An Introduction to Poetry Terms
I know what you’re thinking. Poetry terms? But I’m a fiction writer! A blogger! An essayist. I don’t write poetry!
But before you click away, consider the vocabulary of a writer – not just a poet or a fiction writer – but any writer.
Have you ever noticed that some writers string words together seamlessly and beautifully? Have you ever read a sentence or paragraph and wondered how the author thought to put those words together in that order?
Poetry Terms and Literary Devices
Many poetry terms identify literary devices that will enhance your writing. By learning a few basic terms, you will gain a better understanding of how to use language in a compelling way. Plus, you’ll be able to speak more intelligently about writing as a craft.
A writer’s vocabulary needs to be stocked with words that help us understand and discuss our skill set. We should be able to talk about parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation the way scientists and doctors discuss organs, skeletons, and cells. Copywriters, fiction writers, and bloggers can step up their language skills by learning a few simple poetry terms.
Poetry Terms
Unfortunately, many writers ignore poetry completely. Yet reading and writing poetry is one of the best ways you can build your vocabulary and turn up the creativity in your creative writing. Today, we’ll just do a brief overview of a few, choice poetry terms.
Onomatopoeia
Most writers are familiar with the phenomenon that is onomatopoeia, which occurs when a word represents the thing that it defines through sound and sense. Most such words are verbs, and many deal with the world of nature. For example, cows moo, bees buzz, and rain pitter patters. These words most often mimic sounds, such as thump or boom. See if you can come up with some words that exemplify onomatopoeia. And if you think onomatopoeia is just for poets, think again. Does the phrase snap, crackle, pop ring a bell?
Fun and Games
These poetry terms explain different effects that you can use in your writing, similar to the way filmmakers use special effects in their movies.
Though these poetry terms belong mostly to the world that poets inhabit, other writers can harness the power of their special effects to generate writing that is more musical and mesmerizing.
But understanding these poetry terms is not enough. You should also read poetry and even try writing it on occasion. When you immerse yourself in poetry, these effects of language tend to leak over into your other writings, and pretty soon your fiction, blog posts, and articles will start coming alive with assonance and onomatopoeia. That, by the way, is a good thing.
NOTE: This post was originally published in April, 2008. However, it has been updated with new information and therefore has been freshly published for your reading pleasure.
Are there any poetry terms that you’d like to share or learn about? Leave a comment and share your thoughts and questions.
I am REALLY, REALLY enjoying this!
I knew all of this somewhere, some time ago, and I guess it is in there somewhere, but seeing it all written out is a great review and very helpful for being more “on purpose” with my writing.
Thank you so much for doing this poetry workshop. It is really great. I look forward to each installment.
Poetry and I kind of have a like/hate relationship. I appreciate people who can play with words and create beautiful imagery, but I’m linear enough to want things to say what they mean. At least more or less. I don’t mind having to give a little extra thought to appreciate the meaning behind an image in a poem, but if it’s too obscure or weird, I just don’t have the patience for it.
Which, of course, makes it ironic that the only fiction-writing course I was able to squeeze into my schedule in college was poetry writing. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing!
@Wendi, I have to admit, I am enjoying this so much that I am toying with converting this into a poetry blog, heheh.
@Deb (Punctuality), Imagery is really important to poetry. It is a concept I struggled with at first because I was big on “tell” and not familiar with “show.” Once it clicked, I had fun playing with it. Fiction, now there’s where I find my greatest challenge. I think the sheer length of a novel is problematic for me because I have always written short pieces (I even prefer brief poems). Still, I’m determined to write that novel one of these days!
well, I wouldn’t complain about you doing poetry all the time, but you are really good at the rest of the writing too. I like it all.
There are so many blogs out there teaching blogging, I really like the writing help. You make it all seem so easy. It takes me hours to write my posts.
Hi Melissa, I recently started reading and studying poetry and I find your explanations in this article to be much clearer than those in many of the books I’ve read. I was always a bit intimidated by poetry and assumed I could never understand it. I wish I’d had this kind of straightforward description many years ago!
I’ve had more time to go over your website today and I am amazed by how generous you are in sharing your expertise. Thank you very much.
ps- no pressure, but if you took on meter in a future post, you would have one very grateful reader over here
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These 5 and 6 syllable words are making my brain hurt on this late Monday night. Interesting post.
@Wendi, One of the reasons I started this site was because I saw so many blogs about blogging and couldn’t find any about writing. Although, it seems like once I got the site up and running I discovered lots of writing blogs!
Most of my posts take at least an hour, sometimes much more than that. Planning topics and headlines in advance can cut down on the time it takes me to write a post.
Thanks for your kind and flattering words – they put a smile and a blush on my face
@Greer, Thanks for hanging out here! I only wish I had more knowledge to share. Believe me, I work hard to keep learning and trying new things. Someday, I will even tackle fiction! Meter is a great topic. I’ll try to address that and some other terms that deal with musicality in poetry before the month is over.
Hi, Melissa,
I’m really glad you’re going over these poetry terms and can’t wait to see more. I think the more we understand about poetry, the easier it is to enjoy it. Most of the time it’s not easily accessible stuff, but once you know something about it, everything changes.
Keep up the great work!
Paula
Hi Paula, Yes, the more we delve into poetry, the more secrets it reveals. That is a big part of its allure, for me anyway. Thank you
LOVE this post, Melissa! This explains a lot and brings a more conscious approach to my prose, too.
Loris last blog post..I Surrender
Hi Lori, and thanks. The idea with this post is exactly that – to encourage writers to be more conscious about how they string words together. Poetry terms can help with that immensely
Great post! I love poetry and used to write it all the time, but I gave it up for some reason. Lately it’s been on my mind and this post has spurred me to grab a pen and paper and get to work. Thanks!
Positively Presents last blog post..trust me: to be happy you need to trust
I too haven’t been able to write as much poetry as I’d like. Other writing has taken precedence in recent years, but I see it in my near future. Good luck with your poetry writing