Poetry Terms
terms that have to do with
sound
and
meaning
ALLITERATION
commencement
of two or more words
of a word group
with the same letter
ALLITERATION
from “Acquainted with the Night”
by Robert Frost
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street
ASSONANCE
also called “vowel rhyme”—
the same vowel sounds
are used with different consonants
in the stressed syllables of words
(“penitent” and “reticence”);
a partial agreement or correspondence
in sounds
ASSONANCE
from “Daffodils”
by William Wordsworth
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
CONSONANCE
correspondence of consonants,
especially those at the end of a word;
use of the repetition of consonants
or consonant patterns
CONSONANCE
from “ ‘T was later when the summer went”
by Emily Dickinson
‘T was later when the summer went
Than when the cricket came,
And yet we knew that gentle clock
Meant nought but going home.
TONE
quality or character of sound
the writer’s or speaker’s attitude
toward his subject,
his audience,
or himself;
the emotional coloring,
or emotional meaning, of a work.
TONE
“Jenny Kissed Me”
by James Henry Leigh Hunt
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.
WORD CHOICES
Go to
The Writing Center
MEANING
purpose or intention
PLAIN SENSE
using just the words and punctuation.
FEELING
awe, tenderness, anger, amusement, etc.
TONE
Attitude towards the reader: confidential, appealing, etc.
INTENTION
What is the poet trying to say?
SUBJECT
love, death, family, nature, the city, the country, age, youth, war,
civilization, pestilence
THEME
better to have loved and lost ... respect your elders ... absence
makes the heart grow fonder ... truth … empathy … etc...
MORAL
Is some kind of a lesson being taught?
DENOTATIVE
the explicit meaning
of the word
DENOTATIVE
there are many words
that denote approximately the same thing,
but their connotations are very different
innocent and genuine both denote
an absence of corruption
CONNOTATIVE
signifying or suggesting
an associative or secondary meaning
in addition to the primary meaning
CONNOTATIVE
innocent is often associated
with a lack of experience,
where genuine is not
poets use connotations
to further develop
or complicate a poem’s meaning.
FIGURATIVE
metaphorical
and not literal
FIGURATIVE
Go to
Frost Friends
ALLUSIONS
a passing or casual reference;
an incidental mention of something,
either directly or by implication
ALLUSIONS
from “Parable of the Hostages”
by Louise Glück
The Greeks are sitting on the beach
wondering what to do when the war ends. No one
wants to go home, back
to that bony island; everyone wants a little more
of what there is in Troy
ANALOGIES
a similarity or comparability
between like features
of two different things
ANALOGIES
from “Night Clouds”
by Amy Lowell
The white mares of the moon rush along the sky
Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens;
The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs
Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens.
Fly, Mares!