Q2 Reading Unit
Vocabulary
alliteration
Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words
Zigmund Zane zig-zagged through the zany zoo
zone.
onomatopoeia
Use of words whose sound suggests their meaning
"I'm getting married in the morning!
Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime."
(Lerner and Loewe, "Get Me to the Church on
Time," My Fair Lady)
simile
Comparison of two things that have some common
quality and uses the words like or as
Hockey is like reading.
You get into it and then you never
want to stop.
metaphor
Comparison of two things that have a common quality and do
NOT use like or as
Couch Potato:
Couch potato = lazy person. A lazy person buries themselves
in the cushions of a couch in safe, sedentary comfort,
"vegging out" mindlessly in front of the TV, eyes in a fixed,
submissive stare. A couch potato never leaves the home, and
cannot be motivated, having everything nearby so they never
have to move. Compare this to the potato, which is buried in
the comfort and providence of soil and to which the only
escape from its lifestyle is death. Covered in eyes, but
without a brain or muscle, the potato is snuggled and
unmotivated.
A comfortable sofa is fertile soil for the couch potato.
personification
Giving human qualities to animals, ideas, or objects
The wind stood up and gave a shout.
He whistled on his fingers and
Kicked the withered leaves about
And thumped the branches with his hand
And said he'd kill and kill and kill,
And so he will and so he will.
(James Stephens, "The Wind")
hyperbole
Exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis
"My sister uses so much makeup,... she broke a
chisel trying to get it off last night!" Johnny, from
Prescott Middle School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
USA
idiom
Expression that has a meaning different from
the meaning of the individual words
Example: It’s raining cats and dogs!
(It’s pouring down rain.)
speaker
The voice that talks to the reader in a poem; not
always the poet
(similar to a narrator in a work of fiction)
tone
Shows the writer’s attitude towards his or her
subject
Examples: humorous, serious, impatient
rhythm
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
in a line of poetry
repetition
The use of a sound, word, or phrase more than
once
rhyme
The repetition of similar sounds at the ends of
words
rhyme scheme
The pattern of end rhyme in a poem
I quarreled with my brother,
a
I don’t know what about,
b
One thing led to another
a
And somehow we fell out.
b
---Eleanor Farjeon, from “The Quarrel”