Poetry quiz

Speaker

the narrator of a poem.

Tone

the attitude of the speaker toward the subject of a poem.

Persona

a ‘character’ adopted by the poet for the sake of presenting a particular poem.

Diction

word choice.

Syntax

sentence structure.

Figurative language

words or phrases not meant to be taken literally.

Imagery

descriptions, and details that appeal to our senses.

Enjambment

when a line of poetry ends, but the sentence and the idea must continue on to the next line to complete the meaning.

Theme

what the poem is about; gives the poem its significance.

Shifts

key moments in a poem in which changes in setting, point-of-view, rhyme, language, tone, or other elements create new meaning or significance for the poem.

Rhyme

the repetition of similar vowel sounds, or vowel and consonant combinations.

End rhyme

a rhyme at the end of two or more lines of poetry.

Internal rhyme

a rhyme within a line of poetry.

Slant rhyme/near rhyme

a rhyme in which the sounds are similar but not exactly the same, such as rhyming “park” and “cart.”

Rhyme scheme

the pattern of rhyme within a poem.

Free Verse

poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

Meter

the pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables in a poem.

Alliteration

the repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable.

Assonance

the repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same.

Dissonance

the use of harsh-sounding words; a deliberate use of inharmonious words, phrases, or syllables intended to create harsh-sounding effects, and that could be considered the opposite of assonance.

Onomatopoeia

a term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes.

Form

the structure a poet uses in a poem.

Stanza

a group of lines in a poem separated from others; the “paragraphs” of a poem.

Quatrain

a stanza consisting of four lines of poetic verse.

Couplet

a stanza consisting of two lines of poetic verse.

Refrain

a line repeated at times within a poem.

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Iambic Meter

the pattern of a poetic line made up of iambs.

Iamb

a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

Trochaic Meter

the pattern of a poetic line made up of trochees.

Trochee

a metrical foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed syllable.