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 Y
Yūgen
A Japanese aesthetic ideal of mysterious depth, the beauty of what is sensed but never fully shown. Poems that gesture beyond their last line reach for yūgen.
All letters
Enter the October poetry contest