Poetic Terms to Know!!!
1. alliteration
2. assonance
3. ballad
4. connotation
5. couplet
6. denotation
7. diction
8. imagery
9. lyric poem
10. metaphor
11. meter
12. narrative
13. allusion
14. onomatopoeia
15. personification
16. repetition
17. rhyme scheme
18. rhythm
19. free verse
20. simile
21. sonnet
22. stanza
23. symbol
24. tone
25. speaker
POETIC TERMS
TEACHER KEY
1. Alliteration- the repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) of
stressed syllables in neighbouring words or at short intervals within a
line or passage, usually at word beginnings
Example- I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
2. Assonance- Is the relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar
vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage,
thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, date and fade.
3. Ballad- a simple narrative poem of folk origin, composed in short stanzas
and adapted for singing.
4. Connotation- The suggestion of a meaning by a word beyond what it
explicitly denotes or describes. The word, home, for example, means the
place where one lives, but by connotation, also suggests security, family,
love and comfort
5. Couplet- Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and
rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme. The couplet, for
practical purposes, is the shortest stanza form, but is frequently joined
with other couplets to form a poem with no stanzaic divisions
6. Denotation- The literal dictionary meaning(s) of a word as distinct from an
associated idea or connotation
7.
Diction- The choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and
figurative language in a literary work; the manner or mode of verbal
expression, particularly with regard to clarity and accuracy. The diction of
a poem can range from colloquial to formal, from literal to figurative, or
from concrete or abstract.
8.
Imagery- The elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images,
not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While
most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery is a
variable term which can apply to any and all components of a poem that
evoke sensory experience and emotional response, whether figurative or
literal, and also applies to the concrete things so imaged.
9.
Lyric poem- One of the three main groups of poetry, the others being
narrative and dramatic. By far the most frequently used form in modern
poetic literature, the term lyric includes all poems in which the speaker's
ardent expression of a (usually single) emotional element predominates.
10. Metaphor- A comparison between two unlike ideas or things without the
use of like or as.
11. Meter- A measure of rhythmic quantity; the organized succession of
groups of syllables at basically regular intervals in a line of poetry,
according to definite metrical patterns. The metrical element of sound
makes a valuable contribution to the mood and total effect of a poem.
12. Narrative- The narration of an event or story, stressing details of plot,
incident, and action. Along with dramatic and lyric, it is one of the three
main groups of poetry.
13. Allusion- An implied or indirect reference to something assumed to be
known, such as a historical event or personage, a well-known quotation
from literature, or a famous work of art. An allusion can be used by the
poet as a means of imagery, since, like a symbol, it can suggest ideas by
connotation.
14. Onomatopoeia- Strictly speaking, the formation or use of words which
imitate sounds, like whispering, clang, and sizzle, but the term is
generally expanded to refer to any word whose sound is suggestive of its
meaning, whether by imitation or through cultural inference.
15. Personification- A type of metaphor in which distinctive human
characteristics, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an
animal, object, or idea, as "the haughty lion surveyed his realm" or "my
car was happy to be washed" or "'Fate frowned on his endeavors."
16. Repetition- A basic artistic device, fundamental to any conception of
poetry. It is a highly effective unifying force; the repetition of sound,
syllables, words, syntactic elements, lines, stanzaic forms, and metrical
patterns establishes cycles of expectation which are reinforced with each
successive fulfillment.
17. Rhyme scheme- The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes
in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet
to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as the ababbcc of the
Rhyme Royal stanza form.
18. Rhythm- An essential of all poetry, the regular or progressive pattern of
recurrent accents in the flow of a poem as determined by the arses and
theses of the metrical feet, i.e., the rise and fall of stress. The measure of
rhythmic quantity is the meter.
19. Free verse- The free in free verse refers to the freedom from fixed
patterns of meter and rhyme, but writers of free verse employ familiar
poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration, imagery, caesura, figures
of speech etc.
20. Simile- A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made
between two essentially unlike things, usually using like, as or than
21. Sonnet- A fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse.
22. Stanza- A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units
separated by a space, usually of a corresponding number of lines and a
recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme. A poem with such divisions is
described as having a stanzaic form, but not all verse is divided in
stanzas.
23. Symbol- An image transferred by something that stands for or
represents something else, like flag for country, or autumn for maturity.
Symbols can transfer the ideas embodied in the image without stating
them
24. Tone- The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression toward the
subject, e.g., loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, etc. Tone can
also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a
pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional
response and foster expectations of the conclusion.
25. Speaker-