Poetry Terms

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

Question 3

Aside

Answer 3

A character’s comment or line which is addressed and heard by the audience, but not those who are also on stage

Question 4

Connotation

Answer 4

the implied meaning of a word

Question 5

Denotation

Answer 5

literal definition of a word

Question 6

Hyperbole

Answer 6

Rhetorical device or figure of speech used to deliberately over exaggerate something

Question 7

Understatement

Answer 7

Rhetorical device or figure of speech that purposely downplays the significance of an event

Question 8

Image/Imagery

Answer 8

visually descriptive or figurative language in a literary work

Question 9

Sit. irony

Answer 9

the outcome of a situation is opposite to what the audience expected

Question 10

Verbal irony

Answer 10

A person says one thing but means the opposite

Question 11

Dramatic irony

Answer 11

the reader knows something that the characters don’t

Question 12

Refrain

Answer 12

Repetition of a line, a phrase, two or three lines or even words throughout a poem, generally at the end of a stanza

Question 13

Rhyme/Rhyme scheme

Answer 13

a pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse or line in poetry
ex. AAAA or AA BB CC DD

Question 14

Stanza

Answer 14

two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem
aka paragraph or chunk

Question 15

Couplet

Answer 15

A type of stanza or poem that is two lines of verse, usually rhyming and in the same meter that forms a unit

Question 16

Quatrain

Answer 16

A stanza or poem with four lines that may or may not rhyme

Question 17

Sestet

Answer 17

A stanza or poem or poem of six lines

Question 18

Octave

Answer 18

poetry in another type of stanza but consisting of eight lines. It can be rhymed or not rhymed and any length

Question 19

Rhythm

Answer 19

long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables

Question 20

Free verse

Answer 20

a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter (open form of poetry)

Question 21

Blank verse

Answer 21

written in regular meter and does not have rhythm

Usually iambic pentameter (deDUH, deDUH, deDUH, deDUH, deDUH)

Question 22

Ballads

Answer 22

Tells a story, often using four short stanzas

• originally anonymous and passed down orally rather than written
• A-B-A-B or A-B-C-B rhyme scheme

Question 23

Lyric poem

Answer 23

expresses one’s feelings and emotions, especially romantically using first person POV

Question 24

English sonnet

Answer 24

a poem of 14 lines with four sections called quatrains

• strict rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter
• ABAB/CDCD/EFEFGG

Question 25

Apostrophe

Answer 25

a figure of speech in which an absent person, idea or object is being addressed by the poet
- “O” is often used in a poem with apostrophe

Question 26

Assonance

Answer 26

two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds

Question 27

Consonance

Answer 27

repetition of consonant sounds at the begin inning, middle, or end of at least two lines of poetry

Question 28

Dissonance

Answer 28

The use of harsh-sounding, unusual, or impolite words in poetry, common sounds include: gr, gut, str, ck

Question 29

Cacophony

Answer 29

The use of words with sharp, harsh, unmelodic sounds, starts with consonants that require an explosive delivery such as p, d, b, g, k, ch, sh

Question 30

Euphony

Answer 30

• The use of words or phrases that are distinguished as having a wide range of melodic sounds
• Uses m, n, l, r, and soft f, v

Question 31

Paradox

Answer 31

A statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet may be true

Question 32

Oxymoron

Answer 32

A combination of contradictory or incongruous words

Question 33

Personification

Answer 33

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Question 34

Metaphor

Answer 34

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
“The road was a ribbon of moonlight”

Question 35

Simile

Answer 35

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ).

Question 36

Onomatopoeia

Answer 36

the formation of a word by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent

Question 37

Speaker

Answer 37

The speaker is the voice behind the poem – the person we imagine to be speaking. It’s important to note that the speaker is not the poet

Question 38

Mood

Answer 38

As a literary device, mood is the emotional feeling or atmosphere that a work of literature produces in a reader

Question 39

Tone

Answer 39

an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Question 40

Pun

Answer 40

A pun is a play on words. Puns show us the multiple meanings of a word by replacing that word with another that is similar in sound but has a very different meaning.

Question 41

Symbolism

Answer 41

using an object or a word to represent an abstract idea