Poetic Devices

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

Repetition of beginning consonant sounds

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

Reference to a work of literature or to an actual event

Question 3

Apostrophe

Answer 3

Figure of speech in which someone absent is addressed as if it were alive

Question 4

Caesura

Answer 4

Break in the middle of a line caused by a mark of punctuation

Question 5

Couplet

Answer 5

Two successive lines, usually in the same meter linked by end rhyme

Question 6

End Rhyme

Answer 6

Rhymes that occur at the ends of lines

Question 7

Enjambment

Answer 7

When the thought of one line of poetry runs into the next line without a break

Question 8

Extended metaphor

Answer 8

Comparison between two unlike things that is usually not explicitly stated as a metaphor

Question 9

Figure of speech

Answer 9

Expression in which words are used other than their literal sense

Question 10

Imagery

Answer 10

Representation of sense of experiences through language

Question 11

Internal rhyme

Answer 11

Rhyme in which both of the rhyming words occur within one line

Question 12

Kenning

Answer 12

Compound words that take the place of simpler terms in an attempt to be more descriptive

Question 13

Line

Answer 13

Row of words printed on the same line of paper

Question 14

Metaphor

Answer 14

Comparison between two things without the use of like or as

Question 15

Muse

Answer 15

Inspiration that motivates a poet, artist or thinker

Question 16

Onomatopoeia

Answer 16

Use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning with their sound

Question 17

Personification

Answer 17

Figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, object or concept

Question 18

Quatrain

Answer 18

Four line stanza

Question 19

Refrain

Answer 19

Repeated line, group of lines, or entire stanza, normally at some fixed position in a poem

Question 20

Repetition

Answer 20

Repeated word or phrase throughout a poem

Question 21

Rhythm

Answer 21

Pattern of number of beats or syllables per line

Question 22

Rhyme

Answer 22

Repetition of important syllables, usually at the end of words

Question 23

Rhyme scheme

Answer 23

Pattern of rhyme in a poem labeled alphabetically at the ends of lines

Question 24

Simile

Answer 24

Comparison between two essentially unlike things using like or us

Question 25

Stanza

Answer 25

Division in a poem named for the number of lines it contains

Question 26

Theme

Answer 26

Central idea and meaning of a literary work

Question 27

Tone

Answer 27

Writer’s or speaker’s attitude towards his subject

Question 28

Voice

Answer 28

Character in the poem who is speaking