Glossary of Poetic Devices

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

An extended metaphor in which the characters, places and objects in a narrative carry figurative meaning.

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

A brief, intentional reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, event, or movement.

Question 3

Anadiplosis

Answer 3

The repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next.

Question 4

Anaphora

Answer 4

Often used in political speeches and occasionally in prose and poetry, anaphora is the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

Question 5

Anthropomorphism

Answer 5

A form of personification in which human qualities are attributed to anything inhuman, usually a good, animal, object, or concept.

Question 6

Assonance

Answer 6

The repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme.

Question 7

Aysndeton

Answer 7

The omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence, as in “I came, I saw, I conquered”.

Question 8

Blank verse

Answer 8

Unrhyming iambic pentameter, also called heroic verse. This 10-syllable line is the predominant rhythm of traditional English dramatic and epic poetry, as it is considered the closest to English speech patterns.

Question 9

Caesura

Answer 9

A stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary.

Question 10

Chremamorphism

Answer 10

Chremamorphism is giving characteristics of an object to a person.

Question 11

Dramatic monologue

Answer 11

A poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader.

Question 12

Eclogue

Answer 12

A brief, dramatic pastoral poem, set in an idyllic rural place but discussing urban, legal, political, or societal issues.

Question 13

End-stopped

Answer 13

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break - such as a dash or closing parenthesis - or with punctuation such as a colon, a semicolon, or a full stop.

Question 14

Enjambment

Answer 14

The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped.

Question 15

Free verse

Answer 15

Nonmetrical, nonrhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech. A regular pattern of sound or rhythm may emerge in free-verse lines, but the poet does not adhere to a metrical plan in their composition.

Question 16

Fricative

Answer 16

A consonant sound such as English f or v, produced by bringing the mouth into position to block the passage of airflow, but not making complete closure so that air moving through the mouth generates audible friction.

Question 17

Imagery

Answer 17

Elements of a poem that invoke any of the five senses to create a set of mental images.

Question 18

Litotes

Answer 18

A deliberate understatement for effect; the opposite of hyperbole.

Question 19

Motif

Answer 19

A central or recurring image or action in a literary work and may serve an overall theme.

Question 20

Onomatopoeia

Answer 20

A figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates it’s sense.

Question 21

Oxymoron

Answer 21

A figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect, such as “deafening silence”.

Question 22

Panegyric

Answer 22

A poem of effusive praise. Its origins are Greek, and it is closely related to the eulogy and the ode.

Question 23

Persona

Answer 23

A dramatic character, distinguished from the poet, who is the speaker of the poem.

Question 24

Personification

Answer 24

A figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as if it were a person.

Question 25

Plosive

Answer 25

Sounds usually associated with the letters p, t, k, b, d, g, in which air flow from the lungs is interrupted by a complete closure being made in the mouth.

Question 26

Polysyndeton

Answer 26

The use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some could otherwise be omitted, as in “he ran and jumped and laughed for joy”.

Question 27

Quatrain

Answer 27

A four-line stanza, rhyming.

Question 28

Refrain

Answer 28

A phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem, especially at the end of a stanza.

Question 29

Synesthesia

Answer 29

In description, a blending or intermingling of different sense modalities.

Question 30

Tercet

Answer 30

A poetic unit of three lines, rhymed or unrhymed.