Repetition of any group of verse elements e.g. ABBA rhyme scheme
Litotes
Under exaggeration
Subtopic
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect
Pathetic Fallacy
When the weather or seasons reflect the mood of a poem
Similie
A comparison made with 'like'
Volta
In Italian it means 'turn', it is the turn of thought or argument
Motif
A certain or recurring image or action in a literary work that is shared by other works and may serve an overall theme
Allegory
An extended metaphor in which the characters, places and objects in a narrative carry figurative meaning often an allegory's meaning is religious, moral or historical in nature
A syndetic Listing
A list without connectives or conjunctions
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of a successive lines of writing or speech
Alliteration
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
Enjambment
Where the lines of a poem do not end but run on
Sibilance
Repetition of the letter s
Euphony
Smooth sounding words
Carpe Diem
In Latin "seize the day" the fleeting nature of life and the need to embrace its pleasures constitute a frequent theme of love poems.
Hyperbole
Extreme Exaggeration
Neologism
Made up literary words as in Lewis Carrols Jabberwocky
Paradox
As a figure of speech it is self contradictory
Poetic Licence
A poets departure from the rules of grammar, syntax and vocabulary in order to maintain a metrical or rhyme scheme, can also mean the manipulation of facts to suit the needs of a poem
Synechdoche
A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole e.g. a set of wheels
Ubi Sunt
Poems about the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. These poems question the fate of the strong and virtuous.
Metaphor
A comparison that is made directly or indirectly
Anthropomorphism
A form of personification in which human characteristics are attributed to anything inhuman
Syndetic Listing
A list separated by connectives
Onomatopoeia
The use of words that evoke sounds
Personification
Attributing something that isn't human human characteristics
