Vicious circle means a repeating cycle in which one problem causes another that then worsens the first. In poetry, the idiom is useful for addiction, poverty, resentment, violence, guilt, insomnia, and social injustice. Its circular image suggests entrapment, recurrence, and lack of escape, while “vicious” adds moral and emotional severity. A poet may use it to show how suffering becomes self-reinforcing. The phrase is valuable for exploring cycles that require interruption rather than mere endurance.

A vicious circle is a self-perpetuating problem in which each effect worsens its own cause. In poetry, it can describe poverty, addiction, resentment, violence, anxiety, environmental damage, or historical injustice. The circle image suggests entrapment without clear beginning or exit. Students should compare it with cycles in nature, which may be renewing; a vicious circle is destructive repetition. It pairs well with wheels, loops, mirrors, and recurring lines.