poetic terms

Question 1

alliteration

Answer 1

repetition of the sound at a beginning of a word

Question 2

anaphora

Answer 2

repetition at the start of a line

Question 3

assonance

Answer 3

repetition of a vowel sound anywhere within a section of the poem

Question 4

caesura

Answer 4

a break in the line

Question 5

consonance

Answer 5

– repetition of a consonant sound anywhere within a section of the
poem

Question 6

contrast

Answer 6

a strong difference between two things

Question 7

couplet

Answer 7

a pair of rhymed lines (

Question 8

enjambment

Answer 8

a flow on line (where the reader is forced to keep reading rather
than stop at the end of the line / stanza in order to maintain the meaning

Question 9

form

Answer 9

a specific type of poem, such as a sonnet or a haiku

Question 10

fricatives

Answer 10

these consonants create a turbulent flow of air. E.g. f and th

Question 11

iambic pentameter

Answer 11

a line containing ten syllables where the stress alternates
from soft to heavy (five pairs of syllables)

Question 12

imagery

Answer 12

words so descriptive they create a picture in the reader’s mind

Question 13

metaphor

Answer 13

an image created by referring to something as something else (He is
a pig)

Question 14

metre

Answer 14

the measurement of the rhythm of a poem

Question 15

octet

Answer 15

a stanza comprising eight lines

Question 16

ode

Answer 16

a poem in praise of something / usually addresses and exalts its subject

Question 17

onomatopoeia

Answer 17

words that sound like their meaning (crash/bang/pop)

Question 18

oxymoron

Answer 18

– two words positioned together with contrasting ideas (beautiful
death

Question 19

personification

Answer 19

giving an object human qualities (the wind whistled)

Question 20

plosives

Answer 20

sounds that explode from the mouth

Question 21

quartet

Answer 21

A stanza of four lines

Question 22

repetition

Answer 22

words/phrases/sentences and structures repeated

Question 23

rhyme

Answer 23

Rhyme – repetition of a sound either at the end of the line or internally, within
the same line.

Question 24

half rhyme

Answer 24

(where the words almost rhyme / Eye rhyme – where the words look as though they should rhyme but pronunciation means they do not

Question 25

rhythm

Answer 25

the use of meter and / or rhyme to give the poem a beat

Question 26

sestet

Answer 26

a stanza comprised of 6 lines

Question 27

sibilance

Answer 27

repeated s sound

Question 28

simile.

Answer 28

a comparison of two things using ‘like’ and ‘as’ (as cold as ice)

Question 29

sonnet

Answer 29

a fourteen-line poem, usually associated with love

Question 30

staccato

Answer 30

short and abrupt

Question 31

stanza

Answer 31

how lines are grouped in poems

Question 32

structure

Answer 32

how the poem is constructed. E.g. number of lines, stanzas, size of

Question 33

symbolism

Answer 33

– symbol that represents an idea (cross = religion)