POETRY TERMS: Flashcards
(42 cards)
poem:
words organized in such a way that there is a pattern of rhythm, rhyme and/or meaning, the relationships between words are emphasized in poetry, so the various word-clusters or verses have a collective impact on the reader/listener
speaker:
the voice used by a poet to speak a poem.
-the speaker is not the same as the author—poets and storytellers make things up (fiction).
Types of Poems:
- Ballad
- Concrete
- Free Verse
- Lyric
- Narrative
- Sonnet
ballad:
a long poem that tells a story, usually a folk tale or legend, in rhyme; often set to music
concrete:
experiments with the very materials of the poem itself: words, letters, format
- The final product demonstrate the poem’s meaning - Concrete poems rely heavily on the visual or phonetic to get across their meaning
free verse:
modern poetry that has no regular pattern of rhythm, rhyme or line length.
-Free verse poems experiment with words to create images for the reader
lyric:
shorter poems of intense feeling and emotion.
-Some are modern free verse poems and others are more “old-fashioned” poems that have rhythm and rhyme. Types: sonnet, ode, and elegy
narrative:
a poem that tells a story.
-Narratives may or may not rhyme, but they almost always follow the plot structure of a short story.
sonnet:
a fourteen-line lyric written in iambic pentameter.
-Sonnets follow a rigid rhyme scheme.
alliteration:
repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of a series of words. ex. (cold coffee colored)
assonance:
is defined as the act of repeating a vowel sound in a phrase or sentence. ex. (“Hear the mellow wedding bells” )
cacophony:
the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing, sounds. ex. ( “…the jaws that bite, the clawsthat catch!”)
consonance:
repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. ex. (Mike likes his new bike)
euphony:
refers to the use of phrases and words that are noted for possessing an extensive degree of notable loveliness or melody in the sound they create; euphony is the opposite of cacophony
ex.( So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see)
onomatopoeia:
words that sound like what they mean.
- Onomatopoeia is also known as imitative harmony.
ex. (buzz, hiss)
metaphor:
a direct comparison between two dissimilar items.
ex. (She is a monster is a metaphor comparing a girl to a monster)
personification:
a comparison between a non-human item and a human so that the non-human item is given human characteristics.
ex. (The trees stretched their arms to the sky)
simile:
using like or as
ex. (She is as innocent as an angel)
allusion:
a reference in one piece of literature to something from another piece of literature; can also be references to person/events/places in history, religion, or myth.
cliché:
a phrase, line or expression that has been so overused, it is boring and commonplace.
ex.( “it was a dark and stormy night”)
figurative Language:
imaginative language that makes a poem rich to a reader.
- Figurative language often relies on comparison devices like simile, metaphor, and personification to make the point.
- Figurative language is the opposite of literal language.
hyperbole:
a deliberate exaggeration to make a point.
ex. (I am hungry enough to eat the fridge)
imagery:
poets create pictures in the reader’s mind that appeal to the sense of sight; they also create descriptions to appeal to the other four senses.
literal language:
the literal meaning of the poem, which ignores imagery, symbolism, figurative language and any imagination on the part of the poet or the reader.
