Poet's Glossary
Every craft has its vocabulary, and poetry's is one of the most beautiful. This glossary explains the forms, meters, rhymes and devices poets reach for, in plain and warm language. Whether you are decoding a sonnet or naming a technique you already use by instinct, start with a letter below.
Terms starting with V
Verse
Language arranged in lines and often meter; also a loose word for a stanza or for poetry in general. Verse is the craft; poetry is what happens when the craft catches fire.
Villanelle
A nineteen line form of five tercets and a quatrain, spun around two refrains that alternate and finally meet. Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night is the most famous example.
Volta
The turn of thought in a sonnet, where the poem pivots from question to answer or from situation to insight. Even outside sonnets, most strong poems contain a volta somewhere.
All letters
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