All Flashcards
Example of Metaphor
“life is but a walking shadow”
Definition of Caesura
A pause in the poetic line
Definition of Allusion
An indirect reference to something implied but not stated. The writer refers to something the reader will presumably recognize-a historical or fictional character, a specific place, a particular event or series of events, a religious or mythological story, a literary or artist work. Allusion is a compact between writer and reader, a means of summoning a shared word or tradition, a way of packing a work with meaning
Definition of Metonymy
A figure of speech that replaces or substitutes the name of one thing with something else closely associated with it.
Definition of Couplet
Two successive lines of poetry, usually rhymed
the example of Allusion
“When there is poetry
It is Orpheus singing”
Example of Caesura
The word is too much with us; late and soon
Example of Couplet
” I am his Highness’ Dog at Kew;
Pray tell me Sir, Whose Dog are you”
Definition of trope
A way of extending the meaning of words beyond the literal. Examples of tropes include metaphor and simile
Definition of Analogy
A resemblance between two different things, frequently expressed as a simile. The reader participates in the making of an analogy by probing the resemblance and its implications
Definition of Free Verse
A poetry of organic rhythms and deliberate irregularity. Free verse foes do not employ rhyme or meter.
Example of Apostrophe
“O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being”
Example of Onomatopoeia
“Hark, hark; Bow, bow”
Definition of Apostrophe
The poem turns away from the audience to address a God or gods, the muse, a dead or absent person, a nature object, a thing, an imaginary quality or concept.
Definition of Consonance
The audible repetition of consonant sounds in words encountered near each other whose vowel sounds are different. It is a way of forcing relation
Example of Consonance
“Losses, who might have fought
Longer; but no other bothers”
Example of Rhyme
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”
Definition of Alliteration
the audible repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or within words
Example of Personification
With how sad steps to Moon, thou climb’st the skies
Example of Free Verse
” My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
with the twirl of tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of words”
Definition of Symbol
Broadly speaking, a symbol is anything that signifies or stands for something else. In poetry, symbols are textured entities. We bring to our reading of a poem all the symbolic connotations and meanings available to us, but the symbol should first be understood in terms of how it works as a device within a poem itself. How a thing can be both itself and something else is one of the great mysteries of poetry. In poetry, a symbol offers a surplus of resonance and significance.
Definition of Assonance
The audible repetition of vowel sounds within words encountered near each other.
Example of Enjambment
“So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow”
Definition of Rhyme
Creates a partnership between words, lines of poetry, ideas and feelings. There is a pleasure in the sound of words coming together, in the pulse and the beat, in the rhyme of their conjoining.
Example of imagery
” All over bouquets of roses, O death, I cover you over with roses and early lilies. “
Example of Metonymy
The pen is mightier than the sword
Definition of Personification
The attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects, animals or ideas
Definition of Onomatopoeia
The formation and use of words which imitate sound. It is a poetic device that creates verbal texture by weaving sounds through lines.
Example of Anaphora
“I run
I jump
I play”
Definition of Anaphora
The repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of a series of phrases, lines or sentences. The words accumulate mysterious power and resonance through repetition. Anaphora serves as an organizing poetic strategy for long lists or catalogs
Example of Simile
My love is like a red rose
My love is like the melody
Example of Alliteration
” I caught this morning’s minion”
“dapple-down-draw Falcon”
Example of Assonance
” And round about the keel with faces pale”
Definition of Meter
A way of describing rhythmic patterning in poetry, of keeping time , of measuring poetic language. The meter of a poem can slow us down or speed us up, it can focus our attention or hypnotize us.
Definition of Simile
The explicit comparison of one thing to another, using the word as or like. Similes function as analogies, whereas metaphors assert new identities
Definition of Rhythm
Sound in movement. It is the combination of syllables that creates a feeling of fixity and flux, surprise and inevitability
Definition of Imagery
Relates to the visual content of language. It speaks to our capacity to embody meaning through words. Imagery can work on both literal and figurative levels
example of Symbol
The rainbow comes and goes, and lovely is the rose
Definition of Enjambment
The carryover of one line of poetry to the next without a grammatical break. This creates a sensation of hovering expectation
Example of Analogy
“poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking”
The definition of Metaphor
A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. Metaphor works by a process of interaction. Meaning emerges as a collaborative process between writer and reader
