Poetry Terms

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

a literary device where words begin with letters belonging to the same sound group. Whether it is the consonant sound or a specific vowel group, the alliteration involves creating a repetition of similar sounds in the sentence.
Example: The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way.

Question 2

Assonance

Answer 2

refers to repetition of sounds produced by vowels within a sentence or phrase. Example: A long song

Question 3

Consanance

Answer 3

is repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase.
Example: She ate seven sandwiches on a sunny Sunday last year.

Question 4

Figurative Literature

Answer 4

is a form of language in which writers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words.

Question 5

Hyperbole

Answer 5

a literary device wherein the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the statement in order to produce an exaggerated, more noticeable effect. The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point.
Example: “I am so tired I cannot walk another inch” or “I’m so sleepy I might fall asleep standing here”.

Question 6

Imagery

Answer 6

is when the author uses words and phrases to create “mental images” for the reader.
Example: The cool, blue water flowed smoothly down the majestic waterfall.

Question 7

Internal Rhyme

Answer 7

is rhyme between a word within a line and another word either at the end of the same line or within another line.
Example: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.

Question 8

Metaphor

Answer 8

is a figure of speech that compares two subjects without the use of “like” or “as.” While a simile states that one thing is like another, a metaphor states that one thing is the other.
Example: The car was a speeding bullet.

Question 9

Mood

Answer 9

the emotional feeling or atmosphere that a work of literature produces in a reader.

Question 10

Narrative Poem

Answer 10

poem that tells a story.

Question 11

Onomatopoeia

Answer 11

the use of words to imitate the actual sound they represent.

Example: Crash went the plate as it fell from the shelf.

Question 12

Personification

Answer 12

a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes.
Example: The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.

Question 13

Rhyme Scheme

Answer 13

a pattern of rhyming words placed at the end of the lines in the prose or poetry.
Example: Roses are red (a)
Violets are blue (b)
Beautiful they all may be (c)
But I love you (b)
The above is an “a-b-c-b” rhyme scheme.

Question 14

Rhythm

Answer 14

the repetition of stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables

Question 15

Rhyme

Answer 15

a literary device in which the repetition of the same or similar sounds occurs in two or more words, usually at the end of lines in poem.
Example: You’re a poet and you didn’t know it.

Question 16

Similie

Answer 16

a comparison between two unlike things through the use of connecting words, usually “like” or “as.”
Example: Sweating like a pig or his heart was as cold as ice

Question 17

Stanza

Answer 17

a single, related chunk of lines in poetry.

Question 18

Theme

Answer 18

the topic or focus for the entire literary piece.

Question 19

Tone

Answer 19

is the attitude of the writer toward the subject.

Question 20

Verse

Answer 20

any single line of poetry.