Honors English 1 S1 Poetry Terms

Alliteration

repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words

Allusion

an indirect reference to a person, event, work of literature, or history

Analogy

a comparison made to explain or clarify something by showing similarities

Anaphora

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

Approximate/slant/near rhyme

rhymes that are close but not exact in sound

Assonance

repetition of vowel sounds within words

Blank verse

unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter

Caesura

a deliberate pause or break within a line of poetry

Conceit

an extended, elaborate, or surprising metaphor

Connotation

the emotional or cultural associations of a word beyond its literal meaning

Consonance

repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words

Couplet

two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter

Denotation

the literal or dictionary definition of a word

Diction

the author’s word choice

Dramatic irony

when the audience knows something the characters do not

End rhyme

rhyming words at the ends of lines of poetry

End stop

a line of poetry that ends with punctuation

Enjambment

when a line of poetry continues onto the next line without punctuation

Eye rhyme

words that look like they rhyme but do not sound alike

Free verse

poetry without regular rhyme or meter

Iamb

a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Internal rhyme

rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry

Invented symbol

a symbol whose meaning is created by the author

Metaphor

a direct comparison between two unlike things

Metonymy

a figure of speech in which something closely related replaces the thing itself

Onomatopoeia

words that imitate sounds they represent

Pentameter

a line of poetry consisting of five metrical feet

Persona

a character or voice assumed by the poet

Personification

giving human qualities to nonhuman things

Quatrain

a stanza of four lines

Rhyme scheme

the pattern of rhymes in a poem

Sibilance

repetition of “s” or “sh” sounds

Simile

a comparison using “like” or “as”

Speaker

the voice that tells the poem (not necessarily the poet)

Stanza

a group of lines in a poem separated by spacing

Synecdoche

a figure of speech where a part represents the whole (or vice versa)

Theme

the central idea or message of a literary work

Tone

the speaker’s attitude toward the subject

Traditional symbol

a widely recognized symbol with an established meaning

Verbal irony

when what is said contrasts with what is meant

Volta

a shift in tone, argument, or perspective, often in a sonnet