Poetry Terms P2

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Ambiguity

Answer 3

A word/phrase that could mean more than one thing.To get the reader thinking about the different possibilities in the word/phrase.

Question 4

Anthropomorphism

Answer 4

Giving human characteristics to an animal.Connects us to the animal being described.

Question 5

Assonance

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Caesura

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Connotation

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Ellipsis

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Enjambment

Answer 9

A technique in which the idea or perhaps rhythm of one line are continued and completed in the next line.

Question 10

Euphemism

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

First person

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Free Verse

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Imagery

Answer 13

Use of word-pictures (images), figures of speech (similes, metaphors) and description.To evoke ideas, feelings, objects, actions, states of mind.

Question 14

Metaphor

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Onomatopoeia

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Oxymoron

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Pathetic Fallacy

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Personification

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Pun

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Repetition

Answer 20

Repeating a word or phrase.Emphasises whatever is being repeated.

Question 21

Rhyme

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Rhythm

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Sibilance

Answer 23

Characterized by a hissing s, sh, z.Conjures on aural impression for the reader. Onomatopoeic effect also slows the reader down, alters pace.

Question 24

Similes

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Sonnet

Answer 25

A 14 line poem. A particular type of poem, very traditional, and usually only a single stanza.

Question 26

Tone

Answer 26

The general mood/atmosphere that is communicated in the poem, often by the way in which something is expressed.Controls your emotional response to the poem.

Question 27

Stereotype

Answer 27

A generalised belief about a group of people

Question 28

Standard English

Answer 28

Formal English that is spoken in a traditionally proper way

Question 29

Anaphora

Answer 29

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines

Question 30

Ballad

Answer 30

A simple song that is designed to tell a story

Question 31

Elegy

Answer 31

A poem of serious reflection

Question 32

Empathy

Answer 32

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another