Poetry Terms

Question 1

anastrophe.

Answer 1

A rhetorical term for the inversion of the normal order of the parts of a sentence. Writers, especially poets, use anastrophe to place emphasis on a word or idea

Question 2

apostrophe.

Answer 2

The device, usually in poetry, of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction either to begin a poem or to make a dramatic break in thought somewhere within the poem

Question 3

assonance.

Answer 3

The close repetition of middle vowel sounds between different consonant sounds: fade/pale

Question 4

cacophony.

Answer 4

Harsh, clashing, or dissonant sounds, often produced by combinations of words that require a clipped, explosive delivery

Question 5

caesura.

Answer 5

A pause within a line of poetry, often resulting from the natural rhythm of language and not necessarily indicated by punctuation

Question 6

conceit.

Answer 6

An elaborate figure of speech comparing two very dissimilar things

Question 7

consonance.

Answer 7

The close repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after differing vowel sounds: leave/love, short/shirt

Question 8

denotation

Answer 8

The precise, literal meaning of a word, without emotional associations or overtones

Question 9

enjambment.

Answer 9

The carrying of sense and grammatical structure in a poem beyond the end of one line, couplet, or stanza and into the next. Enjambment occurs with the use of run-on lines

Question 10

euphony.

Answer 10

A succession of sweetly melodious sounds; the opposite of cacophony.

Question 11

Homeric epithet

Answer 11

A hyphenated adjective used repeatedly in conjunction with the same noun, so as to form a unit of expression

Question 12

kenning.

Answer 12

A metaphoric compound word or phrase used as a synonym for a common noun

Question 13

metonymy.

Answer 13

A figure of speech that substitutes the name of a related object, person, or idea for the subject at hand

Question 14

parallelism.

Answer 14

The technique of showing that words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures are comparable in content and importance by placing them side by side and making them similar in form.

Question 15

synechdoche.

Answer 15

A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole thing

Question 16

scansion.

Answer 16

Analyzing the meter in lines of poetry by counting and marking the accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into metrical feet, and showing the major pauses, if any, within the line.

Question 17

foot.

Answer 17

The basic unit of rhythmic measurement in a line of poetry. A foot consists of at least one accented (stressed) syllable and one or more unaccented (unstressed) syllables

Question 18

iambic foot.

Answer 18

one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable

Question 19

trochee (trochaic foot)

Answer 19

one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable:

Question 20

anapest (anapestic foot)

Answer 20

two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable

Question 21

dactyl (dactylic foot)

Answer 21

one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables:

Question 22

spondee (spondaic foot)

Answer 22

two accented syllables

Question 23

meter

Answer 23

The fixed (or nearly fixed) pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in the lines of a poem that produces its pervasive rhythm.

Question 24

blank verse

Answer 24

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse should not be confused with free verse. It is “blank” only in the sense that its lines do not rhyme; it is not metrically blank

Question 25

couplet

Answer 25

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme and that are written to the same meter, or pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Question 26

elegy

Answer 26

A poem of sorrow or mourning for the dead; also a reflective poem in a solemn or sorrowful mood.

Question 27

free verse

Answer 27

it is “free” of the regular beat of meter, depending instead on the individual poet’s sensitivity to the music of natural speech rhythms. Free verse lacks rhyme and often has irregular line lengths and fragmentary syntax.

Question 28

idyll.

Answer 28

A short descriptive and narrative piece, usually a poem, about picturesque country life, an idealized story of happy innocence

Question 29

ode.

Answer 29

A long and elaborate lyric poem

Question 30

sonnet

Answer 30

A fourteen-line lyric poem in iambic pentameter.

Question 31

villanelle

Answer 31

A lyric poem made up of five stanzas of three lines (tercets), plus a final stanza of four lines (quatrain). In the tercets, the rhyme scheme is aba; in the quatrain, it is abaa

Question 32

ballad

Answer 32

A simple narrative poem, often incorporating dialogue that is written in quatrains, generally with a rhyme scheme of ABCD.

Question 33

Ballad meter

Answer 33

a four-line stanza rhymed abcd with four feet in lines 1 and 3 and three feet in lines 2 and 4

Question 34

Blank Verse

Answer 34

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Question 35

blank verse

Answer 35

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Question 36

Caesura

Answer 36

a pause within a line of poetry, usually marked by a piece of punctuation

Question 37

Dactyl

Answer 37

a metrical foot composed of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

Question 38

End-stopped

Answer 38

a line of poetry with a pause at the end of the line

Question 39

Enjambement/enjambment

Answer 39

a line of poetry which runs on into the next line because it has no punctuation at the end of the first line

Question 40

free verse

Answer 40

poetry not written in a tradtional meter but is still rhythmical

Question 41

hexameter

Answer 41

a line cotaining six feet

Question 42

Iamb

Answer 42

a metrical foot composed of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable; the most common foot in English poetry

Question 43

metrical terms

Answer 43

alliteration,assonance,ballad meter,blank verse,dactyl,end-stopped,free verse,….

Question 44

sonnet

Answer 44

normally a 14-line iambic pentameter poem

Question 45

Stanza

Answer 45

usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme

Question 46

terza rima

Answer 46

a three line stanza rhymed aba,bcb,cdc

Question 47

Tetrameter

Answer 47

a line of four feet