Glossary of Poetic Terms

From the ancient Greek for “good voiced,” euphony in poetry refers to the pleasing harmonious arrangement of sounds in language. First used in English in the 17th century, euphony involves the use of melodious combinations of sounds, such as vowel sounds (with similar vowel sounds creating assonance), consonant sounds (with similar consonant sounds creating consonance), and the rhythm of words and syllables. Euphony is, in essence, the musicality of poetry. It often evokes positive emotions in the reader or listener and can contribute to the overall mood or atmosphere of a poem. Similarly the breaking of ongoing euphony has been used by some poets to create an experience that something has gone wrong, that the positive atmosphere of the poem has been broken.