Poetry Terms To Know

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

A reference to mythological literary or historical person place or thing

Question 2

Apostrophe

Answer 2

A form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate as if animate

Question 3

Assonance

Answer 3

The repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words

Question 4

Conceit

Answer 4

Very elaborate comparison been unlikely objects. Ex fleas and sex

Question 5

Consonance

Answer 5

The repetition of a consonant sound with a series of words to produce a harmonious effect

Question 6

Diction

Answer 6

Word choice is the poet using formal or informal language?

Question 7

Enjambment

Answer 7

The running-on of one line of poetry into another

Question 8

Hyperbole

Answer 8

A deliberate, extravagant and often outrageous exaggeration. Used for comic or serious effect

Question 9

Imagery

Answer 9

The use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory description

Question 10

Irony

Answer 10

The contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning,

Question 11

Verbal irony

Answer 11

Is the result of a statement saying one thing while meaning the opposite. It’s purpose is to criticize

Question 12

Situational irony

Answer 12

Is when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect though often the twist is oddly appropriate

Question 13

Dramatic irony

Answer 13

Is when a character says or does something that has more or different meaning from what he thinks it means though the audience and or other characters do understand the full ramifications of the speech or action

Question 14

Metaphor

Answer 14

Comparison between two things without the use like or as. The poet states that one thing is another. It is usually a comparison between something that is concrete and something that is abstract

Question 15

Metonymy

Answer 15

The name for something closely related to that then takes on a larger meaning. Ex the White House said blah blah referring to the president

Question 16

Onomatopoeia

Answer 16

The use of the word in which the sound seem to resemble the sounds they describe

Question 17

Paradox

Answer 17

I situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least makes sense

Question 18

Persona

Answer 18

The “character” the writer assumes for the purpose of the work

Question 19

Personification

Answer 19

A kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics

Question 20

Pun

Answer 20

A play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meaning. Puns can have serious as well as humorous uses

Question 21

Sarcasm

Answer 21

A type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it. It’s purpose is to injure to hurt or change it

Question 22

Simile

Answer 22

A comparison of two things or ideas through the use of words like or as. It is definitely stated comparison in which the poet says one thing is like another

Question 23

Symbolism

Answer 23

The use of one object to suggest another hidden object or idea

Question 24

Synecdoche

Answer 24

A form of metaphor in which a part of something is used to signify the whole or the whole can represent a part ex. Gonna take my wheels out for a drive

Question 25

Syntax

Answer 25

The ordering of words into a particular pattern

Question 26

Tone

Answer 26

The attitude of the speaker. Remember that the voice need to be that of the poet. Is the tone is angry, sad, conversational, abrupt, satiric, affected etc

Question 27

Understatement

Answer 27

The opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is

Question 28

Voice

Answer 28

The sound of the narrators voice

Question 29

Alliteration

Answer 29

The repetition of beginning consonant sounds