IB English Poetry Conventions

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line throughout a work or the section of a work.

Assonance

The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words in close proximity.

Chiasmus

Repetition of any group of verse elements (including rhyme and grammatical structure) in reverse order. Example: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Allegory

Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities. Example: Animal Farm.

Maxim

Brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth.

Elegy

A poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died.

Eulogy

Great praise of commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who had died.

Epanalepsis

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line clause, or sentence.

Example: "Common sense is not so common".

Epistrophe

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (opposite of anaphora).

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it. Example: "We requested support from the crown for our petition", crown representing the monarch.

Polysyndeton

Sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in the series. Example: "I like apples and pears and grapes and apricots".

Quatrain

Four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. Example: "All hands on deck".