Poetry terms

Question 1

Auto-biographical

Answer 1

A poem about the poet’s life and experiences

Question 2

Ballad

Answer 2

A form of poetry often set to music

Question 3

Blank verse

Answer 3

Verse with no rhyme - usually ten syllables

Question 4

Dramatic monologue

Answer 4

A character speaks to the reader

Question 5

Epic poem

Answer 5

Tragic/heroic story poems

Question 6

First person

Answer 6

Poem written from the poet’s viewpoint or perspective using ‘I’

Question 7

Free verse

Answer 7

No regular rhyme/rhythm

Question 8

Lyrical

Answer 8

Emotional and beautiful

Question 9

Narrative

Answer 9

A form of poetry that tells a story

Question 10

Ode

Answer 10

Lyrical poem often addressed to one person

Question 11

Rhetoric

Answer 11

Persuasive

Question 12

Sonnet

Answer 12

14 line poem often to do with love

Question 13

Third person

Answer 13

A detached perspective (someone who isn’t directly involved in the action) explains everything that is happening

Question 14

Anaphora

Answer 14

A device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginning of neighboring sentences

Question 15

Caesura

Answer 15

A pause in a line of poetry

Question 16

Enjambment

Answer 16

A thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break, but moves over to the next line

Question 17

Epistrophe

Answer 17

A device that can be defined as the repetition of phrases or words at the ends of the clauses or sentences

Question 18

Juxtaposition

Answer 18

the act of placing two things side by side for comparison

Question 19

Quatrain

Answer 19

A set of four lines

Question 20

Rhyme

Answer 20

Close similarity in the final sounds of two or more words or lines of writing

Question 21

Stanza

Answer 21

A stanza is a division of four or more lines in a poem

Question 22

Volta

Answer 22

The turning point of a poem

Question 23

Abstract

Answer 23

An idea rather than a real thing

Question 24

Alliteration

Answer 24

The occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

Question 25

Assonance

Answer 25

Resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising particularly form the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels, but not consonants

Question 26

Authentic

Answer 26

Seems genuine or truthful

Question 27

Colloquial language

Answer 27

Informal, casual language

Question 28

Emotive language

Answer 28

Language used to make you feel a specific emotion

Question 29

Euphemism

Answer 29

Alternative words to make something nasty sound less harsh or blunt

Question 30

Extended Metaphor

Answer 30

Refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph, or lines in a poem

Question 31

Hyperbole

Answer 31

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

Question 32

Imagery

Answer 32

Descriptive or figurative language

Question 33

Irony

Answer 33

A device or event in which what appears, on the surface, to be the case, differs radically from what is actually the case

Question 34

Metaphor

Answer 34

A way of comparing by saying something is something else even though it isn’t

Question 35

Mood

Answer 35

Another word for atmosphere

Question 36

Onomatopoeia

Answer 36

The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

Question 37

Personification

Answer 37

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form

Question 38

Plosive

Answer 38

A consonant that is produced by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth, or palate, followed by a sudden release of air

Question 39

Rhetorical Question

Answer 39

A question that does not have an answer

Question 40

Semantic field

Answer 40

Groups/categories of words

Question 41

Sibilance

Answer 41

Sibilance is a more specific type of alliteration that relies on the repetition of soft consonant sounds in words to create a hissing sound in the writing

Question 42

Simile

Answer 42

Comparing something using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’

Question 43

Symbolism

Answer 43

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities

Question 44

Tone/Voice

Answer 44

Attitude of a writer toward a subject or audience