Tone

Definition:

In a poem, the tone is the kind of mood the author of the poem is trying to set. It's the voice that "reads" the poem.

Example:

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; (light, informing tone)
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away ("only" tone - reservation)
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may): (supplementary, possibility)
I sha'n't be gone long. -- You come too. (free tone, assuring) (after thought, inviting)

Significance:

Tone in poetry is important because it let readers know what kind of emotion the writer is trying to express, and it effects the mood of the poem.

Interpretation

Definition:

Your own definition of something.In a poem, your interpretation is what you think the poem is trying to say.

Example:

“We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
the Coraice--in the Ground--"

I interpret that this stanza is describing a funeral.

Significance:

Interpretation is important because it allows everyone to have their own definition of a poem. Trying to interpret a poem is a part of reading poetry.

Extended Metaphor

Definition: 

A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a stanza or lines in a poem; longer than metaphor.

Example:

He is the pointing gun, we are the bullets of his desire.
All the world's a stage and men and women merely players.
Let me count my loves of thee, my rose garden, my heart, my fixed mark, my beginning and my end.

Significance:

Extended metaphors are important because writers can use them to create lines and stanzas around a certain topic. It also helps the reader to understand the meaning of a poem by seeing comparison to common things.

Speaker

Definition:

A speaker in a poem is the imaginary voice a poet uses when writing a poem. The speaker is the character who tells the poem, and does not have to be the author of the poem.

Example:

“The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,
its slide a silver afterthought down which
we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles.
We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy.”
--"The Summer When I Was Sixteen" by Geraldine Connolly

'I' is the speaker in this poem, most likely the writer.

Significance:

 The speaker in a poem is important because it helps the reader to identify who is telling the "story" and understand more about the poem.

Symbol

Definition:

A symbol is something that represents more than itself. In poetry, writers often use symbolism to express hidden and important ideas.

Example:

"We slowly drove—He knew no haste
 And I had put away
 My labor and my leisure too,
 For His Civility—"
--"Because I Could Not Stop For Death" by Emily Dickson

In this poem, "he" is a personified symbol of Death.

Significance:

Symbol is important in poetry because it represents ideas more than itself. This makes the poem more interesting and lets people to find the true meaning of it if they looked deeper.

Couplet

Definiton:
A couplet is two lines that form a stanza in a poem. Usually rhymes and have the same meter.

Example:
True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
 — Alexander Pope

Significance:
A couplet is important because it is a simple rhyme scheme in poetry; it calls attention to readers. Couplet expresses ideas quickly in just two lines.

Stanza

Definition:
A group of lines that looks like a "paragraph" in a poem; a unit. Stanzas are separated by spaces.

Example:
"I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it."
--"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

Significance:
Stanza in poetry is important because it separates different ideas in a poem, allowing rests when reading and let people think through what they just read. Sometimes stanza help rhymes to stand out more.