: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

metaphor: comparison between essentially unlike things without using words OR application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally applicable... example: "[Love] is an ever fixed mark, / that looks on tempests and is never shaken."

metonymy: a closely related term substituted for an object or idea... example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."

oxymoron: a combination of two words that appear to contradict each other... example: bittersweet !

paradox: a situation or phrase that appears to be contradictory but which contains a truth worth considering... example: "In order to preserve peace, we must prepare for war."

personification: the endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities... example: "Time let me play / and be golden in the mercy of his means."

pun: play on words OR a humorous use of a single word or sound with two or more implied meanings; quibble... example: "They're called lessons . . . because they lessen from day to day."

simile: comparison between two essentially unlike things using words such as "like," as," or "as though"... example: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun."

synecdoche: a part substituted for the whole... example: "Friends, Romans, countrymen: lend me your ears."