Poetry Annotation Quiz

Alliteration

is the repetition of words that begin with the same sound or letter.

Allusion

is a reference within a literary work to another text, historical event, cultural figure, or piece of art, often without explicitly stating the reference.

Anaphora

is a device in which a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences for emphasis and impact.

Apostrophe

is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object as if it were capable of responding.

Connotation

is the emotional, cultural, or associative meanings that words carry beyond their literal dictionary (denotative) definitions.

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds inside the words rather than at the beginning.

Enjambment

is a literary technique in poetry where a line of verse continues into the next line without a pause or break, creating a sense of continuity and flow.

Free verse

is a type of poetry that does not follow a regular meter or rhyme scheme. It allows poets to break away from traditional structures and create verses with varying line lengths, rhythms, and patterns.

Imagery (sensory language)

refers to the use of descriptive language that creates vivid sensory experiences by appealing to the reader's senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

Irony

is a contrast between what is said, done, or expected, and what is actually meant or occurs. There are different types.

metaphor

is a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two things by implying one thing IS another thing rather than simply being like another thing.

Meter

is a rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry, which creates a sense of rhythm and musicality.

motif

is a repeated symbol, concept, action, color, or even word that appears repeatedly in a story, poem, or novel.

Polarity

is the presence of opposing elements, concepts, or ideas within a text.

Rhyme vs. Slant Rhyme

Regular rhymes contain exact aural equivalents, while slant rhyme has similar but not identical sounds.

synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole, or the whole is used to represent a part.

A thematic topic (or theme)

is a single word – usually an abstract noun – that the text explores through its characters, conflicts, settings, and other elements.

Tone

is the author or speaker’s attitude or emotional stance toward the subject matter, characters, or audience in a literary work. Tone relies on specifics (charged words, sentence structure, punctuation, and other specific details contribute to the tone)

Specifics

charged words, sentence structure, punctuation, and other specific details contribute to the tone.