Poetry Terms

Question 1

End Rhyme

Answer 1

Repitition of identical sounds at the end of successive lines.

Question 2

Slant, off, and near rhymes

Answer 2

Sounds that are close but not exact duplicates

Question 3

Internal rhyme

Answer 3

Two or more words that rhyme in an individual line of poetry

Question 4

Couplets

Answer 4

Lines coming in pairs, rhymed and usually in the same meter

Question 5

Triplets (tercets)

Answer 5

Lines tgat come in threes

Question 6

Onomatopoeia

Answer 6

Words that virtually replicate a sound

Question 7

Alliteration

Answer 7

Repition of initial spunds in words and syllables

Question 8

Assonance

Answer 8

Repition of similar vowel sounds

Question 9

Consonance

Answer 9

Repition of consonants appearing within a line or at the end of words

Question 10

Meter (measure)

Answer 10

Basis of patterns of rhythm. Analyzed based upon the number and arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables

Question 11

Foot

Answer 11

Unit of measurement for meter

Question 12

Disyllabic

Answer 12

Poetic feet consisting of two syllables

Question 13

Trisyllabic

Answer 13

Poetic feet consisting of three syllables

Question 14

/

Answer 14

Seperate poetic feet when analyzing meter

Question 15

U

Answer 15

Represents an unstressed sylllable when analyzing meter

Question 16

—

Answer 16

Represents a stressed syllable when analyzing meter

Question 17

Iamb

Answer 17

U—

Question 18

Trochee

Answer 18

—U

Question 19

Spondee

Answer 19

— —

Question 20

Dactyl

Answer 20

—UU

Question 21

Anapest

Answer 21

UU—

Question 22

Scansion

Answer 22

Process of analyzing meter

Question 23

Caesura

Answer 23

Internal pause in poetry, ususally indicated by a period, semicolon, dash, or other mark of punctuation

Question 24

Enjambment

Answer 24

Run-on. Absence of punctuation and eliminate the need to pause

Question 25

Free verse

Answer 25

Poetry itnoring meter and rythm conventions

Question 26

Blank verse (unrhymed verse)

Answer 26

Incorporates conventional meter

Question 27

Stanzas

Answer 27

Grouped lines of verse serving as a poem’s building blocks Couplet, tercet (terza rima), quatrain, cinquain, sestet

Question 28

Diction

Answer 28

Poet’s choice of words

Question 29

Tropes

Answer 29

Figures of speech, on the foundation of comparisons generally

Question 30

Metaphor

Answer 30

Comparison

Question 31

Simile

Answer 31

Comparison using like or as

Question 32

Image

Answer 32

Words and phrases referring to something that can be seen, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched

Question 33

Personification

Answer 33

When poet assigns human characteristics to a nonhuman object or abstraction.

Question 34

Metonymy

Answer 34

Figure of speech that substitutes a word or phrase that relates to a thing for the thing itself

Question 35

Synecdoche

Answer 35

Substitutes a part from the whole, very similar to metonymy

Question 36

Allusion

Answer 36

Historical, literary, or cultural reference to a person, place, or thing

Question 37

Allegory

Answer 37

Story or vignette that has both a literal and a figurative meaning

Question 38

Oxymoron

Answer 38

Phrase that seems self-contradictory or incompatible with reality

Question 39

Paradox

Answer 39

Something that seems contradictory but upon closer inspection makes sense

Question 40

Understatement

Answer 40

Principal source if power in poetry

Question 41

Litotes

Answer 41

Form of understatement in which a positive fact is stated by denying a negative one

Question 42

Hyperbole or overstatement

Answer 42

Exaggeration

Question 43

Tone

Answer 43

Poet/speaker’s attitude toward the subject of the poem, the reader, or himself

Question 44

Irony

Answer 44

Verbal=implied contrast between what exists and what might be

Question 45

Narrative poem

Answer 45

Tells part or all of a story

Question 46

Lyric poem

Answer 46

Express an individual’s thoughts and emotions

Question 47

Metaphysical

Answer 47

Describes lyric poems containing verses on the nature of thought and theory

Question 48

Romantic poetry

Answer 48

Refers to literary movement constituting a protest against the classic formalism that long influenced poetry. Tend to focus on inner experience and feelings. Dreams, nature, etc.

Question 49

Ballad

Answer 49

Originally sung, folk ballads tell stories about life, death, heroism, love, murder, and betrayal.

Question 50

Dramatic monologue

Answer 50

Poem spoken by one person to a listener

Question 51

Elegy (dirge)

Answer 51

Poem of mourning and meditation

Question 52

Limerick

Answer 52

One of the most popular lighter forms. Built on two rhymes with third and fourth lines shorter than the others. Often a curious rhyme or a pun in the last line

Question 53

Ode

Answer 53

Ancient form of poetic song, celebratory poem.

Question 54

Sonnet

Answer 54

14 line lyric poems. Each line ten syllables. Often iambic pentameter and often express one main idea or thought

Question 55

Villanelle

Answer 55

19-line poem with 5 three-line stanzas and a concluding quatrain