Poetry Vocabulary

Question 1

title

Answer 1

a title is a word or phrase given to a text

Question 2

lines

Answer 2

A line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided.

Question 3

stanza

Answer 3

a stanza is used to describe the main building block of a poem.

Question 4

sentences

Answer 4

a group of words, usually containing a verb, that expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question, instruction, or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when written

Question 5

syntax

Answer 5

the arrangement of words in sentences, clauses, and phrases, and the study of the formation of sentences and the relationship of their component parts

Question 6

punctuation

Answer 6

the use of symbols such as periods, commas, or question marks to divide written words into sentences and clauses

Question 7

enjambment

Answer 7

the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next.

Question 8

end-stopped line

Answer 8

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break—such as a dash or closing parenthesis—or with punctuation such as a colon, a semicolon, or a period.

Question 9

rhyme scheme

Answer 9

the pattern of sounds that repeats at the end of a line or stanza.

Question 10

meter

Answer 10

the rhythmic pattern of a poetic line.

Question 11

repetition

Answer 11

a literary device that involves using the same word or phrase over and over again in a piece of writing or speech

Question 12

couplet

Answer 12

a pair of consecutive lines of poetry that create a complete thought or idea

Question 13

quatrain

Answer 13

a piece of verse complete in four rhymed lines

Question 14

octave

Answer 14

An eight-line stanza or poem

Question 15

sestet

Answer 15

A six-line stanza, or the final six lines of a 14-line Italian or Petrarchan sonnet

Question 16

Metaphor

Answer 16

a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated

Question 17

simile

Answer 17

a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.”

Question 18

personification

Answer 18

a literary device that uses non-literal language to convey abstract ideas in a relatable way.

Question 19

hyperbole

Answer 19

a figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect.

Question 20

overstatement

Answer 20

when you use language to exaggerate your intended meaning.

Question 21

understatement

Answer 21

the description of something as having much less of a particular quality than it does.

Question 22

litotes

Answer 22

A deliberate understatement for effect; the opposite of hyperbole.

Question 23

meiosis

Answer 23

a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is.

Question 24

meiosis

Answer 24

a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is.

Question 24

meiosis

Answer 24

a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is.

Question 25

meiosis

Answer 25

a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is.

Question 25

meiosis

Answer 25

a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is.

Question 26

diction

Answer 26

choice of words, especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.

Question 27

tone

Answer 27

the mood implied by an author’s word choice and the way that the text can make a reader feel.

Question 28

mood

Answer 28

a feeling that can refer to the emotional state of mind of a person/character or the atmosphere of a story

Question 29

alliteration

Answer 29

is the repetition of the same sound at the start of a series of words in succession whose purpose is to provide an audible pulse that gives a piece of writing a lulling, lyrical, and/or emotive effect.

Question 30

assonance

Answer 30

is the repetition of vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry.

Question 31

consonance

Answer 31

A resemblance in sound between two words, or an initial rhyme

Question 32

onomatopoeia

Answer 32

the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it

Question 33

slant rhyme

Answer 33

two words that have only their final consonant sounds and no preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common

Question 34

rhyme

Answer 34

the repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a line

Question 35

internal rhyme

Answer 35

rhyme between a word within a line and another word either at the end of the same line or within another line

Question 36

end rhyme

Answer 36

a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses

Question 37

meter

Answer 37

a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that defines the rhythm of some poetry.

Question 38

repetition

Answer 38

the use of the same word or phrase multiple times

Question 39

sonnet

Answer 39

A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme

Question 40

italian sonnet

Answer 40

Literally a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines.

Question 41

English sonnet/ Shakespeare

Answer 41

a 14-line poem that rhymes in a particular pattern.

Question 42

Spenserian sonnet

Answer 42

a sonnet form named for the poet Edmund Spenser.

Question 43

metered poem

Answer 43

metre or meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse.