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 Z
Zeugma
A figure in which one verb governs two objects in different senses, as in she stole his wallet and his heart. The mismatch produces wit or sudden pathos.
Zuihitsu
A Japanese genre of fragmentary, drifting prose and poetry that follows the brush wherever thought wanders. Its openness has inspired many contemporary hybrid poems.
All letters
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