Poetry terms

Dictionary definition

A word's emotional implication, contextual associations

Play on word that uses similarity of spelling/pronunciation between two different meaning words. (or one word that has multiple meanings)

author's word choice

Arrangement of words, complexity vs. simplicity, fragmentation vs. completeness, rhetorical questions, etc.

Omission of conjunctions to create a concise, terse statement

Repeated use of conjunctions to link things together

Parallelism where the same word is repeated at the beginning of successive lines

to reapeat a word, phrase, line, or stanza

a recurring line or stanza

Attitude of speaker toward the subject/audience

direct comparison of two unlike objects

direct comparison of two unlike objects using like or as

Controlling/extended metaphor (or similie) comparing two unlike objects with elaboration on the comparison

Objects/animals are given human qualities

One noun is replaced by another close noun (ie a castle to a woman who is royal)

A part represents the whole object/idea (ie a hair to a person)

Concrete, tangible object is used to suggest an abstract, intangible idea

The use of any sense description to illustrate things, makes whatever is being described concrete

Reference to an outside fact/event/source

Contradiction between appearance/expectation and reality, a reveresal of expectation

Saying one thing and meaning another

Discrepancy between what the character knows and what the audience knows

When the reality of a situation is different from the anticipated, when something unexpected occurs

Overstatement

minimization of significance

understatement

Form of understatement, involves making a point affirmative by denying its opposite (ie I will multiply them, they shall not be few)

Contradictory statement that has an underlying truth

Two word paradox, contradictory terms

Adressing a person who isn't present or a personified object

Pretty sounds together to produce a pleasing, melodious effect

Hard consonant sounds (inharmonious) opposite of euphony

Rhyme at the end of a verse line

Pattern of end rhymes (represented by a letter)

One syllable rhyme

Two or more syllable rhyme (ie flying dying)

Approximate rhyme (ie sea beaks)

Rhyme contained within the line of a verse (ie falls on castle walls)

Word whose sound suggests its meaning

Repetition of two or more initial sounds in words in same line

Repetition of two or more matching vowel sounds within a line

Repetition of two or more matching consonant sounds within words in a line

Repetition of "s" sound to produce a soft or hissing sound

Unit of verse ending in a break

A line without punctuation at the end

A line with any kind of punctuation at the end of it

Two rhyming, end-stopped lines (with a thought usually completed within)

Group of lines

2 lines

3 lines

4 lines

5 lines

6 lines

7 lines

8 lines

9 or more lines

pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

the smallest unit of a poem

u / baloon

/ u soda

u u / contradict

/ u u maniac

// man-made

1 foot

2 feet

3 feet

4 feet

5 feet

6 feet

7 feet

8 feet

Analysis of the type and number of feet within a poem to determine meter

A pause in the meter or rhythm of a line (indicated by punctuation)

unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter

unrhymed lines without regular rhythm or line lengths