Poetry Terminology

Question 1

Simile (LANGUAGE)

Answer 1

A comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’

Question 2

Metaphor (LANGUAGE)

Answer 2

A figurative comparison that is not literal

Question 3

Alliteration (LANGUAGE)

Answer 3

The repetition of two or more consonant sounds at the start of words in quick succession

Question 4

Onomatopoeia (LANGUAGE)

Answer 4

A word where the sound is also the meaning

Question 5

Personification (LANGUAGE)

Answer 5

Applying human aspects to an inanimate object

Question 6

Connotation (LANGUAGE)

Answer 6

An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

Question 7

Symbol (LANGUAGE)

Answer 7

Something that represents or stands for something else - e.g. a dove symbolises peace

Question 8

Assonance (LANGUAGE)

Answer 8

Resemblance of sound between syllables or nearby words, arising particularly from the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels - e.g. swEEping gEEse

Question 9

Fricative alliteration (LANGUAGE)

Answer 9

Alliteration of sounds that create friction of breath (the letters: f and v)

Question 10

Plosive alliteration (LANGUAGE)

Answer 10

Alliteration where the initial consonant sound is plosive (the letter: p, t, k, b, d, g)

Question 11

Sibilance (LANGUAGE)

Answer 11

A pattern of repeated soft sounds for effect - e.g. soft sea shells on the sea shore

Question 12

Motif (LANGUAGE)

Answer 12

A recurring idea or image - e.g. a recurring motif of the colour red

Question 13

Semantic field (LANGUAGE)

Answer 13

A semantic files is a set of words grouped together that refer to a specific subject - e.g. a semantic field of violence

Question 14

Repetition (STRUCTURE)

Answer 14

The use of respecting a word, phrase, line or idea throughout a poem

Question 15

Enjambment (STRUCTURE)

Answer 15

The continuation of a sentence without a pause at the end of a line/stanza

Question 16

Juxtaposition (STRUCTURE)

Answer 16

Two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

Question 17

Caesura (STRUCTURE)

Answer 17

A break between words, usually in the middle of a line

Question 18

Anaphora (STRUCTURE)

Answer 18

When the whole, or a part of, the opening line of the stance is repeated

Question 19

Refrain (STRUCTURE)

Answer 19

A phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza

Question 20

End-stopped line (STRUCTURE)

Answer 20

A line that ends with a punctuation mark and whose meaning is complete

Question 21

Tone (FORM)

Answer 21

The voice/ attitude of the writer conveyed through the words/viewpoint

Question 22

Rhyme (FORM)

Answer 22

The correspondence sounds of words

Question 23

Stanza (FORM)

Answer 23

A section of a poem, also known as a verse

Question 24

Rhyming couplet (FORM)

Answer 24

A pair of lines of a similar length that rhyme

Question 25

Rhythm (FORM)

Answer 25

A strong repeated pattern of a sound

Question 26

Pace (FORM)

Answer 26

The speed of a poem

Question 27

Poetic Speaker (FORM)

Answer 27

The “I” of a poem, equivalent to the narrator of a prose text. In lyric poetry, the speaker is often an authorial persona

Question 28

Dramatic monologue (FORM)

Answer 28

A poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events

Question 29

Iambic pentameter (FORM)

Answer 29

A line or verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one host (or unstressed) syllable, for example “Two households, both alike in dignity”

Question 30

Dactylic diameter (FORM)

Answer 30

A dactylic foot (known as a dactyl) has a long syllable followed by two short syllables - e.g. “half a league, half a league

Question 31

Free verse (FORM)

Answer 31

Poetry in which the rhythm and rhyme does not repeat regularly

Question 32

Sonnnet (FORM)

Answer 32

A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line