Creative Writing - Poetry - Useful definitions/terms

Here are some useful definitions for your writing:

alliteration

the repetition of initial letters in words net to, or near to each other, to create a sound effect 'peter piper picked' - makes it catchy and easier to remember.

dialect

a particular version of language with its own distinctive accent, grammar and vocabulary. Dialects are shaped by region and culture. (Liverpudlian, Mancunian, Cockney, Geordie)

imagery

the descriptive language used to create a particular picture, feeling or mood in the reader's imagination - imagery uses metaphors and similes.

metaphor

a particular kind of image that describes something as though it were something else. 'You are a pig' is a metaphor.

metre

regularlity of beat or rhythm in a poem can be estabished by stressing the same number of syllables in each line. Means the same as rhythm but metre is easier to spell.

mood

the atmosphere of a poem and the feelings that it evokes.

narrator

the speaker, the person who tells what is happening in the story or poem. The narrators views and experiences may be those of the poet but it would be a mistake to assume that this is always the case.

onomatopoeia (pronounced 'on-a-mat-up-ear')

the sound of an onomatopoeiac word helps to suggest what it describes or means i.e. bangs, cracks, crackles, knocks

personification

a type of metaphor where an animal, object or abstract idea is described as though it were human. This can help to make what is being described 'come to life' but it can also be used to suggest how closely people and things might be related to each other. i.e. 'The sunflower smiled happily and turned it's face to the sun'.

phonetic presentation

a way of spelling which matches letters to the sounds of words.

puns

sometimes called a play on words. A pun is any word or expression which allows the poet to create more than one meaning. Puns can also be created by using words which have similar sounds but different meanings.

rhyme

words that have a matching sound quality. Poems sometimes have rhyming words within the lines (internal rhyme) instead of or as well as at the end of each line.

Rhyme may help the poem to bounce along like a nursery rhyme. Rhymes might link ideas.

rhyme scheme

the pattern in which rhyming sounds occur within a poem.

rhythm - see metre

simile

the direct comparison of one thing with another.

stanza

poems are often organized into groups of lines called stanzas or verses - never, never, ever refer to the groups of lines as paragraphs.

structure

how something is put together

syllable

the basic sound unit of a word 'cat' is one syllable, 'saturn' is two syllables, 'mississippi' is four syllables

tone

the attitude of the poem, i.e. serious, humorous, sarcastic, romantic.

I will add more to this as time goes on so keep checking back.

Good luck with your poetry.