Terms to Know (ones I don't know lol)

Antecedent

the word a pronoun (e.g. he) refers to

Referent

this is the same as antecedent, but it refers to not just the word (aka like a name), it refers to the actual person, in REALITY

Apostrophe

when a speaker directly talks to Death, someone who is absent/dead, or something nonhuman as if it can respond (e.g. speaking to a corpse, Death, a person who isn’t there, a star)

Assonance

like alliteration, but for vowels in words

ballad

a narrative poem that tells a story in a song-like form. They are very specific (rhyme scheme ABCB)

Bidungsroman

a coming-of-age writing

blank verse

It’s an unrhymed iambic pentameter (five pairs of lines)

cacophony

the use of harsh, jarring, or discordant sounds to create tension (how words sound)

caesura

a pause or break within a line of poetry

catharsis

a release of emotions (usually pity and fear)

conceit

an extended metaphor, usually comparing 2 very unlike things

denotation

the literal, dictionary definition of a word

consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the word)

denouement

final outcome of a story

Deus ex Machina

“god from the machine”

where a seemingly unsolvable problem is resolved by an unexpected external/divine intervention

elegy

a poem mourning the death of a person, reflecting on loss more broadly sometimes. Often moves from grief to consolation/acceptance.

enjambent

when a line of poetry runs over into the next line without pause or punctuation

epithet

a descriptive word or phrase that highlights a characteristic or quality of something (usually, in epic poetry, adds emphasis to create a memorable image)

euphemism

another way of saying something that is more mild or indirect (e.g. passed away instead of died)

foil character

a character whose traits contrast with another character (protagonist usually)

foot

a feet is the basic unit of meter in boetry.

iamb

two-syllable foot in poetry; with pattern unstressed —> stressed

In Medias Res

when a story begins in the middle of the action

litotes

a figure of speech that expresses an idea by negating its opposite (e.g. not bad; no small feat)

meter

structured rhythm of a line of poetry (determined by number/type of feet)

Type of …meter (e.g. pentameter tetrameter)

scansion

the process of analyzing a poem’s meter by marking the stressed ´ and unstressed ˘ syllables (kinda like a scantron)

rhythm

the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Iambic

a line of poetry with Iambs (unstressed —> stressed) syllables

Trochee

a line of poetry with Trochees (stressed —> unstressed)

Spondee

both syllables are stressed

metonymy

a figure of speech where a word is substituted with something closely associated with it, instead of using its literal name

octave

eight line stanza (usually presenting the problem/situation/question)

ode

a formal, celebratory poem that celebrates/praises something (aka celebration!)

Roman a Clef

a work where real people/events are depicted under a guise of fiction with changed names/details (DEVIL WEARS PRADA IS AN EXAMPLE)

slant or near rhyme

where rhyme sounds are similar but not exact (e.g. worm/swarm; shape/keep)

sonnet

a 14 line poem
1. Petrarchan - octave + sestet

2.Shakespearean - three quatrains + final couplet

synecdoche

a part of something represents the whole (e.g. all hands on deck, hands = sailors); when something said (a word) represents a whole

verisimilitude

a quality of a work that appears true to life or realistic (e.g. good dialogue)

volta/turn

a shift or change in thought, tone, or argument in a poem (especially in sonnets)