Poetry

Question 1

What is alliteration?

Answer 1

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a line/s of verse.

Example:
‘In disagree to disagree, we divide, we differ’
(“The Difficulty that is Marriage” by Paul Durcan)

Question 2

What is assonance?

Answer 2

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in a line/s of verse.
‘I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore’
(“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W.B. Yeats)

Question 3

What is onomatopoeia?

Answer 3

Onomatopoeia is when a word or group of words sound like the noise it describes.

Examples: smashed, snarled, buzz

Question 4

Sound effects are common in poetry. List 3 types of sound effect?

Answer 4

Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia

Question 5

What is hyperbole?

Answer 5

Hyperbole is extreme exaggeration to emphasise a point.

Example:
I could eat a horse.

Question 6

What is a simile?

Answer 6

A simile is a comparison between two things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.

Example:
‘One tree is yellow as butter’ (Eavan Boland)

Question 7

What is a metaphor?

Answer 7

A metaphor is when one thing is compared to something else.

Example:
‘The sky is a torn sail’ (Eavan Boland)

Question 8

What is personification?

Answer 8

Personification is when an non-living thing is described as if it had the qualities of a living thing.

Example:
The raging wind
The shy sun

Question 9

What is a symbol?

Answer 9

A symbol is an object or action that stands for more than itself.

Example: “A new dawn” means the actual beginning of a new day but may also represent a new start or a beginning.

Question 10

What is a pun?

Answer 10

A pun is a play on words. It is when a word is used in a way that suggests it has two or more possible meanings.

Example:
“‘Windfall’, 8 Parnell Hill, Cork” (Paul Durcan)

Question 11

What is a refrain?

Answer 11

A refrain is the repetition of a phrase or line of verse throughout a poem. It is often found at the end of the stanzas.

Example: “But you didn’t” by Merrill Glass
“Nessa” by Paul Durcan

Question 12

What is a rhyme scheme?

Answer 12

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem .
Eg. abab cdcd efef gg

Question 13

What is the tone of a poem?

Answer 13

Tone is the attitude the poet has towards his/her subject or audience. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes.

Question 14

What is sibilance?

Answer 14

Sibilance is repetition of ‘s’, soft ‘c’, ‘sh’ sounds in writing which can often have a calming, soothing effect.

Examples of Sibilance:
Sally sells seashells by the seashore. (repetition of the “s”)
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore (repetition of “s” toward the end of the line)

Question 15

What is rhythm?

Answer 15

Rhythm involves qualities of movement, repetition, and pattern. Line length, punctuation, word choice would all contribute to the rhythm of a poem.
A poem about death or other sad theme may be more likely to have a slow, mournful rhythm.
A poem of celebration may have a lively rhythm which would help convey a sense of excitement.

Question 16

What is contrast?

Answer 16

Contrast is identifying or highlighting differences between two subjects, places, persons, things, or ideas.
It is a type of opposition between two objects, highlighted to emphasize their differences.

Question 17

Novels tend to be divided into chapters. How are poems divided?

Answer 17

Poems tend to be written in stanzas.

A stanza can be a single line or many lines long.

Question 18

Can a poem have a mood?

Answer 18

Yes, the mood of the poem describes how it makes you, the reader, feel.

Question 19

What is the difference between the tone and the mood of a poem?

Answer 19

Tone describes the writer’s attitude to the subject he or she has written about; mood describes how the poem makes you, the reader, feel.

Question 20

What is the external structure of a poem?

Answer 20

The structure of a poem is how it is put together.
The external structure of a poem can be described by how the poem looks on the page: the number of stanzas, the number of lines in each stanza, the length of the lines of poetry etc.

Question 21

What is the internal structure of a poem?

Answer 21

The structure of a poem is how it is put together.
The internal structure of the poem describes the order of the ideas, thoughts, feelings, events expressed throughout the poem and the passage or management of time in the poem.

Question 22

What is repetition?

Answer 22

Repetition—the use of the same sound, word, phrase or stanza several times throughout a poem.

Remember that poetry is intended to be read aloud and to be listened to. Repetition is used to create rhythm, for emphasis and to assist memory.