Glossary Of Poetic Terms

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

The repetition of identical consonant sounds, most often the sounds beginning words, in close proximity

Question 2

Give an example of alliteration

Answer 2

• Pensive poets

Question 3

Anaphora

Answer 3

Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line throughout a work or the section of a work

Question 4

The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words in close proximity

Answer 4

Assonance

Question 5

Give an example of assonance

Answer 5

Deep green sea

Question 6

A short but definite pause used for effect within a line of poetry

Answer 6

Caesura

Question 7

Chiasmus (antimetabole)

Answer 7

Chiasmus is a “crossing” or reversal of two elements; antimetabole, a form of Chiasmus is the reversal of the same words in a grammatical structure

Question 8

Give an example of Chiasmus

Answer 8

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country

Question 9

Consonance

Answer 9

The counterpart of assonance, the partial or total identity of consonants in words whose main vowels differ

Question 10

Give an example of consonance

Answer 10

Shadow meadow

Question 11

Couplet

Answer 11

Two successive rhyming lines. Couplets end the pattern of a Shakespearean sonnet

Question 12

A line ending in a full pause, usually indicated with a full stop or semicolon

Answer 12

End stopped line

Question 13

A line having no end punctuation but running over to the next line

Answer 13

Enjambment

Question 14

Foot (prosody)

Answer 14

A measured combination of heavy and light stresses

Question 15

Give an example of foot (prosody)

Answer 15

• an iamb or a trochee
• monometer (1 foot);diameter (2 feet) etc

Question 16

Hyperbole

Answer 16

(Overstatement) - an exaggeration for effect

Question 17

Litotes

Answer 17

(Understatement) - for effect - often used for irony

Question 18

Iamb (iambic)

Answer 18

An unstressed foot. The most natural and common kind of meter In English

Question 19

Give an example of iamb (iambic)

Answer 19

” Why didst thou promise such as beauteous day “ (from Shakespeares sonnet 34)

Question 20

A comparison between two unlike things this describes one thing as if it was something else - does not use “like” or “as” for the comparison

Answer 20

Metaphor

Question 21

An exact rhyme (rather than rhyming vowel sounds, as with assonance) within a line of poetry

Answer 21

Internal rhyme

Question 22

Give an example of internal rhyme

Answer 22

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while pondered, weak and weary”

Question 23

Onomatopoeia

Answer 23

A blending of consonant and vowel sounds designed to imitate or suggest the activity being described

Question 24

Meter

Answer 24

The number of feet within a line of traditional verse

Question 25

Give an example of onomatopoeia

Answer 25

• Buzz
• slurp

Question 26

A rhetorical figure embodying a seeming contradiction that is nonetheless true

Answer 26

Paradox

Question 27

Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things or abstractions

Answer 27

Personification

Question 28

Petrarchan sonnet

Answer 28

A sonnet (14 lines of lambic pentameter) that divides into an octave (8) and sestet (6) - there is a “Volta”,or “turning” of the subject matter between the octave and sestet

Question 29

A general term to describe the pattern of sound and rhythm used In poetry

Answer 29

Prosody

Question 30

Quatrain

Answer 30

A stanza consisting of four lines