coils

What is a Kenning?


A Kenning is a compressed metaphor or description using two nouns to describe a subject, place or object.

Examples - Using a Kenning in a Sentence

Story keeper - Book.

Word fisher - Poet.

Web maker - Spider.

Sky climber - Mountain.

Kenning is used in poetry to create different effects, They can be combined to make a poem called a Kennings in which a collection of kenning lines are combined to describe an object.

Why don't you try writing a poem using a kenning and enter it into one of our poetry competitions.

For information on poetry terms other than a kenning visit our poetry glossary – poetry terms.