Poetry Terms to Know

Question 1

allusion

Answer 1

a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Question 2

assonance

Answer 2

the repetition of a vowel sounds in a series of non-rhyming words

Question 3

blank verse

Answer 3

poetry written in unrhymed, iambic penatemeter

Question 4

consonance

Answer 4

repetition of consonant sounds within words

Question 5

couplet

Answer 5

a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a part that rhyme and are of the same length

Question 6

enjambment

Answer 6

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza

Question 7

free verse

Answer 7

a poem without regular rhyme or meter

Question 8

imagery

Answer 8

eliciting images in the reader’s mind through sensory and concrete details

Question 9

structure

Answer 9

the arrangement of words and lines in a poem

• line: similar to a sentence in poetry
• stanza: a group of lines separated from other liens by breaks in the poem. similar to a paragraph
• meter: using a set number of syllables in each line

Question 10

onomatopoeia

Answer 10

words that replicate sound

Question 11

personification

Answer 11

attributing human characteristics to non-human objects/ideas

Question 12

repetiton

Answer 12

the technique of repeating important lines, words, or phrases of a poem for effect

Question 13

end rhyme

Answer 13

rhyme at the end of lines

Question 14

internal rhyme

Answer 14

rhyme within lines

Question 15

near rhyme (slant rhyme)

Answer 15

words that nearly rhyme

• is done for a purpose
• may actually rhyme in the dialect of the author

Question 16

simile

Answer 16

comparison of tow things using like or as

Question 17

speaker

Answer 17

the voice talking to the reader

Question 18

symbol

Answer 18

an object or idea that represents or stand for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract

Question 19

theme

Answer 19

central idea of a piece

Question 20

tone

Answer 20

how the author feels about the subject

Question 21

irony

Answer 21

the contrast between expectations and reality

• situational irony: we expect a situation to go one way, and it goes another
• verbal irony: what is said is different or opposite from what is meant
• dramatic irony: the reader knows something the characters don’t know

Question 22

amber dashed down the dark, deserted hallway

Answer 22

alliteration

Question 23

what time of day will you come? i want to see you soon

Answer 23

free verse

Question 24

stanza

Answer 24

a group of lines separated from other lines by breaks in the poem

Question 25

meter

Answer 25

using a set number of syllables in each line

Question 26

i’ll walk with you in rain or shine, if only you would please be mine

Answer 26

end rhyme