poetry key terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

Allegory is a simple story which has a symbolic and more complex level of meaning. Characters, setting, objects and colours can all stand for or represent other bigger ideas

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

Allusion is hinting at or making an indirect reference to a person, place, event or idea.

Question 3

Anaphora

Answer 3

Repetition of the same words at the start of successive sentences or clauses.

Question 4

Assonance

Answer 4

Assonance - repetition of a vowel sounds in a series of words.
e.g. He sn ee zed and wh ee zed, could hardly br ea the

Question 5

Blank verse

Answer 5

poetry with a regular rhythm but no rhyme.
e.g. “to be or not to be”

Question 6

Caesura

Answer 6

a pause that breaks up a line of verse
e.g. “It is for you we speak, || not for ourselves.”

Question 7

Elegy

Answer 7

a poem of serious reflection especially one mourning the loss of someone who died

Question 8

Internal rhyme

Answer 8

rhyme that occurs in the middle of lines of poetry

Question 9

Intertextuality

Answer 9

It is the interplay and interconnectedness between different texts, where the meaning of one text is shaped or influenced by its relationship with other texts.

Question 10

Lyric poem

Answer 10

short, highly musical verse that conveys powerful feelings.

Question 11

Ode

Answer 11

An ode is a formal lyric poem that is written in celebration or dedication.

Question 12

Plosive

Answer 12

Plosives are constant sounds that involve forcing air out of the mouth
e.g. t p d b

Question 13

Refrain

Answer 13

A line or group of lines that are regularly repeated.

Question 14

Sibilance

Answer 14

figure of speech where a hissing sound is created

Question 15

Slant rhyme

Answer 15

two words located at the end of a line of poetry themselves end in similar—but not identical—consonant sounds.
e.g. pact and slicked

Question 16

Stream of consciousness

Answer 16

Stream of consciousness writing allows readers to “listen in” on a character’s thoughts. The technique often involves the use of language in unconventional ways in an attempt to replicate the complicated pathways that thoughts take as they unfold and move through the mind.

Question 17

Synaesthesia

Answer 17

Synaesthesia is a technique which connects one sense to another sense.
e.g. ‘The boy gave him a cold look.’ This example of synaesthesia connects the senses of sight and touch.

Question 18

Tercet

Answer 18

A tercet is a three-line stanza. It is a common stanza form, although not as common as the couplet and quatrain.

Question 19

Transferred epithet

Answer 19

Transferred epithet is when an adjective usually used to describe one thing is transferred to another. An epithet is a word or phrase which describes the main quality of someone or something