Poetry Glossary

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Abecedarian
An abecedarian is an alphabetic acrostic. Rather than spelling out the title, each line begins with a word beginning with the next successive line in the alphabet. For example, if the first line begins with "A" then the second line would begin with a word starting with the letter "B."

Acrostic
In an acrostic poem, the first letter of each line in the poem works together to spell a word, usually the title of the poem. It may or may not rhyme.

Aisling
The aisling (pronounced ashling) was developed in Ireland after the 17th century. Unlike some of the other poetic forms listed, this poem does not have a rhyme scheme. It is identified by the content. The aisling is characterized by the poet reciting the tale of having a vision of Ireland in the form of a woman. She can be old or young, beautiful or haggard. This woman is referred to in the poems as an speirbhean (sky-woman). She mourns the state of the Irish people and predicts a change of fortune. This form is one that grew in popularity due to its political power. It is believed that this form was inspired by the French reverdie.

Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. For example, the tongue twister "Suzie sells sea shells down by the seashore" uses alliteration. In the modern usage, alliteration is most commonly consonantal.

Anapest
An anapest is a metrical foot used in types of poetry. It consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed (uu/).

Anaphora
An anaphora is the repetition of a word or a phrase as the beginning of successive clauses. For example, Winston Churchill is quoted as saying "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds...." The phrase "we shall fight" is an example of an anaphora.

Antonym
An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word. For example, the antonym of smooth is rough.

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of an identical or similar vowel sound. The "oo" sound in the sentence "Look at the cookies." is an example of assonance.