22 Words You Should Absolutely Know Before Writing Poetry

Essential Vocabulary for Serious Writers - 5 Part Series

Photo by Jr Korpa

Before you sit down to write your first next poem, take a few minutes to learn or brush up on the language used to shape emotion, sound, and ultimately, meaning. This list isn’t about how to write poetry “correctly,” it’s about having all the tools (aka. the language) available to support your craft. Poet-to-Poet? Learn the rules, so you can break them like an artist.

Form & Structure

1. Line – The most basic unit of a poem. A single row of words that carries meaning through diction, tone, syntax, phonetics, etc.

2. Stanza – A group of lines, like a paragraph in poetry. Stanzas create rhythm, emphasis, form, and breath.

3. Enjambment – When a line spills into the next without punctuation or pause. These are used strategically to create momentum, emphasis, half or double meanings.

4. Caesura – A pause within a line—often marked with punctuation, but not always. A moment of interruption or silence. Also another tool that can create emphasis.

5. Genre / Type / Style – The overall manner of a poem, or the category of poem based on content or tradition. These are just a handful of common poetic styles—there are countless:

   1. Lyrical – Personal, musical, often emotional.

   2. Narrative – Story-driven, often with characters, plot, and setting.

   3. Dramatic – Spoken from a distinct character’s POV, often performative.

   4. Confessional – Raw, intimate, often autobiographical, 1st person.

   5. Descriptive - Heavy use of imagery, and sensory language. The poet creates a scene internal or external, using words as paint.

   6. Experimental or Hybrid – Breaking form, pushing language, visual poetry

   7. Contrapuntal - Poems written in columns that can be read vertically or horizontally.

   8. Elegy – A poem of mourning or reflection on loss

   9. Ode – A poem of praise or reverence

   10. Haiku – A short, nature-focused poem (typically 3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables)

   11. Sonnet – A 14-line poem with a formal structure, usually in iambic pentameter.

   12. Prose Poem – A poem in paragraph form with poetic language

   13. Free Verse – A poem without regular meter or rhyme. But still relies on rhythm, pacing, and sound!

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Sound & Movement

7. Meter – The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. The musical grid and beat underneath the poem.

8. Iamb – A metrical foot of two syllables: unstressed, then stressed (da-DUM). The heartbeat rhythm.

9. Alliteration – Repeating initial consonant sounds (ie, soft, silence, settles).

10. Assonance – Repetition of vowel sounds (ie, the high tide slides).

11. Consonance – Repeating consonant sounds inside or at the ends of words (ie, dark, lark, bark).

12. Onomatopoeia – Words that imitate sound (ie. buzz, hiss, crack, hummmmm).

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Meaning & Technique

11. Imagery – Language that evokes the senses. Concrete detail that brings the abstract to life.

12. Metaphor – A comparison without using “like” or “as.” Grief is a river.

13. Simile – A comparison using “like” or “as.” Her voice was like wind through reeds.

14. Symbol – A concrete image that represents something abstract (ie. a rose for love, but please don’t use a rose for love).

15. Ekphrasis – A vivid description of a work of art. Often used as poetic meditation.

16. Juxtaposition – Placing two contrasting images or ideas side-by-side for effect.

17. Defamiliarization – Describing the ordinary in unfamiliar terms to renew perception. (e.g., calling a window a “boxed sky”)

18. Abstract vs. Particular – Abstract words name ideas or feelings (love, death, justice); particulars use specific, tangible imagery (a wilted tulip, a rusted key) to ground the poem.

19. Turning of a Phrase – A clever or surprising use of language that shifts meaning or reveals something deeper. Often tied to tone, double meaning, or rhythm.

20. Visual Tunneling – A technique where the poem zooms into a single image or moment, isolating it to evoke clarity, or emotional focus.

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Voice & Viewpoint

19. Persona/Speaker – The “I” of the poem. Not always the poet. Sometimes a character, mask, or perspective. A term also used in workshop to politely create space between the writer and the work.

20. Volta – The “turn” or shift in the poem. Most common in sonnets, but useful everywhere.

21. Refrain – A repeated line or phrase. Like a chorus. Builds resonance or tension.

22. Scope – The emotional or thematic reach of the poem: is it intimate or expansive? Local or cosmic? What is the scale of its inquiry?

BONUS WORD!

Etymology – The origin or history of a word. Exploring etymology can enrich your poems with hidden meaning and deeper resonance. (e.g., “nostalgia” comes from Greek for “homecoming pain.”)

Did I Miss Anything? Or is there a writing term you wish you’d learned sooner? Lets hear it in the comments.

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Coming Next Week:

“10 Words You Should Know Before Querying an Agent”

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This is a 5-Part Series: All links will be updated and banked here once posted.

4. 20 Words You Should Know Before Submitting to a Publisher

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