Two successive lines of poetry, especially two that rhyme with each other, having the same number of feet.

A long poem relating the adventures of a hero or heroes, written in a dignified, majestic style. Examples are Homer’s Iliad and Milton’s Paradise Lost .

A phrase or expression used outside of its literal meaning to add beauty or force to writing or speech.

Comparisons, descriptions, and figures of speech that help the mind form forceful or beautiful pictures.

The arrangement of beats or accents in a line of poetry.

A group of eight lines of poetry; the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

A stanza or poem with four lines, usually with alternate rhymes.

The pattern of rhymes used in a stanza, verse, or poem, usually denoted by letters.

A poem or stanza of six lines; the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

A poem having fourteen lines and a formal arrangement of rhymes, usually written in iambic pentameter.

An Italian form of iambic verse consisting of ten-syllable or eleven-syllable lines arranged in triplets, the middle line of each triplet rhyming with the first and third lines of the following triplet (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.).

Three successive lines of poetry, usually rhyming and equal in length; also called tercet.

A poem that tells a story, often intended to be sung.

Rhythm that regularly repeats itself.

Poetry that is not artistic in form or meaning; crude or poor poetry.

The language or word choice of a poet.

A figure of speech, sound effect, or other technique used by poets to enhance the effectiveness of a poem.

A way of speaking or writing in which the ordinary meaning of the words is the opposite of the thought in the speaker’s or writer’s mind.

A statement that may be true but that seems to say two opposite things.

In literature, the use of words that stand for or represent something else, especially an idea, a quality, or a condition.