poetry vocab definitions

Question 1

repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds usually at beginning of words

Answer 1

alliteration

Question 2

figure of speech in which someone, some abstract quality, or non existent personage is directly addressed as though present

Answer 2

apostrophe

Question 3

harsh or discordant sounds within a groups of words, a sound device

Answer 3

cacophonous

Question 4

pause usually near middle of line of verse, usually indicated by sense of the line and often greater than normal pause

Answer 4

caesura

Question 5

an ingenious and fanciful notion or conception usually addressed through an elaborate analogy and pointing to striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things; may be a brief metaphor or form the framework of an entire poem

Answer 5

conceit

Question 6

sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death or another solemn theme

Answer 6

elegy

Question 7

a line with a pause at the end; that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point or question mark

Answer 7

end-stopped

Question 8

continuation of sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next

Answer 8

enjambment

Question 9

a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate its opposite is cacophony

Answer 9

euphony

Question 10

implied analogy or comparison which carried throughout a stanza or entire poem

Answer 10

extended metaphor

Question 11

two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with thought usually completed in 2 line unit

Answer 11

heroic couplet

Question 12

deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. may be used for either serious or comic effect

Answer 12

hyperbole

Question 13

one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Answer 13

Iamb

Question 14

line consisting of five iambs (10 syllables)

Answer 14

Iambic pentameter

Question 15

14 line iambic pentameter poem

Answer 15

sonnet

Question 16

rhymed abba abba cde cde; consists of an octave and a sestant

Answer 16

Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet

Question 17

rhymed abab, cdcd, efef, gg consists of 3 quatrains and a couplet

Answer 17

English (Shakespearean) sonnet

Question 18

figure of speech in which something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it

Answer 18

metonymy

Question 19

a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression; used to shock reader into awareness

Answer 19

oxymoron

Question 20

situation or action or feelings that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least make sense

Answer 20

paradox

Question 21

figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole

Answer 21

synecdoche

Question 22

the opposite of hyperbole; kind of irony that deliberately represents something much less than it really is

Answer 22

understatement