Poetry Terms Flashcards
Allusion
Brief reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of significance
Ambiguity
Word, statement, or situation with two possible meanings
Anapest
Metrical foot in a line of a poem that contains 3 syllables where the first two syllables are short and unstressed followed by a third syllable that is long and unstressed
Antithesis
Two terms, phrases, or ideas that contrast or have opposite meanings (love and hate)
Approximate rhyme/slant rhyme
Same overall sound but different letters
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming with phrases
Aubade
Song or poem about lovers separating at dawn
Audience
Who the poem is directed towards
Ballad
Narrative poem typically arranged in quadrains
Blank verse
Poem with no rhyme
Alliteration
Repetition of speech sound in a sequence of words that are close to each other
Cacophony
Mixture of harsh and inharmonious sounds
Caesura
Rhythmical pause in the middle of a line of poetry
Carpe diem
Seize the day
Conceit
Metaphor that compares two things in a clever way
Connotation
Meaning implied that is different than the explicit meaning
Consonance
Repetitive sound produced by consonants in close proximity
Couplet
Pair of lines with the same meter
Dactyl
Long syllable followed by two shirt syllables
Denigration
Literal meaning of a word
Diction
Word choice
Dimeter
Line of poetry with two metrical feet
Dramatic monologue
A single persons speech
Dramatic situation
Underlying plot line to place characters in conflict
Elegy
Sad poem written for a dead person
End rhyme
Lines ending with the same sound
End-stopped rhyme
Line of poetry ends with punctuation
English sonnet/Shakespearean
14 line poem with several rhyme schemes
Enjambment
Incomplete syntax at the end of a sentence
Epithet
Adjective or phrase used to express the characteristic of a person or thing
Euphony
Smooth, pleasant sounding choice of words
Exact rhyme
Repetition of same stressed vowel sounds