Meter

Definition:  The amount of syllables each line in poetry contains. If it has meter then it has the same amount of syllables in each line throughout the poem.

Example:  Trochee trips from long to short; 

           From long to long in solemn sort
     Slow Spondee stalks; strong foot! yea ill able
Ever to come up with Dactyl trisyllable.
Iambics march from short to long

Significance:   Meter makes the poem looks in shape. The poem has the same syllables on each line, reader can read the poem more easier.

Rhyme

Definition:  A rhyme has the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of the lines.

Example:  Creak, squeak, bump in the night

          I wake up in such a fright

          I jump up to turn on the light!

Significance:  Rhymes help keep a beat and help make poems flow which makes listener more attentive to the poems. 

Rhythm

Definition:  Rhythm is a pattern of words that contain similar sounds. Rhythm produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Example:  The wind in her hair over there

          The chair that sat with her hair

          Eyes on eyes

          Fire and lye

          In the river sky on I 

Significance: A movement with uniform recurrence of a beat or accent. In the poetry, rhythm broadly speaking. Rhythm gives the poem a distinct beat to a line. Also makes reader easy to read.

Onomatopoeia

Definition: Onomatopoeia use words to imitate sounds. Such as “boom” “crash” “rip". All the sounds associated with the objects.

Example:  Boom!          When the food trays.
          Clap! Clap!          Goes the teacher.
          Rip!          Went the plastic bag.

Significance:  Use onomatopoeia can make poems more real and help readers or listeners “enter” the poem completely in the imagination.

Personification

Definition:  It makes a thing, idea, or an animal does something only humans can do. Represent things with human characteristics, easier for readers to relate things in real life.

Example: Snow speaks to the people
        It is falling above in the glooming sunlight             
          Its white sparkling voice
          Echoes as it falls through the air.
                         By Jake
 （snow cannot speak, only living things can speak) 

Significance: Poet use personification to make poems more interesting and convey a certain mood to readers.

Imagery

Definition:  Imagery involve person senses ( hear, smell, touch, taste, and sight). Use to represent objects, actions, and ideas. Showing a lot of scene to readers.

Example:  The sun's bloody rays

                peeked one last time
     ( it is easier to "see" the sunset, if the poem had imagery)
                

               

Significance:  Imagery let the poet can show the readers what he means instead of telling them. Use imagery can make the poem more real and connect readers' emotion.

Simile

Definition:  use "like" or "as" to compare two different things ( place, person...)

Example:  The rain falls like the sun,

                  Rising upon the mountain
                               (compare falling rain to the rising of the sun)

Significance:  Easier to know what the things look like. And make readers feel the message that the poet wanted to convey.

Repetition

Definition:  Repeating lines, stanzas, and phrases in the poem.  The repeating of stanzas and lines are always the most important things in the poem.

Example:  O Captain mt Captain! our fearful trip is done,

                    The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won...

 

                      O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

                            Rise up-for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills...

Significance:  Repeating the most important idea in the poem, let the readers understand what the poet wants to show.

Tone

Definition: The mood that the poem creates to the reader. That also represent how the poet felt when he wrote the poem.

Example:  O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done/ the ship was weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won/ the port is near, the bells i hear, the people all exulting

( that present a cheerful tone)

Significance:  Gives its readers clues about how to feel about the poem.

Interpretation

Definition:  Get into the poem, use the images, concepts in the poem and poet(character)'s background to feel about the poem's meanings.

Example:  My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

          My father does not feel my are, he has no pulse nor will.  

       — O Captain!My Captain! ( the picture above is the interpretation of the poem)

Significance:  Help reader easier to understand the poem, also make reader know more about the poem.   

Metaphor

Definition:  Do not use like or as to compare two unlike things that actually have something in common. Extended metaphor compare two unlike groups of things.

Example:  All the world is a stage,

                  And all the men and women merely players;

                  They have their exits and their entrances;

                   —William Shakespeare

Significance:  A metaphor help the reader create a verbal picture that helps the reader to see ideas and feels what the poet means.

Speaker

Definition: The person saying the poem（narrator). Sometimes the speaker is the poet. Sometimes the speaker is an imaginary character created by the poet.

Example: The days are short,
                 The sun a spark
                 Hung thin between
                 The dark and dark.

         

Significance: The person“saying”the poem. The sounds of the words create a pleasant harmonious effect.

Symbol

Definition:  An object, person or idea used in the poem to stand for or suggest something else with which it is associated.

Example:  I knew the language of the floweret;

                  "My fragile leaves," it said," his heart enclose."

                   Love long has taken for his amulet

                   One perfect rose.

                              By: Dorothy Parker

Significance:  The symbol in a poetry can suggest something deeper and enhance the reading of a poem. 

Couplet

Definition:  A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming.

Example:  Nature puts on little shows

                     Every time it rains or snows.

Significance: Couplet are normally used as a finale to the poem, it provides an answer or a solution to the problem.

Stanza

Definition:  A stanza usually consist of two or more lines of  poetry, it is a small group of poetry. The stanzas in a poetry always have the same length and sometimes rhyme.

Example: I pretend i am a bird flying in the sky

                  I feel joyful for all the cats being saved

                  I touch the clouds while flying

                  I worry for all the stray animals in the world

                  I cry for all the dead cats and dogs

Significance:  Stanzas use to separate the meanings of a poem. Stanzas make people more easier to understand the poem.