Key poetry terms/techniques

Question 1

what is Alliteration?

Answer 1

repletion of consonant, especially ones at the beginnings of sentences e.g. Slithering snake

Question 2

What is Anapaest?

Answer 2

Foot made up of two unstressed syllables followed by a stress.

Question 3

What is Assonance?

Answer 3

Repetition of vowel sounds.

Question 4

What is a Blank verse?

Answer 4

Unryhmed iambic pentameter

Question 5

What is caesura?

Answer 5

Deliberate break, pause, turn, break.

Question 6

What is a Canon?

Answer 6

collection works considered representative of a period or genre

Question 7

what is consonance?

Answer 7

close repetition of consonance sounds - anywhere within the words.

Question 8

What is a couplet?

Answer 8

A stanza of two lines - they can often rhyme

Question 9

What is a Dactyl?

Answer 9

foot made up of a stress, followed by two unstressed

Question 10

What is enjambement?

Answer 10

A continuation of movement from one line to the next -

Question 11

What is an epigraph?

Answer 11

short verse/quote revealing a relevant theme.

Question 12

What is a free verse?

Answer 12

Doesn’t have a regular rhyme, rhyme etc.

Question 13

What is a foot?

Answer 13

Unit of measure in a line of poetry

Question 14

What is a hexameter?

Answer 14

A line consisting of six metrical feet

Question 15

What is a hyperbole?

Answer 15

A striking/ extreme exaggeration

Question 16

What is an iamb?

Answer 16

Iambic- refers to the rhyme.

Question 17

What is imagery?

Answer 17

Invokes the senses to create an image

Question 18

What is a metaphor?

Answer 18

a comparison without using the words ‘like’ etc.

Question 19

What is a Meter?

Answer 19

The rhythmic measure of a line.

Question 20

What is an Octave?

Answer 20

A stanza of eight lines.

Question 21

What is a pentameter?

Answer 21

Five metrical feet - equals 10 syllables (5 unstressed, 5 stressed)

Question 22

What is a Quatrain?

Answer 22

Stanza of four lines.

Question 23

What is a Quintain?

Answer 23

Stanza of five lines.

Question 24

What is a Refrain?

Answer 24

Repetition of a line, might not always be exactly the same

Question 25

What is a Rhyme?

Answer 25

Words that sound similar, especially towards the end.

Question 26

What is a Rhythm?

Answer 26

Heartbeat of a line

Question 27

What is a Septet?

Answer 27

Stanza of seven lines

Question 28

what Is a sestet?

Answer 28

Stanza of six lines.

Question 29

What is a Simile?

Answer 29

A comparison using ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘than’ - e.g. red AS a rose

Question 30

What is a Spondee?

Answer 30

Foot consisting of two stress syllables

Question 31

What is a Stanza?

Answer 31

The lines making up a single unit in the poem; like a paragraph in prose

Question 32

What is a stress?

Answer 32

The syllable uttered with greater emphasis

Question 33

What is a syntax?

Answer 33

Sentence structure

Question 34

What is a Tercet?

Answer 34

Stanza or poem of three lines

Question 35

What is a tetrameter?

Answer 35

Line consisting of four metrical feet

Question 36

What is a trochee?

Answer 36

Foot consisting of stress followed by stressed then unstressed.

Question 37

What is a tone?

Answer 37

Feeling the poem evokes e.g. angry etc.

Question 38

What is a verse?

Answer 38

To refer to poem possessing more formal qualities

Question 39

What is a Ballad?

Answer 39

Poem written in song form

Question 40

What is an Elegy?

Answer 40

A poem written to mourn the death of somebody

Question 41

What is a lyric?

Answer 41

A short poem which explores a state of feeling, rather than narration.

Question 42

What is a narrative?

Answer 42

Poem narrates an event

Question 43

What is a sonnet?

Answer 43

Petrarchan sonnet - 14 lines, One Octave, one sestet, ABBA ABBA CDCCDC

Shakespearian sonnet - 14 lines, four groups, three quatrains, one couplet, 10 syllables, iambic pentameter, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Question 44

What is a Villanelle?

Answer 44

Traditional form - five tercets, followed by a single quatrain.