Poetry Terms P2 Flashcards
Alliteration
The repetition of words beginning with the same letter.To draw attention to a particular sound and/or movement, to intensify or to bind words together.
Allusion
A word/phrase that suggests something else.If many people can relate to it, it allows you to connect with the subject matter of the poem.
Ambiguity
A word/phrase that could mean more than one thing.To get the reader thinking about the different possibilities in the word/phrase.
Anthropomorphism
Giving human characteristics to an animal.Connects us to the animal being described.
Assonance
The repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds which follow each other.Like alliteration, to draw attention a particular sound and/or movement, to intensify or emphasise something or to connect words.
Caesura
A natural phrase or break in a line of poetry - usually in the middle.Can serve as a pause/change in tone/meaning. Could serve to separate, juxtapose certain ideas. Used for rhetorical effect.
Connotation
An idea or feeling that is often associated with a word or phrase.To hit to the audience/readers that there is a bigger theme or idea behind the words. Perhaps to hint at what else might happen in the poem.
Ellipsis
Series of marks … that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or sentence.To create a pause, slow down pace, make the reader think.
Enjambment
A technique in which the idea or perhaps rhythm of one line are continued and completed in the next line.
Euphemism
A word or expression used instead of saying something which might be unpleasant or embarrassing .To communicate an awkward emotion, often suggests how someone feels about a traumatic event, for instance a death.
First person
Using the pronoun of ‘I’ often means the piece is autobiographical.As if the poet is letting you in on something. Also: 2nd person, use of ‘you’. Poet addresses reader directly to get them involved.
Free Verse
Poetry avoids regular patterns of rhythm and rhyme, although it may use other repetitive patterns of word, phrases or structures.Doesn’t sound so much like a poem - seems more natural, as if the poet is speaking to you.
Imagery
Use of word-pictures (images), figures of speech (similes, metaphors) and description.To evoke ideas, feelings, objects, actions, states of mind.
Metaphor
Like the simile, is comparing one thing to another; but says it is something instead of like something.To allow people to create a clear picture in their heads, by comparing the thing to something else that is striking.
Onomatopoeia
Use of words which sound like the things they describe.To further describe the scene by communicating to the reader the sounds that were heard.
Oxymoron
A phrase combining two terms that seem to be opposites.The poet can show us that two very different things were going on at the same time. They can make us think again about something we took for granted. Suggests unpredictability: things could change.
Pathetic Fallacy
Describing a natural thing like the weather or the sea, as if it is feeling the emotion expressed by the poet.character.Emphasises the emotion/mood felt by the poet/characters by making it seem as if everything in the poem is feeling that emotion, even in the natural world.
Personification
Giving human qualities to things that are not human e.g. Anthropomorphism.Connects us to that thing being described; gives us more sympathy for it.
Pun
A play on words, in which two different meanings are suggested either by the same word or two similar sounding words.Sometimes for humorous effect, sometimes to allow the poet to communicate to us more than one meaning for the part of the poem.
Repetition
Repeating a word or phrase.Emphasises whatever is being repeated.
Rhyme
The use of words with matching sounds, often at the end of each line.Links significant words together, connects lines in the poem. Suggests something is going on and on if all the lines have the same rhyme.
Rhythm
Just as in music, the pattern of beats created by the words in a poem and the way they are organized.Can move the poem along at a certain pace. Like a song, can sometimes suggest the rhythm of something it is describing. Rhythm is often used when describing movement.
Sibilance
Characterized by a hissing s, sh, z.Conjures on aural impression for the reader. Onomatopoeic effect also slows the reader down, alters pace.
Similes
Comparing one thing to another using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.Like a metaphor, it allows us to build up a clear picture of the thing being described.
