Poetry Terms (2) Flashcards
allegory
device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning
ex: the animals in Animal Farm
alliteration
the repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words
ex: the hungry hippopotamus has heavenly hamburgers
allusion
a direct or indirect reference to someone or something which is presumably commonly known, such as a literary or historical person, or an event, literary work or passage, myth, place, or work of art
ex: as hard as parting the Red Sea (Moses)
analogy
a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them
ex: the fabric was as blue as the sky
apostrophe
a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love; in dramatic works and poetry, it is often introduced by the word “O” (not to be confused with “oh”)
ex: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
aside
an aside spoken to the audience or perhaps to another character while other characters are on stage; the other characters pretend to not hear and the audience gets to listen in on the thoughts
ex: Macbeth talking about Macduff in Act IV
assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds
ex: as hIgh as a kIte in the skY
blank verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter. The “blank” part is the unrhymed part
character
humans, animals, or other beings that are created by the author to act within a story for the author’s purposes
dynamic character
a character that fundamentally changes his or her personality or view of life by the end of the story
ex: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
static character
a character that undergoes little or no inner change for the duration of the story
ex: Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
flat (stock) character
a character that only has one or two sides of a personality; the character can be summarized in one to two sentences; this character lacks surprise or complexity
ex: the nurse in Romeo and Juliet
round character
a life-like three dimensional character; this character is believable enough to have actually lived
ex: Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye
characterization
an author or poet’s use of description, dialogue, dialect, and action to create in the reader an emotional or intellectual reaction to a character or to make the character more vivid and realistic (attitude, thoughts, language, actions, reactions, language choice)
colloquial[ism]
the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing
ex: y’all
