Annotation Terms Flashcards
Alliteration
Repetition of first consonant sound over several words
Allusion/Allude
reference to something well-known outside this text
Assonance
repetition of vowel sounds over several words
Brevity
being brief, pithy (powerful) – saying more w/ least possible or best possible words.
Connotation/Connote
(v) words’ association, vibe, flavor ‘their baggage’/backstory…
Consonance
repetition of internal consonant sounds….to what effect?
Closure
how poems signal their ending.
Enjamb/–ment
breaking sentences into lines = surprising, unpredictable, powerful
Figurative language
all imagery, all non-literal description, e.g. ‘cherry pick’
Hyperbole (hy-per-boh-lee)/–lic
intentional exaggeration
Irony
reversal of any role/reader’s expectation which intensifies outcome/impact.
Juxtaposition/juxtapose (v)
intentional contrast to heighten awareness of each part
List (or catalog)
accumulation of specific details that build meaning. Verb/noun.
Line vs. Sentence
poetry uses lines; prose uses sentences but no visual shape.
Metaphor
comparison of two unlike elements w/out like or as; all non-literal language
Negation
no, not, never, nobody (pre fixes: un-, dis-, ir) use NOT to say what IS
Onomatopoeia/poetic (adj)
words’ sounds echo their meaning ( zigzag, rattle, slither)
Oxymoron (short!)
a pair of opposed words: calm chaos, stop motion, constant change
Paradox/-ical (long)
two co-existing truths that seem impossibly opposed: ‘the end is also a –
Parallel Structure
a set of similar structures: ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’
Personification/personify (v)
giving something human qualities: weeping willow, thinking dots
Repetition
a broad category that encompasses any repeated sound/image/phrase that intensifies and structures a poem.
Simile
comparison using like or as….’peanut butter is like the mortar of our lives’.
Wordplay/pun
to use words’ double meanings/homophones (staycation, pleather, catastrophize)
