Creative Writing and Poetry

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering creative writing vs. technical writing, types of imagery, common idioms, levels of diction, figures of speech, types and elements of poetry, and indigenous poetic forms.

Creative Writing

Invented writing based on one’s imagination, produced with expressiveness, and original; aims to express specific thoughts, feelings, and emotions rather than simply convey information.

Imagery

Literary device that appeals to the readers’ senses using words or phrases that describe content vividly, allowing readers to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell what is described.

Sight (Imagery)

Visual, appeals to the sight, can be seen.

Smell (Imagery)

Auditory, can be heard.

Hear (Imagery)

Auditory, can be heard.

Touch (Imagery)

Tactile, those that can be felt or touched.

Taste (Imagery)

Gustatory, stimulates the sense of taste.

Idiomatic Expression

An expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the individual words themselves.

Keep an eye on

Watch or protect carefully.

Joined at the hip

Extremely close friends.

Pat on the back

Recognition or praise.

See eye to eye

Agree completely.

On the nose

Exactly, precisely.

A sight for sore eyes

Someone you're glad to see.

Eager beaver

Very hardworking, enthusiastic person.

A million and one

Very many.

Take five

Take a short break.

Once in a blue moon

Very rarely.

Time is money

Time is valuable.

At the eleventh hour

At the very last moment.

In the nick of time

Just in time.

On cloud nine / In seventh heaven

Extremely happy.

Golden opportunity

Perfect chance.

Red tape

Official bureaucratic delays.

Have the blues / Feel blue

Feel sad.

Green with envy

Very jealous.

See red

Become very angry.

Black sheep

Disgraced member of a group.

White lie

Harmless lie to be polite.

Caught red-handed

Caught in the act.

Diction

Word choice and language level, which shapes how readers perceive the text.

Formal Diction

Academic / Scholarly approach to word choice (e.g., Father, Mother).

Informal Diction

Conversational approach to word choice (e.g., Daddy/Papa, Mommy/Mama).

Colloquial Diction

Slang / Casual approach to word choice (e.g., Tatay/Nanay, Erpat/Ermat).

Simile

Direct comparison using "like" or "as".

Metaphor

Direct comparison without "like" or "as".

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect.

Alliteration

Repetition of beginning consonant sounds.

Allusion

Reference to another work, person, or event.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sounds.

Poetry

Form of literature which allows poets to express thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas about a particular theme or topic.

Poem

Piece of writing in which words are chosen for beauty and sound and are carefully arranged, often in short lines.

Narrative Poetry

A type of poetry that tells a story and has the elements of a story.

Dramatic Poetry

Poetry where the speaker is someone other than the poet, often including characters and dialogue.

Dramatic Monologue

A poetic form written from a fictional character's point of view.

Lyrical Poetry

Poetry that expresses emotions, appeals to the senses, and often could be set to music.

Ode

A dignified and elaborately structured lyric poem praising and glorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually.

Elegy

A lyric poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died.

Song

A lyric poem set to music featuring a strong beat created through Rhythm, Rhyme, and Repetition.

Simple Lyric

A short poem expressing the poet's thoughts and feelings.

Speaker

The narrative voice of the poem.

Subject

The topic of the poem.

Theme

The main idea or underlying meaning of the poem.

Tone

The writer's attitude toward the subject or audience.

Form

The structure of the poem, including number of lines, stanzas, rhyme scheme, and rules followed.

Rhythm

Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Rhyme

Repetition of similar-sounding words, usually at the end of lines.

Stanza

A group of lines arranged together.

Meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Symbolism

Using objects or images to represent abstract ideas.

Rose (Symbol)

In literature, this object often represents love.

Dove (Symbol)

In literature, this object often represents peace.

Owl (Symbol)

In literature, this object often represents wisdom.

Cross (Symbol)

In literature, this object often represents Christianity.

Free Verse

Poetry without fixed meter, rhythm, or fixed rhyme scheme.

Synecdoche

A literary device where a part represents the whole.

Metonymy

A literary device where a related thing stands for the concept.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for effect rather than to obtain an answer.

Oxymoron

A literary device featuring contrasting words together.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds (specifically within or at the ends of words).

Tanaga

Indigenous Filipino short poem, traditionally in Tagalog, containing $4$ lines and $7$ syllables per line with no title.

Diona

Indigenous short poem containing $3$ lines and $7$ syllables per line, with one rhyme throughout.

Dalit

Indigenous short poem containing $4$ lines and $8$ syllables per line, with one rhyme sound per stanza.

Haiku

Traditional Japanese form with $3$ lines and $17$ syllables following a $5-7-5$ pattern.

Sonnet

Poem of $14$ lines consisting of an Octave and a Sestet, often expressing romantic love.

Octave

The first $8$ lines of a sonnet that poses a question or dilemma.

Sestet

The last $6$ lines of a sonnet that resolves the question or dilemma.