Poetry Terms

Question 1

What is a speaker? (2 points)

Answer 1

The voice behind the poem. (Not always the poet’s voice)

Question 2

What is structure? (1 point)

Answer 2

The way a poem is organised.

Question 3

What is a rhyme scheme? (1 point)

Answer 3

The rhyming pattern of the poem, e.g. AA, BB, etc.

Question 4

What is a stanza? (1 point)

Answer 4

A separate group of lines in a poem.

Question 5

What is rhythm? (1 point)

Answer 5

The pattern of stressed and unstressed “beats” in a poem.

Question 6

What is repetition? (2 points)

Answer 6

When a word, phrase or line is deliberately repeated to have an effect.

Question 7

What is a meter? (2 points)

Answer 7

The basic rhythmic structure of a line or stanza (worked out by looking at the combination of stressed and unstressed syllables)

Question 8

What is a free verse? (2 points)

Answer 8

Poetry that doesn’t follow a fixed rhythmical pattern; a bit like prose (“ordinary” writing) but on shorter lines.

Question 9

What is enjambment? (2 points)

Answer 9

When one line of a poem flows onto the next line with no punctuation at the end to break that flow.

Question 10

What is a sonnet? (4 points)

Answer 10

14 line poem; iambic pentameter; 3 quatrains; 1 couplet at the end; ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rhyme scheme.

Question 11

What is an end-stopped line? (2 points)

Answer 11

A line of poetry with some form of punctuation at the end of it which “breaks the flow”.

Question 12

What is juxtaposition? (2 points)

Answer 12

The deliberate placing of two very different things next to each other in a poem, e.g. something living and something dead.

Question 13

What is an iambic pentameter? (3 points)

Answer 13

A 10 syllable line of verse with 5 pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables:
De dum de dum de dum de dum de dum.

Question 14

What is an anaphora? (2 points)

Answer 14

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of neighbouring clauses or sentences, e.g.All went lame; All went blind…

Question 15

What is meant by tone? (2 points)

Answer 15

The speaker’s attitude towards the subject of the poem, e.g. humorous, hostile, sarcastic, angry, etc.

Question 16

What is meant by mood? (2 points)

Answer 16

The “atmosphere” or feeling created by some writing: sad, lively, dreamy, etc.

Question 17

What is meant by a message? (2 points)

Answer 17

The main idea that the poet wants to communicate to the reader, e.g. that war is terrible, that the sea is changeable etc.

Question 18

What is meant by a theme? (2 points)

Answer 18

An idea that runs through the poem, e.g. love, death, childhood, friendship, etc.

Question 19

What is semantic field? (2 points)

Answer 19

A collection of words used in a poem which are all related to each other, e.g. all related to love, or sport, or violence, etc.

Question 20

What is alliteration? (2 points)

Answer 20

When words near to each other repeat the same sound, e.g. beams beneath, sighed softly…

Question 21

What is imagery? (1 point)

Answer 21

When the poet deliberately creates a clear/interesting picture in the reader’s mind.

Question 22

What is onomatopoeia? (1 point)

Answer 22

Words that create the sound they are describing, e.g. plop, bang, gurgle…

Question 23

What is a simile? (1 point)

Answer 23

Comparing something to something else: “My love is like a red, red rose…”

Question 24

What is a metaphor? (2 points)

Answer 24

A form of imagery when the writer says something IS something else, e.g Juliet is the sun, his words were daggers, etc.

Question 25

What is meant by contrast? (2 points)

Answer 25

Where the poet deliberately places two very different or opposite things together in the same poem, e.g. a raging sea and a calm, smooth pond, etc.

Question 26

What is personification? (2 points)

Answer 26

Giving “things” human or animal qualities/behaviours, e.g. The wind whispers, the engine snarled, etc.

Question 27

What is diction? (2 points)

Answer 27

A poet’s specific choice/use of words, e.g. Shakespeare’s diction contains many words that are unfamiliar to modern readers

Question 28

What is sibilance? (2 points)

Answer 28

The use of “s” sounds close together to create a range of effects (depending on context), e.g. sleepy/soft or eerie/sinister

Question 29

What is denotation? (1 point)

Answer 29

The actual definition of a word - what it actually means (i.e. the denotation of the noun “rose” is “a flower”)

Question 30

What is connotation? (1 points)

Answer 30

An idea or feeling created by a word, e.g. the noun “rose” has romantic connotations, or “connotes to romance”.

Question 31

What is hyperbole?

Answer 31

Exaggerated language used to emphasise a point, e.g. the bag weighed a ton, I love you with every fibre of my being.

Question 32

What is emotive language? (2 points)

Answer 32

Words deliberately used in order to have a strong impact on the feelings of the reader, e.g. they were mercilessly slaughtered.

Question 33

What is pathos? (2 points)

Answer 33

A feeling of pity, sympathy or sorrow that a reader might be made to feel by the content and language of a poem.

Question 34

What is symbolism? (2 points)

Answer 34

When something/an action deliberately represents something else, e.g. the cutting of crops in a field may symbolise the killing of young men in battle.