poetry terms

Question 1

what contributes to the development and relationship of ideas in a poem?

Answer 1

line and stanza breaks

Question 2

stanza

Answer 2

a group of lines in a poem

Question 3

what does a text’s structure mean?

Answer 3

the position and placement of ideas in a text

Question 4

epizeuxis

Answer 4

repetition of one word

Question 5

alliteration

Answer 5

the repetition of the same letter sound at the beginning of adjacent or nearby words to emphasize those words and their associations or representations

Question 6

simile

Answer 6

a comparison using “like” or “as”

Question 7

metaphor

Answer 7

a comparison without using like or as

Question 8

what is a claim?

Answer 8

a statement that requires defense with evidence from the text

Question 9

juxtaposition

Answer 9

placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Question 10

how are shifts signaled?

Answer 10

a word, a structural convention, or punctuation

Question 11

what is an antecedent?

Answer 11

a word, phrase, or clause that precedes (comes before) its referent (the thing to which it refers)

Question 12

oxymoron

Answer 12

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase

Question 13

paradox

Answer 13

a statement that appears to be self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth

Question 14

rhetorical question

Answer 14

a question asked for an effect, not actually requiring an answer

Question 15

soliloquy

Answer 15

a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage

Question 16

symbol

Answer 16

a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something else

Question 17

onomatopoeia

Answer 17

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense

Question 18

anaphora

Answer 18

the repetition of the word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row

Question 19

antithesis

Answer 19

a rhetorical device that uses parallel structure to juxtapose contrasting ideas, words, or qualities in a sentence

Question 20

apostrophe

Answer 20

the calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing

Question 21

cliché

Answer 21

a word or phrase that has become lifeless because of overuse

Question 22

elegy

Answer 22

a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died

Question 23

epistrophe

Answer 23

the same expression is repeated at the end of the two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

Question 24

hyperbole

Answer 24

a figure of speech that uses incredible exaggeration or overstatement for effect

Question 25

imagery

Answer 25

the use of language to evoke a picture or concrete sensation of a person, thing, place, or an experience

Question 26

contrast

Answer 26

a rhetorical device used by a writer to emphasize the differences between two people, place, or things

Question 27

hypophora

Answer 27

a question is asked and immediately answered to build anticipation and emphasize key points

Question 28

how is contrast introduced?

Answer 28

through focus, tone, point of view, character, narrator, or speaker perspective, dramatic situation or moment, settings or time, or imagery

Question 29

what can shifts emphasize?

Answer 29

contrasts between particular segments of a text

Question 30

what is a referent?

Answer 30

a person or thing to which a name refers