Elements of Poetry Flashcards
Figure of Speech
departure from the ordinary speech makes the meaning more vivid and objectifies inner experience
Ex. The love I felt for her washed over me like a wave.
Allegory
the description of one thing under the likeness of another (an expanded metaphor); stand for ideas beyond themselves & teaches some moral or truth
Ex. Animal Farm is an allegory for the Communist state during that time.
Simile
a direct expressed comparison containing like or as
Ex. My love for her was as illuminating as the moonlight.
Metaphor
an implied comparison rather than a stated one; emotional or imaginative qualities
Ex. My erratic love is the ever changing ocean tide.
Personification
We speak of things as though they were persons, or human (endowing animals, ideas, abstractions, and inanimate objects with human attributes and sensibilities.)
Ex. The clouds smiled, but then yelled at me to get my homework done.
Hyperbole
exaggeration for effect; useful for the rush of powerful suggestion
Ex. I have a million things to do.
Apostrophe
(Something’s missing): A form of address in which the absent are addressed as though they were present
Ex. “Oh, Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”
Metonymy
a change of name; the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it in our minds
Ex. The crown sentenced him to death.
Antithesis
a contrast: the opposite of simile by definition
Ex. Love is an ideal thing; marriage a real thing.
Synecdoche
a part for the whole, or the whole to represent the part; the general to represent the special, and the special to represent the general
Ex. The town grew restless.
Epigram
Any saying in prose or poetry which says something true or wise - briefly and pointedly
Ex. Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” - John F. Kennedy
Irony
a deliberate discrepancy between what one says and what one means. (our words convey the opposite meaning from what they say
Dramatic Irony
occurs when the audience or reader knows something that the characters do not
Ex. The audience can see the horror monster coming, but the victims in the film cannot.
Verbal Irony
where someone says the opposite of what they really mean or intend (ex. sarcasm, a biting form)
Ex. With failing grades, the teacher says to the student, “Wow, you are my best student!”
Situational Irony
where actions or events have the opposite result from what is expected/intended
Ex. The pool is infested with roaches after draining it to clean the interiors.
Chiasmus
(historic language device): Hebraic: a rhetorical inversion of the second of 2 parallel structures.
Ex. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Paradox
A statement which while seemingly contradictory or absurd may actually be well founded or true.
Ex. If you didn’t get this message, call me.
Oxymoron
In congruous words used in relationship to each other
Ex. Cheerful pessimist; Awfully good
Rhyme / Rhyme Scheme
similarity or identity of sound existing between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions within 2 or more lines of verse.
Ex. The cat had a hat.
Onomatopoeia
An attempt to make sounds of words to indicate their sense
Ex. Hiss, slam, buzz, sizzle, zap
Consonance
the use of ends of lines of verses of words in which the final consonants in the stressed syllables agree, but the vowels that precede them differ
Ex. bill/ball; born/burn
Assonance
Consists of paring the same vowel sounds in a verse, or verses, without regard to the consonants
Ex. lake/fate
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds throughout a line or lines
Ex. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew/ The furrow followed free.
Iambic
A foot of 2 syllables with the accent on the 2nd syllable.
Ex. defy!; Belong
Trochaic/ Trochee
A foot of 2 syllables with accent on the 1st syllable
Ex. Happy!; Writing; Apple
Pentameter
Five accents:
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank.
Ex. “For every mountainside, let freedom ring.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Couplet
2 lines of rhyming poetry
Ex. “A little learning is a dangerous thing:/ Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
Quatrain
Four lines of rhyming poetry
Ex. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choices, where late the sweet birds sang:
William Shakespeare
Anaphora/Epiphora
the repetition of the same word or words for effect
Ex. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of death.
Tetrameter
Four accents:
Ex. The stag at eve had drunk his fill.
