Poetic devices & terminology Flashcards
(38 cards)
Stanza
a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem
Rhyme
correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry.
‘cat’ and ‘hat
Internal rhyme
a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping”
Rhyming couplet
a rhyming pair of successive lines of verse, typically of the same length.
‘Double, double, toil and trouble’
Half rhyme
two words that have only their final consonant sounds and no preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common
‘bag and bug’
Rhythm
the measured flow of words and phrases in verse or prose as determined by the relation of long and short or stressed and unstressed syllables
iamb, trochee, spondee, dactyl, and anapest
Caesura
a break between words within a metrical foot.
“but how of Cawdor? / The Thane of Cawdor lives.”
Repetition
the action of repeating something that has already been said or written.
“time after time.”
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
“I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales and hills”
Simile
a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind
“She’s as fierce as a tiger”
Metaphor
a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else.
“The world is a stage.”
Personification
the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human
“The sun smiled down on the earth.”
Assonance
resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising particularly from the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels
hop-scotch
Alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Onomatopoeia
the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named
“bang,” “thud,” “splash,”
Volta
a rhetorical shift that marks the change of a thought or argument in a poem
Lineation
the action or process of drawing lines or marking with lines
Imagery
visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
“the biting wind whipped her face, stinging her cheeks”
Symbolism
the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
A red rose
Sibilance
strongly emphasized hissing or hushing sounds are repeated throughout a sentence
Juxtaposition
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect
“All’s fair in love and war”
Oxymoron
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
“bittersweet”
Pathetic fallacy
Pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human emotion to inanimate objects, nature, or animals
“The wind wept loudly as the old man passed away”
Hyperbole
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
“I’m so tired I could sleep for a week”
