Tools of the Trade: Literary Terms for Poetry
__C___ 1. The speaker directly addresses (talks to) something that is inanimate, not human,
dead, or not present at the time
A. alliteration
B. epithet
C. apostrophe
D. assonance
___A__ 2. One speaker talks to a silent listener
A. dramatic monologue
B. free verse
C. slant rhyme
D. epithet
___C__ 3. Words create a vivid picture
A. assonance
B. symbolism
C. imagery
D. personification
___A__ 4. Main idea of a poem
A. theme
B. dramatic monologue
C. stanza
D. tone
___C__ 5. Implied meaning of a word
A. metaphor
B. symbolism
C. connotation
D. epitaph
___B__ 6. Words that commemorate someone who has died (on tombstone or in poem)
A. apostrophe
B. epitaph
C. personification
D. voice
___B__ 7. Author’s individual style of writing
A. imagery
B. voice
C. style
D. assonance
___B__ 8. Author’s attitude toward subject
A. voice
B. tone
C. alliteration
D. theme
___D__ 9. Repetition of beginning consonant sounds
A. free verse
B. stanza
C. consonance
D. alliteration
___C__ 10. Indirect comparison that doesn’t use “like” or “as”
A. simile
B. epitaph
C. metaphor
D. narrative poem
___D__ 11. Words that look like they should rhyme but don’t or that share similar vowel or
consonant sounds yet don’t rhyme
A. full rhyme
B. epithet
C. alliteration
D. slant rhyme
___A__ 12. Grouping of lines in a poem (like a paragraph in a short story)
A. stanza
B. free verse
C. narrative poem
D. epic poem
___D__ 13. Characterizing word or phrase accompanying the name of a person, place, or thing
or taking its place
A. apostrophe
B. symbolism
C. epitaph
D. epithet
___C__ 14. Repetition of vowel sounds
A. consonance
B. alliteration
___A__ 15. Poem that tells a story
A. narrative poem
B. free verse
C. assonance
C. epitaph
D. tone
D. dramatic monologue
___B__ 16. long poem written in fancy style that tells the adventures of a hero
A. narrative poem
B. epic poem
C. metaphor D. dramatic monologue
___C__ 17. Poem that has no set rhythm or rhyme
A. slant rhyme
B. epitaph
C. free verse D. narrative poem
___B__ 18. Poem that has a distinct rhythm (10 syllable per line with every other one stressed)
but not distinct rhyme
A. slant rhyme
B. blank verse
C. dramatic monologue
D. stanza
___D__ 19. Giving human characteristics to non-human things
A. assonance
B. consonance
C. imagery
D. personification
___A__ 20. Using one thing to represent something else
A. symbolism
B. imagery
C. alliteration
D. theme
___B__ 21. Expressing related ideas in the same grammatical structure
A. theme
B. parallelism
C. alliteration
D. slant rhyme
Using the terms above, identify the poetic technique illustrated in each of the following:
22. alliteration
The terrible toddler threw a temper tantrum.
23. blank verse
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” (Frost)
24. metaphor
Death is a long sleep; this chair is a rock.
25. personification
The wild wind cried through the trees.
26. simile/imagery
The dusty road twisted like a snake around the lake.
27. symbols
Examples: a flag; the liberty bell; a dove
28. assonance
“And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side. . . .” (Poe)
29. consonance
“Do not go gentle into that good night.” (Thomas)
30 imagery
“Tita was so sensitive to onions, any time they were being
chopped, they say she would just cry and cry; when she was still in my great-grandmother’s
belly her sobs were so loud that even Nacha, the cook, who was half-deaf, could hear them
easily.” (Like Water for Chocolate)
31. tone
“I can hardly wait,” she laughed ecstatically. “I’m getting married
tomorrow!” reflects _______.
Applying Skills
In the following excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe, 1) identify the rhyme scheme of the first stanza
in the right margin, 2) underline the example of apostrophe in the first stanza, 3) circle the
slant rhyme at the end of two lines in the second stanza, 4) circle an example of an epithet in
the third stanza, 5) underline an example of assonance and circle an example of consonance in
fourth stanza, 6) underline the three lines in the fifth stanza that are examples of parallelism,
and 7) identify the rhyme scheme of the last stanza independently of the rest of the poem (as
if it stood alone), and circle an example of alliteration.
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than loveI and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
A
B
A
B
C
B
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and meYes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
A
B
C
B
D
D
B
B