Poetry Flashcards

Poetic Line

A unit marked by a break.

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem.

Poem’s Rhythm

Total quality of a line’s motion, affected by its meter, rhyme, tempo, sound, and motion.

Alliteration

A repetition of sounds used at the beginning of words next to or near each other.

Assonance

A repetition of similar vowel sounds in words near each other.

Caesura

A pause/break in the poem’s rhythm indicated by punctuation, a line break, or space.

Consonance

A repetition of similar consonant sounds in words near each other.

End-stop

A line break concides with the pause of a caesura.

Enjambment

A sentence wraps between 2/more lines in a poem.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate a sound.

Refrain

A line/phrase repeated throughout a poem.

Apostrophe

When a poem directly addresses someone/something that is not present (person, place, or thing)

Connotation

Subtext; rich layers of suggestion and implication

Denotation

The literal meaning/dictionary definition of a word

Hyperbole

An extreme exaggeration to create emphasis.

Imagery

Appeals to the 8 senses, showing rather than telling.

Irony

What is literally written is not what is meant. May be the exact opposite.

Metaphor

A direct/implied comparison between 2 seemingly unrelated things. No usage of like or as.

Simile

A comparison between 2 things using the words like or as.

Symbol

An object/action that represents a more abstract idea with deep significance. 

Poetic Meter

Structured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line

Rising Meter

Starts with unstressed and ends with stressed syllables.

Falling Meter

Starts with stressed and ends with unstressed syllables.

Rich Rhyme

Consonants before and after the vowel

True Rhyme

The last accented syllable consists of both a vowel and a consonant.

Slant Rhyme

The vowels are the same but consonants differ.

Poetry Scansion

The analysis of a poem’s rhythmic structure

Stress Marks

Used to visually represent the rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables. (X = unstressed, / = stressed)

Metrical Foot

Unit of measurement, basic building block to create meter. It’s a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Iamb

Unstressed-stressed (beside, upon)

Trochee

Stressed-unstressed (coffee, tiger)

Spondee

Stressed-stressed (hog-wild, heyday)

Pyrrhus

Unstressed-unstressed (to a)

Dactyl

Stressed-unstressed-unstressed (poetry, pineapple)

Anapest

Unstressed-unstressed-stressed (engineer, understand)

Poetic Form

Set of rules that dictate the meter, rhyme scheme, rhythm, purpose, or tone of a poem.

Open Form

A poetic form with no strict rules to follow.

Closed Form

A poetic form with rules that regulate the poem’s structure.

Poem Analysis Method

SWIFT

S

Structure

W

Word Choice and Tone

I

Imagery

F

Figurative Lanugage

T

Theme

Conceit

A metaphor used in an unexpected, clever way.

Ekphrasis

The poem is entirely focused on a work of visual art.

Elegy

The poem expresses deep sorrow.

Epitaph

The poem honors and remembers someone who has died.

Persona

The poem is in the voice of a character or persona.