Poetry Terms Flashcards
the use of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely connected words. Examples: by a babbling brook death in the desert
Alliteration
a reference to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. ——— are often references to well-known characters or events.
Example: “This place is like the Garden of Eden.”
Allusion
talking to an imaginary character or object in speech. Example: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, its handle toward my hand?”
Apostrophe
when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds. Examples: “men sell the wedding bells” “…miles to go before I sleep…”
Assonance
the writer’s choice of words. Examples: “I’ll do it right away, sir,” vs. “Yeah, just a sec.”
“I’m a bit upset,” vs. “I’m so pissed off.”
Diction
exaggerations to create emphasis or effect. Examples: “I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street…”
Hyperbole
the “mental pictures” that readers experience when reading literature. Examples: “The winter evening settles down/ With smell of steaks in passageways./ And now a gusty shower wraps / The grimy scraps/ Of withered leaves about your feet…”
Imagery
the comparison of one thing to another without the use of “like” or “as”. Examples: “…Hope is the thing with feathers/ that perches in the
soul…”
Metaphor
a feeling a reader gets when reading something. Examples: amused, angry, sad, afraid
Mood
a word that imitates the natural sound of something. Examples: splash, pop, chatter, whizz, moan, murmur, whoosh
Onomatopoeia
literary device where two opposite ideas are joined for effect. Examples: “open secret” “seriously funny” “liquid gas”
Oxymoron
giving human characteristics to something nonhuman. Examples: “…the stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky…” “…the blizzard swallowed the town…”
Personification
similarity of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry. Examples: “…Once upon a midnight dreary/
while I pondered, weak and weary…”
Rhyme
compares two things with the use of “like” or “as”. Examples: “red like a rose” “funny as a clown”
Simile
the group of lines that make up a verse in a poem
Stanza
