Useful Terms in Poetry
Some useful terms to remember when talking about poetry. * the difference between verse and prose * image * metaphor * simile * cliche * stanza * rhyme * rhyming couplet * rhyme scheme * poetic licence * positions of "strength" * motif * tone and mood * metre * contrast
"The Dog" I am a dog And I bark all night. I bark at postmen Just to give them a fright. It's the way I am. But when I'm alone In my kennel so warm I dream of blue mountains And fields of ripe corn. It's the way I am. Like a cloud in the sky I drift far away. I drift far, far away. No barking at postmen or passing school girls I feel happy and contented in my dreamy new world. It's the way I'd like to be. Some notes... Many poems do use rhyme, but not all of them do. Many modern poets choose not to use rhyme because they find it too "constricting". Most poems have a capital letter at the start of each line, but there are exceptions (for example, E. E. Cummings uses small letters at the start of each line in his poetry.) Differences in the structure of poems (e.g. different stanza lengths, or line lengths) can give us clues about the intentions of the poem.
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