poetry vocabulary
Terms
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- Refrain
- The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at definite intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza
- Rhyme
- The similarity or likeness of sound in two or more words
- Extended metaphor
- A metaphor that is developed over several lines of writing
- Trimeter
- 3 feet per line
- Tetrameter
- 4 feet per line
- Stanza
- A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit; a division of a poem that is often referred to as a "paragraph of poetry"
- Eye rhyme
- Depends on spelling rather than sound; words that look like they should rhyme, but do not
- Irony
- Saying the opposite of what is true
- Rhyme scheme
- The pattern or sequence in which end rhyme occurs throughout a poem. The first end sound is represented with an "a," the second end sound is represented with a "b," and so on. When the first sound is repeated at the end of another line within the poem, it is also designated as "a."
- Meter
- A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
- Heptameter
- 7 feet per line
- Repetition
- Repeating a word or phrase within a poem
- Foot
- A unit of meter; can consist of two or three syllables; lines of poetry are classified according to the number of feet in a line
- Triplet
- 3 line stanza
- Apostrophe
- Addressing something nonhuman as if it were human
- Sestet
- 6 line stanza
- Anapestic foot
- Three syllables with the stress on the last syllable
- Septet
- 7 line stanza
- Connotation
- All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests
- Pentameter
- 5 feet per line
- Octave
- 8 line stanza,9 line stanza,10 line stanza
- Implied metaphor
- Suggests a comparison WITHOUT using "is"
- Metaphor
- Two dissimilar things are compared WITHOUT using words such as "like," "as," "than," or "resembles"
- Free verse
- Consists of lines of poetry that do not have a regular rhythm and do not rhyme
- Trochaic foot
- A two syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable
- Monometer
- 1 foot per line
- Octameter
- 8 feet per line
- Lyric
- a brief, personal poem that is especially musical and filled with emotion; sonnets, odes, and elegies are types of lyrics
- Direct metaphor
- Directly compares two things with a verb such as "is"
- Sonnet
- A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme schemes
- Symbol
- Something concrete used to represent something abstract
- Mixed metaphor
- The inconsistent mixture of two or more metaphors; a common problem in bad writing, and they can often be unintentionally funny
- Scansion
- The process of marking lines of poetry to show the type of feet and the number of feet they contain
- Dimeter
- 2 feet per line
- Assonance
- The similarity or repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words with different consonant sounds
- Pyrric foot
- Two unstressed syllables; this type of foot is rare and is found in between other types of feet
- Perfect rhyme
- (exact rhyme) involves sounds that are exactly the same
- Synecdoche
- The word for something is used to mean the whole
- Rhythm
- The pattern of stressed ( ) and unstressed ( ) syllables in words in a line of poetry; rhythm may be regular or irregular
- Poetry
- A kind of rhythmic, compressed language that uses figures of speech and imagery designed to appeal to our emotions and imagination.
- Imperfect rhyme
- (approximate or slant rhyme) involves words that sound similar, but are not exactly the same
- Ballad
- a type of poem that is meant to be sung and is both lyric and narrative in nature
- Paradox
- An apparent contradiction which proves, upon closer examination, to be true
- Simile
- Two dissimilar things are compared using words such as "like," "as," "than," or "resembles"
- Literary allusion
- A reference to a person, place, or thing from previous literature
- Rhymed verse
- Consists of a verse with end rhyme and regular meter
- Dactylic foot
- Three syllables with the stress on the first syllable
- Couplet
- 2 line stanza
- Quatrain
- 4 line stanza
- Quintet
- 5 line stanza
- Personification
- Giving human or animate qualities to nonhuman or inanimate things
- Dead metaphor
- a metaphor that has become so overused that we no longer realize that is a figure of speech—we simply skip over the metaphorical connection it makes.
- Iambic foot
- A two syllable foot with the stress on the second syllable; the most common foot of the English language
- Hyperbole
- Exaggeration for the sake of effect, for emphasis, not to be taken literally; overstatement
- Onomatopoeia
- The use of words that imitate the sounds they define
- Blank verse
- Consists of unrhymed iambic pentameter
- Spondaic foot
- Two stressed syllables
- Internal rhyme
- Between words, occurs within a single one of poetry
- Consonance
- The repetition of consonant sounds that are NOT at the beginning of words in a line of verse
- Denotation
- The literary, dictionary definition of a word.
- Antithesis
- Balancing or contrasting one thing against another for effect
- Alliteration
- The repetition of the initial consonant sound in two or more words in a line of verse
- Hexameter
- 6 feet per line
- Narrative
- a story told in verse form; an epic is a narrative poem
- End rhyme
- Occurs between words found at the ends of two or more lines in a poem