Onomatopoeia

Definition: An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it describes.
Example: Snap, crackle, pop!
Significance: Onomatopoeias are important because they are a part of auditory imagery, making a poem's descriptions more vivid and realistic.

Imagery

Definition: Imagery is descriptive language that stimulates the senses. Visual imagery describes sight, auditory imagery describes hearing, olfactory imagery describes smell, gustatory imagery describes taste and tactile imagery describes touch. Also, organic imagery describes feelings from within your body and kinesthetic imagery describes the feeling of movement.
Example: The beach smelled like rotting fish.
Significance: Imagery is important because it makes an imaginary world seem real. It allows readers to use their senses to understand a poem's setting in a clearer way.

Simile

Definition: A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the words "like" or "as."
Example: He was as brave as a lion.
Significance: Similes are important because they make descriptions more realistic by comparing objects to other known objects.

Speaker

Definition: The speaker is the person or thing that the poem is in the point-of-view of. Sometimes the speaker is the poet; other times, the speaker is imaginary.


Example: 

Well son, I'll tell you:
    Life for me ain't been no crystal stair,    It's had tacks in it,    And splinters,    And boards torn up,    And places with no carpet on the floor    Bare.

—"Mother to Son," Langston Hughes

In this poem, the speaker is imaginary; a mother is speaking to her son.

Significance: Speakers are important because it allows poets to write poems in perspectives other than their own. Understanding who/what the speaker is in the poem gives you a better understanding of what the poem's meaning and purpose is.

Symbol

Definition: Something that represents something else; a suggestion towards a separate idea made by the author.


Example: 

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,Who countest the steps of the sun;Seeking after that sweet golden climeWhere the traveller's journey is done

—"Ah Sunflower," William Blake 

Significance: Symbols are a way of saying something without blatantly saying it. Instead of directly stating a poem or phrase's meaning, authors sometimes use symbolism to hint at a hidden meaning.

Couplet

Definition: A pair of successive lines in a poem; they are usually the same length and rhyme.


Example: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

 —"Sonnet 18," William Shakespeare

Significance: Couplets are important because they add rhythm and sometimes rhyme to a poem. In sonnets, it signifies the end of the poem.

Stanza

Definition: A collection of lines in a poem; stanzas are separated by a line break. A paragraph is to prose as a stanza is to poetry.


Example: 

                     Our God, our help in ages past,
                     Our hope for years to come,
                     Our shelter from the stormy blast,
                     And our eternal home.

                     Beneath the shadow of Thy throne
                     Thy saints have dwelt secure;
                     Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
                     And our defense is sure.

—"O God, Our Help in Ages Past," Isaac Watts

Significance: Stanzas are important because they separate a poem into parts, organizing the poem and grouping like ideas and rhyme schemes together.