Poetic terms Flashcards
(41 cards)
Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds
Allegory
narrative with two levels of meaning, one stated and one unstated
Allusion
unacknowledged reference and quotations that authors assume their readers will recognize
Apostrophe
direct address to an absent or otherwise unresponsive entity
Assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds
Ballad
a narrative poem composed of quatrains (iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter) rhyming x-a-x-a. Ballads may use refrains. Examples: “Jackaroe,” “The Long Black Veil”
What is common meter or hymn measure and who in the syllabus uses it
iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter
Emily Dickinson
End-stopped line
a line ending in a full pause, usually indicated with a period or semicolon
Enjambment
a line having no end punctuation but running over to the next line
Heroic couplet
two successive rhyming lines of iambic pentameter; the second line is usually end-stopped
Hyperbole (overstatement) and litotes (understatement)
hyperbole is exaggeration for effect; litotes is understatement for effect, often used for irony
Iamb (iambic)
an unstressed stressed foot
Iambic pentameter
the most natural and common kind of meter in English; it elevates speech to poetry. Five iambs (often then ten syllables).
Image
references that trigger the mind to fuse together memories of sight (visual), sounds (auditory), tastes (gustatory), smells (olfactory), and sensations of touch (tactile). Imagery refers to images throughout a work or throughout the works of a writer or group of writers
Internal rhyme
an exact rhyme (rather than rhyming vowel sounds, as with assonance) within a line of poetry: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.”
Metaphor
a comparison between two unlike things, this describes one thing as if it were something else. Does not use “like” or “as” for the comparison (see simile)
Metaphysical conceit
an elaborate and extended metaphor or simile that links two apparently unrelated fields or subjects in an unusual and surprising conjunction of ideas. The term is commonly applied to the metaphorical language of a number of early seventeenth-century poets, particularly John Donne. Example: stiff twin compasses//the joining together of lovers like legs of a compass. See “To His Coy Mistress”
Onomatopoeia
a blending of consonant and vowel sounds designed to imitate or suggest the activity being described. Example: buzz, slurp
Paradox
a rhetorical figure embodying a seeming contradiction that is nonetheless true
Parallelism
where parts of a phrase that are grammatically similar, often repeating a specific word, phrase, or idea, to another phrase
Personification
attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things or
abstractions
Petrarchan sonnet
a sonnet (14 lines of rhyming iambic pentameter) that divides into an octave (8) and sestet (6). There is a “volta,” or “turning” of the subject matter between the octave and sestet
Rhyme
the repetition of identical concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines. Example: June–moon
Double rhyme or trochaic rhyme
rhyming words of two syllables in which the first syllable is accented (flower, shower)
