English 274: Literary Genres and Periods
Spring 2001
Poetry / Literary Terms List
Abstractions—Words with no concrete reality or image Truth or beauty
Accent – strong syllable, or syllables, in a word – the word we emphasize with breath and
tone when spoken out loud
Accent - The strong syllable.
Alliteration: the repetition of the same sounding letters
Apostrophe – to address something intangible or someone not commonly spoken to. Ex.
Wilson in Castaway.
Apostrophe—Speaking to something that is inanimate “Death be not proud” (John Donne)
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds within a phrase. Ex. “Opacity opens up rooms.”
Closed form – traditional poems –Rhyme, meter, - Traditional form
Connotative—Associated meanings What the word connotes (associated meanings)
“Gay”—happy or a sexual preference, can take on the connotative meaning “gay” being used
to say something is dumb, silly or absurd.
Denotative—What a word denotes Dictionary meaning
Diction—Language that the writer chose
End rhyme: The words at the end of the line rhyme.
End-stopped: The meaning of the line comes to a definite end. Ex. “I long to hear love’s
gentle tune. I only mourn its end soon.”
Enjambed: The meaning does not end, but continues on to the next line. Ex. “Oh to feel the
soft, soft touch of spring/ again, and the April softness it will bring.”
Eye Rhyme: tow words that look as though they would sound alike but when spoken, sound
different. Ex. Tough, though.
Feminine rhyme: The accent is on the weak syllable. Ex. Reason, season.
Figurative Language – using similes or metaphors to describe something
Free verse – no special pattern in poetry (“Contantly Risking Absurdity”; Lawrence
Ferlinghetti – pg 605)
Hyperbole – exaggerated statements that we do not really intend to be taken for the truth. Ex.
“I’ll kill him!”
Imagery—Images within a poem Visual Imagery—Words used to describe things that we
can see Aural Imagery—Descriptions of things we hear Tactile Imagery—Describe things
we can touch Gustatory Imagery—Words that describe taste Olfactory Imagery—Words
used to describe a smell
Initial alliteration: the first letter that is repeated and the letter is a consonant. Ex. “Susan
sat sewing on her sisters smock.”
Internal rhyme: Rhyme is in the middle of the line as well as in the end. Ex. “The splendor
falls on castle walls.
Literal Language – using the exact meaning of a word to describe something
Masculine rhyme: The accent on the rhyming words are on the final strong syllable. Ex.
Stay, away.
Metaphor—indirect comparison “Men are Dogs”
METER
Meter – the pattern set up by the regular rhythm of a poem
Foot – one unit of the rhythmic pattern that makes up the meter
Monometer – one foot
Dimeter – two feet
Trimeter – three feet
Tetrameter – four feet
Pentameter – five feet
Hexameter – six feet
Heptameter – seven feet
Octameter – eight feet
Iamb – a weak and a strong syllable pattern
Iambic meter – a line with weak-strong, weak-strong pattern
Trochee – strong and weak syllable pattern
Trochaic meter – a line with strong-weak, strong-weak pattern
Anapest – a rhythmic foot of two unaccented syllables followed by a strong syllable
Anapestic Meter – a line with weak-weak-strong accents…
Dactyl – a rhythmic foot with a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables
Dactylic Meter – a line with strong-weak-weak accents
Caesura – a break in the meter, it stops and starts up somewhere in a line – natural flow of
speech
Anacrusis – an unstressed syllable at the beginning of a line that does not affect the overall
meter
Iambic Pentameter – a series of 5 iamb patterns…weak-strong, weak-strong….(William
Shakespeare)
Trochaic Octameter – 8 syllable line – strong-weak pattern (“The Raven”, E. A. Poe)
Spondee – two strong accents together
Pyrrhus – two weak accents together
Rising meter – two feet that begin with a weak syllable, iambic and anapestic
Falling meter – two feet that begin with a strong syllable, trochaic and dactylic
Blank verse – form that utilizes the oratorical style of a long line in regular meter, but
without the confines of rhyme – meter is iambic pentameter but writers generally
allow themselves considerable metric freedom (Shakespeare in Plays)
Metonymy – using the name of one thing in place of the name of something closely related to
it. Ex. Instead of “I knew him when he was young,” say “I knew him in his cradle.”
Near/Slant Rhyme: the two words sound close, but are not exact. Ex. Seal, sail.
Onomatopoeia: The word that sounds like the word it describes. Ex. Bang, boom.
Open form – another name for Free Verse
Oxymoron – combining contradictory terms to make a word or phrase. Ex. Butthead.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Paradox – a statement that on the surface seems impossible but is true after all. Ex.
Socrates: “Everything Plato will say here is false.” Plato: “Socrates spoke the very truth.”
Perfect rhyme: The sounds of the two words that are exactly alike. Ex. Moon, June.
Personification – giving human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects. Ex. Yogi
Bear. “The wind howled.”
Poetic diction—A system of words refined from the grossness of domestic use.
Rhyme: Words that have similarity of sounds.
Scansion – analyzing the meter by placing the accents and counting the beats in a line
Simile—comparing using “like” or “as” Men are like dogs
Strong Accent – the syllable stressed
Symbol – when a word has so much meaning to it that we visualize something else. Ex. The
flag, the crucifix.
Synecdoche – the use of part of something to stand for the whole thing. Ex. Someone playing
baseball “has a heavy bat.”
Syntax—Order of words in writing “The strain is soft” can be turned around to say, “Soft is
the strain”. When the words are rearranged, the new sound is less choppy.
Tone – different than sound – changes the meaning of the words
Understatement – Something described in terms that suggest it is much smaller or less
important than we know it really is. Ex. “One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day.”
Weak Accent – the syllable unstressed