Transcript Poetry Terms
Poetry Terms
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Alliteration the repeating of beginning consonant sounds in a group of words. Alliteration refers to the first sound rather than the first letter. So “city slicker” is an example of alliteration, while “cake city” is not. Alliteration is common in slogans, clichés, and advertising because it emphasizes groups of words. It is common in poems because it adds a musical quality to the work.
Allusion A reference to a famous person, place, event, or work of literature or art Allusions serve to help the author create connections between his ideas and what the reader already knows. Allusions to Greek Mythology are very common.
Assonance
repeated VOWEL SOUNDS at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Consonance repeated CONSONANT SOUNDS anywhere in words, not just at the beginning.
Consonance
repeated CONSONANT SOUNDS anywhere in words, not just at the beginning.
Couplet Pair of rhyming lines In order to be a couplet, the lines rhyme with each other, but not necessarily with other lines in the poem.
Figurative Language Imagery in which you don’t literally mean what you say “I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a handbarrow; a tall, strong, heavy nut-brown man; his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails; and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty livid white.”—
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Free Verse Poem
poetry with no rules; it has no rhyme scheme and no set rhythm.
hyperbole Figurative language in which obvious exaggeration is used to emphasize a point or add excitement and humor to a story.
Paul Bunyan is said to have been such a large infant that he slept in a covered wagon instead of a crib. As an adult, he used tree trunks as toothpicks and wagon wheels as buttons.
Iambic Pentameter A rhythm used that sounds much like a heartbeat.
A series of unstressed and stress syllables in lines of ten syllables each Shakespeare wrote almost exclusively in iambic pentameter Ex:But,SOFT! what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS? It IS the EAST, and JULiet IS the SUN.
imagery Imagery is words or phrases that appeal to the senses and conjure up mental images. It helps readers imagine the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings associated with the character’s or author’s experiences.
literary devices Tools that a writer uses to enhance his/her writing.
types simile metaphor hyperbole personification irony
Lyric Poem
Poetry that expresses the poet’s feelings and emotions with strong musical quality.
Does not tell a story
Does not have white space all over the place
metaphor Figurative language in which two seemingly unrelated things are compared using no connecting words.
“The groves were God’s first temple.”—“A Forest Hymn” by William Cullen Bryant An
extended metaphor
carries the comparison throughout an entire work or section of a work.
She sweeps with many-colored brooms, And leaves the shreds behind; Oh, the housewife in the evening west, Come back, and dust the pond.
—description of a sunset from “She Sweeps with Many Colored Brooms” by Emily Dickenson
Narrative Poem
poetry that tells a story.
Onomatopoeia A word, such as
plop, buzz,
or
snap
, whose sound suggests its meaning.
Onomatopoeia provides sound effects, and appears most frequently in poetry, advertising, and children’s tales.
personification Figurative language in which human qualities or actions are given to something that is not human. Animals, inanimate objects, and ideas can all be personified. “He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knows that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.”—
The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
Rhyme Scheme repeated pattern of rhyming words at the ends of a poem’s lines. (each rhyme is assigned a lowercase letter, beginning with “a”).
rhyme The repetition of the end sounds in words.
End rhyme —appears at the end of two or more lines of poetry.
Internal rhyme —appears within a single line of poetry.
not really a rhyme Sight rhyme —LOOKS LIKE it should rhyme, but doesn’t (we count it as rhyming —ex. “again” and “pain”).
Near rhyme —almost sound alike (“home” and “bone”)
Rhythm/meter repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem. One unit of meter is a foot. Five basic feet:
Iambic: ta-TUM
Anapestic: ta-ta-TUM Trochaic: TUM-ta Dactylic: TUM-ta-ta Spondaic: TUM-TUM
Simile Figurative language that compares two seemingly unrelated things using connecting words such as
like
,
as
,
seems, or than
in the comparison.
“And suddenly the rabbit, which had been crouching as if it were a flower, so still and soft, suddenly burst into life. Round and round the court it went, as if shot from a gun, round and round like a furry meteorite, in a tense hard circle that seemed to bind their brains.”—
Women in Love
by D.H. Lawrence
Sonnet A fourteen line poem written (usually) in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme Shakespearian sonnet: abab cdcd efef gg (the couplet must effectively conclude the poet’s thoughts)
Sound Devices
Poetry techniques that create musical qualities in the poem.
Stanza a division in a poem; named for the number of lines it contains: couplet-2 triplet-3 quatrain-4 quintet-5 sestet-6 septet-7 octave-8.
symbolism
The use of something concrete that stands for something abstract. May be a person, place, thing, or action. May stand for a belief, feeling, or attitude. A symbol keeps its own meaning while also standing for something else.
Theme Author’s message about life or people “hidden” in the text Themes are general, not specific and should be expressed in a complete sentence (not a single word)
Tone The author’s attitude toward the subject Should be distinguished from mood. Mood is about how the AUDIENCE feels; tone is about how the AUTHOR feels.
The Great Migration A period of great transition for many African-Americans to move from the South to the North, particularly to states like New York.
Harlem Renaissance A period in U.S. history (1915-1930) which saw a tremendous rise in African American art, literature, and music. Harlem, N.Y. was seen as the center of this movement.
Langston Hughes Known as the primary writer of the Harlem Renaissance. He was a prolific writer who may be best known for his poetry, especially “Harlem” and “I, Too, Sing America.”
W.E.B. du Bois An influential writer and political figure of the Harlem Renaissance. He worked with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and founded
The Crisis.
The Crisis
A magazine and literary journal associated with the NAACP and founded by W.E.B. du Bois.
The Crisis
served as a launching pad for many young African-American writers and provided news and commentary on African-American life.
Jazz A type of music of black American origin characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm.
White Space
the spaces in a poem that have NO WORDS. This is what makes a poem look like a poem.
literal Exactly what the words say
Repetition Words or phrases repeated in writings to produce emphasis, rhythm, and/or a sense of urgency.
Refrain —the repetition of a word, phrase, line, or lines in a poem, song, or speech at regular intervals. Refrains often appear at the end of stanzas.