Literary Terms Flashcards
the mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous
mixed metaphors
a non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or complex, long or short. Epics and ballads are examples of narrative poems.
narrative poem
an eight-line stanza
octave
the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning.
onomatopoeia
a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness
oxymoron
a situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense
paradox
a similar grammatical structure within a line or lines of poetry
parallelism
a restatement of an idea in such a way as to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form
paraphrase
a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it
poetic foot
a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings.
pun
close similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse.
rhyme
usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme
stanza
the management of language for a specific effect.
strategy
the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author
style
a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole. For example, we refer to “foot soldiers” for infantry and “field hands” for manual laborers who work in agriculture.
synecdoche
the ordering of words into patterns or sentences. If a poet shifts words from the usual word order, you know you are dealing with an older style of poetry or a poet who wants to shift emphasis onto a particular word
syntax
a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.
personification
a four-line stanza with any combination of rhymes.
quatrain
a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza
refrain
a seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc, used by Chaucer and other medieval poets.
rhyme royal
the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.
rhythm
a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it. Its purpose is to injure or to hurt.
sarcasm
writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule.
satire
a system for describing the meter of a poem by identifying the number and the type(s) of feet per line
scansion
a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with “like,” “as,” or “than.”
simile
normally a fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem.
sonnet
the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work.
structure
something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.
symbol
a stanza of three lines in which each line ends with the same rhyme.
tercet
a three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc,etc.
terza rima
the main thought expressed by a work. In poetry, it is the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work.
theme
the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. (Remember that the “voice” need not be that of the poet.)
tone
the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is
understatement
a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain.The villanelle uses only two rhymes which are repeated as follows: aba, aba, aba,aba, aba, abaa. Line 1 is repeated entirely to form lines 6, 12, and 18, and line 3 is repeated entirely to form lines 9, 15, and 19; thus, eight of the nineteen lines arerefrain.
villanelle
a six-line stanza.
sestet
