Poetry Terminology

1. Poetry Terminology • Allusion – a reference in literature to a person, event or literary work • Antithesis – balancing or contrasting of one term against another (Fair is foul; foul is fair… Art is long and Time is fleeting) • Apostrophe – the addressing of someone or something, usually not present, as though present

2. Poetry Terminology • Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds without repetition of consonants • Chorus – the repetition of a line of phrase of a poem at regular intervals, especially at the end of each stanza (May be called a refrain) • Conceit – a fanciful poetic image, especially an elaborate or exaggerated comparison. A poem or passage consisting of such and image.

3. Poetry Terminology • Connotation – creating associations while also using explicit definitions • Consonance – the repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse • Denotation – dictionary definition • Dissonance – the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience, “modern music is just a noise to me” [syn: noise = racket] 2:disagreeable sounds [ant.: harmony]

4. Poetry Terminology • Hyperbole – exaggeration for effect and not meant to be taken literally • Imagery – the words or phrases a writer selects to create a certain picture in the reader’s min, usually based on sensory detail. • Litotes – understatement for effect especially such understatement in which something is expressed by a negation of the contrary (not a few regrets) • Metaphor – a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one this applied to another (all the world’s a stage)

5. Poetry Terminology • Meter – rhythm in verse; measured, patterned arrangement of syllables, primarily according to stress of length • Foot – a group of syllables serving as a unit of meter in verse • Iambic foot – verse containing one unaccented syllable followed by one accented one • Anapestic foot – consists of three syllables with the stress on the last syllable (unstressed, unstressed, stressed) • Dactylic foot – contains three syllables with the stress on the first syllable (stressed, unstressed, unstressed) • Spondaic foot – a metrical foot of two long or accented syllables • Pyrrhic foot – a metrical foot of two short or unaccented syllables • Monometer – having a single meter • Dimeter – a line of verse containing 2 metrical feet • Trimeter – a line of verse containing three metrical feet • Tetrameter – a line of verse containing four metrical feet or measures • Pentameter – a line of verse containing five metrical feet or measures • Hexameter – a line of verse containing six metrical feet • Heptameter – a line of verse containing seven metrical feet • Octometer – a line of verse containing eight metrical feet

6. Poetry Terminology • Mood – the feeling a piece of literature arouses in the reader; happiness, sadness, peacefulness • Motif – an often repeated idea or theme in literature • Oxymoron – a combination of contradictory terms (Jumbo shrimp, tough love, cruel kindness) • Paradox – a statement that seems contrary to common sense, yet may, in fact, be true • Point of View – the vantage point from which literature is told

7. Poetry Terminology • Refrain – the repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals, especially at the end of each stanza (may also be called chorus) • Repetition – the act of repeating something over and over again • Rhyme – a piece of verse, or poem in which there is a regular recurrence of corresponding sounds, especially at the ends of line

8. Poetry Terminology • End Rhyme – a regular recurrence of corresponding sounds at the ends of lines • Internal Rhyme – rhyming of words, within a poem, of which at least one word does not fall at the end of a line • Feminine Rhyme – where the last syllable on the line is unstressed • Masculine Rhyme – end rhyme where the last syllable is stressed • Triple Rhyme – when the last three syllables of a word or line rhyme (victorious and glorious; battering and shattering)

9. Poetry Terminology • Rhythm – flow, movement, procedure, etc. characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, to accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements of features • Simile – a comparison of two unlike things in which a word of companion (like or as) is used

10. Poetry Terminology • Stanza – a division of poetry named for the number of lines it contains • Couplet – two lines of verse that rhymes a,a • Triplet – a group of three successive lines of poetry, usually rhyming • Quatrain – a stanza of poem of four lines, often rhyming abab, abba, or abcd • Quintet – a stanza of poem of five lines • Sestet – a group of six lines of verse • Septet – a group of seven lines of verse • Octave – a group of eight lines of verse

11. Poetry Terminology • Symbol – a person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else • Syntax – the ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns such as phrase, clause, and sentences; poets often manipulate syntax, changing conventional word order, to place certain emphasis on particular words • Theme – the statement about life a particular work is trying to get across to the reader • Tone – the overall feeling, or effect, created by a writer’s words. May be serious, mock-serious, humorous, or satirical

12. Poetry Terminology • Verse – a sequence of words arranged metrically in accordance with some rule of design; single line of poetry • Blank verse – unrhymed form of poetry; each line normally consists of ten syllables in which every other syllable, beginning with the second, is stressed • Free verse – poetry without regular meter, rhyme, or stanzaic form • Rhymed verse – consists of verse with end rhyme and usually with a regular meter