Glossary Terms Flashcards
a ballad
a type of poem that tells a story and was traditionally set to music.
figurative language
the use of non-literal phrases or words to create further meaning in writing or speech
similie
a way to compare things with like or as
metaphor
a way to describe something by saying it is a certain thing
stanza
a group of lines in a poem (or verse)
tercet
3 line stanza
structure
the way the poet has organised the poem on the page
(number of stanzas, lines per stanza)
alliteration
when the beginning sound of words is repeated in nearby words
sibilance
the repeated use of the ‘s’ sound in the beginning, middle, or end of nearby words
assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of two or more words
personification
giving an inanimate object human feelings
rhyming couplets
two consecutive lines of verse that rhyme
tone
the overall mood or attitude conveyed by the narrator’s word choice in a story.
mood
the feeling/atmosphere that the poem creates for the reader
imagery
visually descriptive language, often figurative
novel
a fiction prose narrative of significant length and complexity that deals imaginatively and has characters, a plot and setting
prose
not poetry or drama, no stage directions, full sentences + follows punctuation rules
subtext
a deeper, often hidden, meaning in a text
(below the surface, read between the lines)
adverb
a word that describes a verb
fronted adverbial
words or phrases at the front of a sentence that give more information to the sentence
onomatopoeia
words that sounds like the noise it describes (slash!)
foreshadow
a hint in the text about events or revelations to come in the story
symbol
a word or image which represents something else
e.g. a dove is a symbol of peace
motif
a recurring image or idea in a story, which usually has a deeper significance
connotation
a feeling or idea that a word has, in addition to its literal or main meaning
e.g. a red rose has the connotation of love
symbolism
a word or picture that represents something else
sensory imagery
the use of vivid and descriptive language that appeals to the reader’s five senses
