All Poetic Terms (test 1/6/23 Flashcards
Polysyndeton
a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction. (and, or) (and this and that and that and this…)
->emphasizing certain feelings and expanding on an idea or emotion.
Ballad
Traditionally a song passed down from generation to generation dramatic condensed impersonal narrative(not about one person). -
->Can also be a poem,
-> a stanza is 4 lines(quatrain) consisting of alternating 8 and 6-’ lines. Usually only the 2nd and 4th line rhymes.
Apostrophe
a speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object can also be someone that is dead or an abstraction.
-> pretty much when the speaker is talking to someone or something that can’t talk back
Blank Verse
verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.
->the most common form of verses used in modern and even Shakespearean poetry
Concaphany
language that is discordant, difficult to pronounce, and often used to deliberately mirror the subject matter. Words that trip over themselves, help convey a sense of confusion and chaos.
-> literally means bad sound
Connotation
associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of the word. Derived by how the word has been commonly used and how intended the word is to be used.
Cesura
A pause within a line of poetry contributes to the rhythm of the rhyme.
Consonance
a near rhyme consisting of similar consonant sounds followed by different vowel sounds.
Couplet
Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter.
Diction
A writer’s choice of words sentence structure and figurative language combined to help create meaning
Elegy
a mournful contemplative lyric poem was written to commemorate someone that is dead, often ending in a consolation
End stop line
a line that has a pause at the end, shown through a period at the end.
Injament
when one line ends without a pause and continues through the next line for its meaning
-> Drips down to the second line, understanding what the poet is getting at.
Epic
a long narrative poem told in a formal elevated style that focuses on a serious subject and chronicles heroic deeds and events that are important to a culture or nation
Epigram
a brief pointed and witty poem that often makes a satiric or humorous point most often written in compliance
Heroic Couplet
Two lines that end with Rhymed Iambic pentameter
Euphony
in reference to music that is pleasing to the ear
->smooth
-> opposite of cacophony
Fixed Form
Anything with a structured form, like a rhyme scheme.
Metrical Foot
the metrical unit a line of poetry is counted
Iamb
unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (Shakespeare) (away)
Trochee
stressed followed by a stressed syllable (lovely)
Dactyl
stressed followed by an undressed and unstressed syllable (desperate)
Anapest
unstressed, unstressed, stressed syllable
Form
is the overall structure or shape of a work that follows a previously established design (narrative, stanzas, verse)
Free verse
open form poetry poems are characterized by their nonconformity to established paters of meter rhyme and stanza
Hyperbole
a boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true.
Iambic Pentameter
5 iambic feet per line (reminder penta means 5) iamb is unstressed followed by stressed syllables
Imagery
words phrases of speech that address the senses convey sensory impressions and emotions and mood
Lyric
a brief poem that expresses the feelings or emotions of the poem, eulogy, ode, sonnet, ballad,
Metaphor
a comparison between two things without using like or as
->asserting that one thing is the other
Extended metaphor
a sustained comparison, where all or part of the poem consists of a series of related metaphors
Meter
rhythmic pattern of stresses in a poem, are determined by the type and number of feet in a line of a verse.
Narrative poem
a poem that tells a story. Can be short or long, simple or complex
->ballads and epics are narrative poems,
Octave
a stanza of 8 lines usually forming one part of a sonnet, which has 14 lines.
Onomatopoeia
words that express the denotation of the given sound effect
Open form
same thing as free verse does not conform to patterns iambs rhyme, is done by using repetition of words phrases, or grammatical structure
Oxymoron
a condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together, sweet sorrow, jumbo shrimp, boneless wings
Paradox
a statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then on closer inspection turns out to make sense.
Parody
A humorous imitation of another normally serious work, it can take any fixed or open form, and may also be used as a form of literary criticism to expose the defects in the work.
Persona
-A speaker created by a writer to tell a story or in a poem
- Not a character in the story or narrative, nor does the person necessarily directly reflected in the voice.
ex: lemony snicket
Personification
A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.
ex: “the time ran away from me”
Prosody
The overall metrical structure of the poem
ex: Iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl
Pun
A play on words that relies on a word having more than one meaning or sounding like another word.
ex: orange you having fun studying :)
Quatrain
4 Line stanza, any metrical pattern
Scansion
The process of measuring the stresses in a line of verse in order to determine the metrical pattern of the line.
Sestets
A stanza consisting for exactly 6 lines
Sestina
A type of fixed form poetry with no set meter with 36 lines divided into 6 sestets and a last stanza that is 3 line envoy 6 words at the end of the sestets and all end with an envoy.
simile
a comparison using like or as
ex:(like, as, than, appears, seems
sonnet
fourteen lines of iambic pentameter linked by an intricate rhyme scheme
-Shakespearean sonnets/English= three quatrains and ends with a couplet
-Petrarchan Sonnets/Italian Sonnets= still 14 lines, 1 octave(8) and 1 sestet(6).
Spondee
a type of metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables
Stanza
Refers to a grouping of lines set off by a space, usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme
stress
the emphasis or accent was given to a syllable in the pronunciation
symbol
a person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meanings that go beyond the definition. And often has a more abstract meaning than the literal significance
synecdoche
a type of metaphor in which a part of something used to signify the whole
ex: Gossip- wagging your tungue
Tercet
3 line stanza
Terza rima
an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme
ex: aba, bcb, cdc
Understatement
the opposite of hyperbole refers to a figure of speech that says less than is intended. Usually has an ironic effect but is sometimes just used for comedic purposes.
Villanelle
A fixed form of poetry consisting of 19 lines divided into 6 stanzas or 5 tercets and a concluding quatrain.
