POETRY TERMS

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• Communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning
• Makes descriptions or difficult ideas easier to understand

METAPHOR

• Compares two things that have something in common
• Does not use like or as, but compares directly
• Example: Her eyes were shining stars

SIMILE

• Compares two things using a term such as like or as
• Example: Her eyes were shining like stars

PERSONIFICATION

• An object, idea, or animal is given human characteristics
• Example: The sun smiled down on us

IMAGERY

• Language referring to sensory impressions
• Makes for immediacy and vividness

SYNESTHESIA

• Appeals to two senses
• Example: Description of sounds as colors

STYLE

• The manipulation of language
• The way the writer tells the story

DICTION/WORD CHOICE

• Formal or high diction: proper, elevated, complex words
• Informal or low diction: Relaxed, conversational

SYNTAX

• Word order and sentence structure
• May be inverted or switched around
• Example: When rest I took

RHYME SCHEME

• The pattern of rhyming sounds in a poem
• Indicated by assigning a letter to each line

END RHYME

• The repetition of similar concluding syllables at the end of lines
• Rhyme coming at the end of a line of poetry

INTERNAL RHYME

• Rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry
• Example: I remember in the bleak December...

FREE VERSE

• Poetry that does not have regular patterns of rhyme and meter
• Uses the natural rhythms of phrases and natural pauses

SLANT OR OFF RHYME

• Words that almost rhyme
• Example: Solitude and could

BLANK VERSE

• Unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Imitates the natural rhythm of human speech

FORM OR STRUCTURE

• The shape, structure, or pattern of a poem
• The way a poem is laid out on a page
• Refer to the number of and length of stanzas

QUATRAINS

• A four-line stanza or poetic unit

COUPLET

• Two successive rhyming lines of poetry

STANZAS

• A group of lines that form a unit in a poem
• Usually characterized by a common pattern of meter and rhyme

SOUND DEVICES

ALLITERATION

• Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
• Creates mood, imparts a musical quality, emphasizes
• Example: Doubting, dreaming dreams

ASSONANCE

• The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words
• Imparts a musical quality, creates mood, provides emphasis
• Example: Molten golden notes

CONSONANCE

• Repetition of consonant sounds within and at the end of words
• Example: Late visitor entreating entrance

RHYTHM

• The pattern or flow of sound created by stressed and unstressed syllables
• Meter is the repetition of rhythmic patterns
• Brings out the musical qualities of language

REPETITION

• The recurrence of words, phrases, or lines
• Done for impact and effect

ONOMATOPOEIA

• Creating or using words that imitate sounds
• Poets choose words whose sounds suggest their meanings
• Examples: Buzz, whisper, moan, peep

OTHER IMPORTANT POETRY TERMS

ALLUSION

• Indirect reference to a historical or literary person, place, or event
• The author believes the reader will identify the original source

APOSTROPHE

• Direct address of person who is not present

CAESURA

• A pause or break in a line of poetry
• Used to emphasize the word preceding the break

ENJAMBMENT

• Run-on line
• A line of poetry having no end punctuation, running over to the next line

LYRIC

• Short poem
• Single speaker
• Expresses thoughts and feelings with emotional language

SPEAKER

• The voice that talks to the reader
• Fictitious narrator of a poem
• **Do not assume that the speaker is the poet**

MOOD

• Atmosphere
• The emotional aura evoked by a work
• Imagery, connotation, figurative language, etc., all contribute to mood

TONE

• Writer's attitude toward his subject
• Methods used to convey and control that attitude

SYMBOL

• A concrete thing which stands for ideas, values, etc.
• Always points beyond its own meaning toward more complex meaning
• Example: a blooming and fading rose symbolizing human mortality

THEME

• Central idea(s) the writer intends to share about his subject
• Idea may be a lesson about life
• Most themes are not obvious
• Stated in a complete sentence
• Not advice!!