Poetry vocab

Allusion

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

Anadiplosis

repetition of a prominent and usually the last word in one phrase or clause at the beginning of the next (as in "rely on his honor—honor such as his?")

Antithesis

a contrast or opposition between two things.

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Assonance

in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in non rhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible

Asyndeton

the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

Cacophony

a harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

Caesura

a pause near the middle of a line.

apostrophe (poetry definition)

an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified).

Chiasmus

a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form

Connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Consonance

the recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity

Diction

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

didactic poetry

Poetry that instructs, either in terms of morals or by providing knowledge of philosophy, religion, arts, science, or skills

Ellipsis

the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.

Paradox

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Epithet

an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.

Personification

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Epistrophe

the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

Anaphora

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

Euphony

the quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words.

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Zeugma

a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one

Jargon

special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Oxymoron

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Polysyndeton

the deliberate insertion of conjunctions into a sentence for the purpose of "slow[ing] up the rhythm of the prose" so as to produce "an impressively solemn note."

Simile

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid

Onomatopoeia

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named