Literary Terms for Ninth Grade Poetry
Terms
undefined, object
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Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Antonym: assonance -
"windows where"
"silent sea" -
Definition:
Repetition of vowel sounds in words that do not rhyme
Antonym: alliteration -
“Frogs dwell here and
crickets too.†- Form of language spoken by a certain social or ethnic group or in a geographic area
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"Ya'll come"
"goobers"
"roomatiz" -
Definition:
Language that expresses ideas beyond the usual meaning of the words; includes figures of speech such as simile,
metaphor, personification
Antonym: Literal language,
means what it says -
“Floors are flowers"
"...a house of lace;"
"The Grass divides as with a Comb—" - Quality that makes somone or something funny or amusing
- It was funny that the boy ate the fish that had offered him wishes after it had laughed at him when he set it free.
- Indirect reference to a famous person, place, or event that the author thinks readers will know
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Scotland Yard
Admiralty
"Peke" - A pair of rhymed lines
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“Floors are flowers—take a few.
Ferns grow here and daisies too.†- Conversation between two or more characters
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“My boy,†quoth he,
“Please set me free and I’ll
grant your wish. A kingdom of
wisdom? A palace of gold? Or all the goodies your fancies can hold?†So I said, “OK,†… - Poetry that does not have regular rhyme and meter
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"in quiet night
the horns honking up from the street
make mad voices
to other horns, tires shriek
to other tires, brakes shriek
to other brakes." -
Definition:exaggeration
making a person, an action, or an object greater than it really is
Antonym: understatement - "He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity."
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Mental pictures or images; words and phrases
that appeal to the senses_sight, hearing, smell,
taste, and touch -
"Ain't no ceiling, only blue
Jays dwell here and sunbeams too." -
Definition: A short poem that is songlike
Antonym: Narrative poem, one that tells a story -
A poem that expresses one speaker's thoughts or feelings.
Example: "Song of the Open Road by Carl Sandburg" - Feelings that the writer creates for the reader
- sadness, grief, shock, horror, fear, love, happiness, etc.
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figure of speech that
gives human qualities to an animal,
object, or idea - Example: spider with a spinning wheel
- Repetition of one or more lines in each stanza of a poem
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Example: Repetition of
"the bells, bells, bells, bells,
bells, bells, bells..." in
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells." - Situation in which what happens is the opposite of what the reader expects
- It was ironic that the fish asked the boy if he wanted his wishes granted, but the boy ate the fish.
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Definition:
A figure of speech that compares two unlike things but does not use "like" or "as"
Antonym: Simile - “Floors are flowers—take a few.â€
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Definition:
Use of words such as pow, buzz, and crunch
whose sounds suggest their meaning -
"Whoosh, swoosh—too-whit, too-woo,
Bats dwell here and hoot owls too." -
Definition: author’s voice,
usually first or third person - First person: “Several of Nature’s People I know, and they know me."
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Definition: a sound, word,
phrase, or line that is
repeated -
"Henceforth..."
"Henceforth..."