Poetry Techniques and Definitions Flashcards
Closed form?
Regularity in rhyme, metre, and line length.
Open form?
No regularity in rhyme or metre, generally called free verse
Narrator?
The speaker and implied author of a work, from whose perspective we perceive.
Couplet?
A pair of rhymed lines
Refrain?
A phrase or line that is repeated.
Stanza? What is a Quatrain? What is it also known as? Why is this misleading?
The divisions or units of a poem, like paragraphs, e.g. a quatrain is a stanza with four lines/Sometimes called a verse, this is a misleading as verse means poetry.
What is Rhyme?
The matching of the sound of one word with another word.
What is end rhyme?
Rhyme at the end of a line.
What is internal rhyme?
A word in the middle of a line rhymes with one at the end.
What is near rhyme?
Near rhyme is when the vowel sounds rhyme but the constants do not.
What is ambiguity?
If something does not have a clear meaning or if it has several interpretations, it is ambiguous.
What is assonance?
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words
What is alliteration?
The repetition of sounds/letters at the start of a word.
What is sibilance?
The production of a hissing ‘s’ sound usually through repetition of words beginning with s.
What is cacophony?
A harsh discordant mixture of sounds to create disunity
What is Euphony? Give an example.
Harmonious sounds that are pleasing to the ear. E.g. cellar door
Enjambment?
When one line runs on to the next.
Repetition?
The repeating of particular words or phrases.
What is onomatopoeia?
Words that sound like what they describe.
Oxymoron?
A figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear side by side.
Literal language? Give an example.
Exactly what a word says e.g. “That run killed me” The runner is literally dead.
Figurative language? Give an example.
The words have another meaning. E.g. “That run killed me” The runner is just really tired not dead.
Irony?
Something contrary or opposite to what is expected.
Adjective?
Describes a noun.
Adverb?
Describes a verb.
Personification?
Giving inanimate objects human characteristics.
Simile?
A figure of speech that compares two things by using words such as like or as.
Metaphor?
A figure of speech that compares two things without explicitly indicating it.
Metonymy?
Calling something by something associated to it.
Consonance?
The repetition of similar constant sounds in nearby words.
