Poetry Terms and Definitions

Question 1

alliteration

Answer 1

repetition of the same or similar consonant sound in words that are close together

Question 2

allusion

Answer 2

a reference to a person, place, or thing from events, literature, pop culture, and history

Question 3

apostrophe

Answer 3

a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent or dead person

Question 4

audience

Answer 4

who the poem is made for

Question 5

ballad

Answer 5

a story in verse that is meant to be sung

Question 6

blank verse

Answer 6

verse written in in rhymed iambic pentameter

Question 7

connotation

Answer 7

all the meanings associations or emotions that a word suggests

Question 8

couplet

Answer 8

two consecutive lines of poetry that form a unit, often emphasized by rhythm or rhyme

Question 9

denotation

Answer 9

the literal dictionary meaning of a word

Question 10

diction

Answer 10

word choice

Question 11

figurative lang

Answer 11

lang shaped by all the imaginative in which one thing is compared to something

Question 12

free verse

Answer 12

poetry that doesn’t have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

Question 13

hyperbole

Answer 13

exaggerated phrase, not meant to be taken literally

Question 14

iambic pentameter

Answer 14

line of poetry made up of five iambs

Question 15

imagery

Answer 15

lang that appeals to the senses

Question 16

irony

Answer 16

discrepancy between expectation and reality

Question 17

metaphor

Answer 17

figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things

Question 18

meter

Answer 18

generally regular pattern off of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates rhythm in a poem

Question 19

onomatopoeia

Answer 19

use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests it’s meaning

Question 20

oxymoron

Answer 20

figure of speech in which opposite ideas we combined

Question 21

paradox

Answer 21

a statement that seems contradictory, but may be true

Question 22

personification

Answer 22

type of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is talked about as if they were human

Question 23

pun

Answer 23

a play on multiple meanings of a word or two different words that sounds alike but have dif meanings

Question 24

quatrian

Answer 24

a four line stanza

Question 25

refrain

Answer 25

repeated word, phrase, line or grave of lines

Question 26

rhyme

Answer 26

repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem

Question 27

simile

Answer 27

a figure of speech that uses the words like, as, than, or resembles to compare things

Question 28

sonnet

Answer 28

a fourteen line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter with a distinct rhyme scheme

Question 29

speaker

Answer 29

the voice in a poem

Question 30

stanza

Answer 30

group of consecutive lines that form a single unit in a poem

Question 31

symbol

Answer 31

person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and something beyond that

Question 32

tercet

Answer 32

a three-lined stanza

Question 33

theme

Answer 33

the central idea or insight revealed by a work of literature

Question 34

tone

Answer 34

attitude a writer tales toward the reader, subject, or character