Poetry Theory Flashcards
What is prose?
Sentences or paragraphs.
What is a simile?
Comparison of 2 unlike things using ‘‘like’’ or ‘‘as’’
What is verse?
Poetry; definite line endings and beginnings, may or may not have rhyme or rhythm
What is a metaphor?
Comparison of 2 unlike things without using ‘‘like’’ or ‘‘as’’
What is personification?
Giving non-human things human-like characteristics
What is an oxymoron?
Words or a phrase which contradict (ex. jumbo shrimp)
What is a paradox?
A sentence or statement that contradicts (the giants were small)
What is an allusion?
An indirect reference to a famous person, object, event, place, etc
What is an apostrophe?
Directly addressing someone or something in a line of poetry
What is a pun?
A play on words wtih 3 possible forms:
1. a word with 2 different meanings
2. similarity of meaning in 2 homonyms (words with the same spelling or pronunciation but different things)
3. homonyms
What is Onomatopea?
the use of a word whose sound imitates, suggests, and reinforces its
meaning.
E.g. crackle, boom, sizzle, buzz, roar
What is a Hyperbole?
an extreme exaggeration used for effect.
(Hyperbolic) E.g. I will love you until the end of time.
E.g. You take my breath away.
E.g. Time stops when I’m with you
What is Alliteration?
the repetition of the same consonant or vowel sound at the start of
words.
E.g. Bob boasted about being brave.
What is Assonance?
the repetition of similar vowel sounds anywhere within the words in
a line of poetry.
E.g. “in a frail agony of disgrace, she trailed away from sight” (long “a”
sound)
What is Consonance?
the repetition of similar consonant sounds anywhere within the
words in a line of poetry.
E.g. Mike likes his new bike. (“K” sound)
E.g. The bat shattered with his strong swing (“t” sound for consonance;
“s” sound for alliteration as well)
E.g. the dog dragged the lug wrench (the “g” sound is repeated)
What is a Cacophony?
the use of harsh, discordant sounds for poetic effect.
- usually applied to the entire poem or key parts of it.
E.g. “driving a decrepit, grumbling Cadillac with a crumpled
bumper” (notice hard sounds created by “d” “g” “c” “b”)
What is a Euphony?
the use of soft, pleasant sounds for poetic effect.
- usually applied to the entire poem or key parts of it.
E.g. “smiling at memories of her sweet, loving father” (notice soft
sounds created by “s” “m” “h” “f”)
What is Aesthetic?
artistic; sensitive to beauty
- literature, drama, music, and ballet are aesthetic arts.
What is Symbolism?
something representing something else especially a material object
representing an abstract idea.
E.g. heart represents love
E.g. gun represents violence
What is Repetition?
repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas for four possible reasons
(*KNOW):
a) rhyme c) emphasis
b) rhythm d) continuity
What is Incremental Repetition?
a specific type of repetition involving the repetition of
whole lines or stanzas with small but significant changes to a few
words from one to the next.
- used to further develop the narrative or meaning
What is a Refrain?
key lines of a poem (stanza) that are repeated at regular intervals within a
song
- also known as a chorus
What is Parallelism?
the repetition of key components in a line/sentence that have similar
grammatical structure
- It adds balance, rhythm/flow, and emphasis.
- *Due to its repetition, it can be very persuasive and memorable.
e.g. “What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?” (The Tyger - Blake)
What is Denotation?
the literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
e.g. red – colour home - place where someone lives.
What is Connotation?
the implied meaning of a word based on emotional associations with it.
- e.g. home - privacy, cozy - e.g. red - death,anger
What is Free verse?
poem with no rhyme or rhythmic pattern.
What is Synecdoche?
a part represents a whole.
E.g. I miss your lovely eyes (actually misses entire person)
She traps the hearts of men (actually traps the entire person)
E.g. All hands on deck (actually telling the whole person to get on deck B
not just their hands)
What is Juxtaposition?
the placing of two or more words side-by-side in a line of poetry
which are unrelated (*not opposites)
E.g. spaghetti and Halo video game
What is a Stanza?
group of lines separated by a line space for four possible reasons
What are the main types of Stanza’s?
a)rhyming couplet - two successive lines which end rhyme
b) tercet – three-line stanza
c) quatrain – four-line stanza
d) cinquain – five-line stanza
e) sestet – six-line stanza
f) octave – eight-line stanza
What is a metre? and what are the seven types of feet?
a system for determining the rhythmic pattern of a poem according to
its stressed and unstressed syllables.
- a foot is a recurrent metric unit of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of
poetry. The four standard feet include:
a) Iambic (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable)
** KNOW *main one (above) - others will not be tested on UNIT EXAM
however - just be aware that there are several patterns)
b) Anapestic (two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable)
– used in a limerick
c) Trochaic (a stressed syllable followed by a unstressed syllable)
d) Dactylic (a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables)
e) Spondaic (two stressed syllables)
f) Pyrrhic (two unstressed syllables)
What is Iambic Pentametre?
five feet (each iambic foot contains two syllables; 10 syllables) of
an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
What are the types of Metres?
monometre f) hexametre
b) dimetre g) heptametre
c) trimetre h) octometre
d) tetrametre
e) pentametre (five feet) ** KNOW! - not necessary to know the others for
quiz/exam purposes – just be aware that there are several patterns
What is Blank verse?
unrhymed iambic pentameter.
What is Scansion?
the process of analyzing a poem to determine its metre and line
length.
What are Litotes?
an understatement in which an affirmative is conveyed by stating a
negative.
- E.g. “Elvis is not a bad singer” - meaning he is wonderful
What is Archaism?
the use of words and expressions in literature that have become
obsolete in common speech.
- e.g. in sooth, methinks, forswear, forsooth
What is a Metonymy
one term is a direct substitute for another.
- E.g. the crown for king; john for toilet
What is a satire? and what is a parody?
Satire:any work which ridicules people, ideas, or institutions to make a
point for reform.
Parody:any work which humorously ridicules a particular style or literary
composition through imitation purely for entertainment.
What are the types of rhymes?
Beginning Rhyme - the rhyme occurs at the beginning of two or more lines
E.g. Gladly, we’ll sing
Madly, we’ll rove
b) Internal Rhyme - the rhyme occurs within a single line
E.g. The health and wealth of the nation diminished
c) End Rhyme - the rhyme occurs at the end of two or more lines
- the most common form of rhyme
d) Masculine Rhyme - the rhyme consists of a single syllable
E.g. The man ran up the stairs
e) Feminine Rhyme - two syllables rhyme
E.g. When she finished typing
She resumed her wiping
f) Triple Rhyme - three syllables rhyme
g) Eye/Sight Rhyme - words appear to rhyme (based on sight), but they do not
sound the same E.g. creak/break
h) Perfect Rhyme - The stressed vowel sound in both words must be identical, as
well as any subsequent sounds
E.g. "sky" and "high
i) Half/Imperfect Rhyme - words in which the final consonants are identical, but
the preceding vowels differ or vice versa
E.g. the words "bean" and "green" create a perfect rhyme, while
the words "leave" and "believe" do not.
*Keep in mind that the different types of rhyme can be combined:
E.g. The health and wealth of a nation diminished – masculine internal rhyme
What is a Rhyme Scheme?
an alphabetical labelling system used to describe the rhyming
pattern in a poem.
What is Figurative Language?
the use of figures of speech such as metaphor, simile,
personification, etc.
What is Poetic Diction?
the words the poet selects to express his /her meaning.
- a good poet will choose each word carefully to create a particular effect.
- a poet may adapt the level and type of his/her diction to create certain
types of poems (e.g. old English for a ballad or a sonnet for example).
What is Pathetic Fallacy?
nature reflects the emotions of characters and the mood of the events
in the story or poem.
E.g. storm brews while characters fight; rain falls as character feels
depressed
What is Ambiguity?
uncertainty produced by words or phrases that have two or more
possible meanings.
- allows for more than one interpretation.
What is Dysphemism
the use of a crude or shocking word or expression used in place of
socially accepted language.
E.g. “dead” “croaked” “old”
What is Euphemism?
the use of a pleasant-sounding word or phrase to avoid talking about
the unpleasant reality.
E.g. “passed away” in place of “died”; “mature” in place of “old”
What is an End-stopped verse?
the flow of the poem is stopped at the end of each line by
punctuation mark or by the phrasing of the line.
E.g. “Morning has broken like the first morning, / Blackbird has spoken
like the first word.” (Eleanor Farjeon)
What is Enjambment?
the syntax or cadence of a line a poetry carries the reader into the
next line.
e.g. “Then grinning, he reached with his freckled wrist / And drew me up
after.” (Earle Birney)
What is Caesura?
a short but definite pause in a metrical line, often marked by
punctuation (e.g. period, comma, exclamation mark, semi-colon, ellipsis,
or dash) or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.
- it is used for effect (emphasis).
- When the pause occurs toward the beginning or end of the line, it is
termed, respectively, initial or terminal.
E.g. Elizabeth Barrett Browning’spoem “Mother and Poet”contains both
initial (“Dead! One of them shot by sea in the east”) and terminal
caesurae (“No voice says ‘Mymother’ again to me. What?”)
What is a Dramatic Monologue?
the narrator (a character – not the poet) typically uses the
stream-of-consciousness technique to speak to one or more people
who are silent listeners
- care must be taken to interpret any bias which may be present on the part
of the speaker
What is Persona?
the character who narrates the poem (speaker) but is NOT the
author.
- In creating the poem, the author creates a speaker who is someone other
than himself/herself. Sometimes the two resemble one another, but
readers should be careful when making a connection between the author
and the persona he/she has created.
What is Mood?
How the reader feels
What is Tone?
The author’s feelings towards the subject
What is Voice?
the distinctive personality of the speaker or persona (or the author)
coming through in a work
- created through the writer’s choices of diction, point of view, and tone
What is Poetic Justice?
characters in literature receive their just reward or punishment for
deeds done
What is Imagery?
figurative language using the five senses to create metaphors, similes,
personification, vivid descriptions to produce mental pictures.
