Poetry Terms
Information Station Other Poetry Terms Kenning
Kenning
What is a Kenning?
A Kenning is a compressed metaphor or description using two nouns to describe a subject, place or object.
Examples of 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.