IB Eng Poetry terms

Alliteration

Sound device - The repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words.

Allusion

An implied reference to another work, notable person, or moment in history.

Ambiguity

Multiple meanings – intentional or not – of a work, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Anaphora

A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive lines, clauses or sentences.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent person, an object, or an abstraction.

Assonance

Sound device - The repetition of the sound of a vowel near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible.

Asyndeton

A form of verbal compression which consists of the omission of connecting words between clauses.

Cacophony

A blend of unharmonious sounds.

Chiasmus

A figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second.

Connotation

What a word suggests beyond its literal dictionary meaning.

Consonance

Sound device - The recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity.

Cosmic Irony

The perception of fate or the universe as malicious or indifferent to human suffering.

Denotation

The literal dictionary meaning of a word.

Diction

Word choice – especially with regard to connotation, correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.

Enjambment

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

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered too harsh or blunt.

Euphony

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

Extended Metaphor

Metaphor developed at great length, appearing frequently throughout a piece.

Figurative Language

Non-literal use of language; includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, idioms.

Free Verse

Verse form - Poetry with no regular patterns of rhyme, rhythm or line length.

Hyperbole

Figures of speech - An exaggeration or overstatement.

Imagery

Words that appeal to one or more of the senses.

Litotes

A form of understatement in which a statement is affirmed by negating its opposite.

Meiosis

Figures of speech - Intentional understatement.

Metaphor

Figures of speech - A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as.

Meter

The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Metonymy

Figures of speech - The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant.

Mood

The emotional response that a piece of literature stimulates in the reader.

Motif

A recurring structure, contrast, or device that develops or informs a work’s major themes.

Onomatopoeia

Sound devices - The use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning.

Oxymoron

Grouping two apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox.

Paradox

A statement that appears self-contradictory but contains some degree of truth.

Parallelism

Grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.

Persona

The role or façade that a poet assumes or depicts to a reader.

Personification

Figures of speech - An object or abstract idea given human qualities.

Poetry

Writing that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader.

Refrain

The repetition of a phrase or line.

Repetition

Duplication of any element of language.

Rhyme

Identical or very similar recurring final sounds in words.

Rhythm

The pattern or beat of a poem.

Simile

Figure of speech - A comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.

Situational Irony

Contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant.

Stanza

A group of lines of poetry, similar to a paragraph in prose.

Symbolism

Objects that carry a greater meaning than themselves.

Synaesthesia

The use of one kind of sensory experience to describe another.

Synecdoche

A form of metonymy where a part of an entity is used to refer to the whole.

Syntax

The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Tone

The writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Verbal Irony

A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the words.

Zeugma

A figure of speech by which one word refers to two others in the same sentence.

Rhymed verse

Verse form - A form of verse that is rhymed

Blank verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter

Couplet

Stanza forms - two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit.

Petrarchan sonnet

a received form that has 14 lines and a slightly flexible rhyme scheme. The first eight lines, or octave, almost always follow an 'abbaabba' rhyme scheme, but the rhyme scheme of last six lines, or sestet, varies.

quatrain

stanza of 4 lines

Limerick

A stanza with 5 lines, usually with a humorous subject and a distinct rhythm, typically following an 'AABBA' rhyme scheme.

Refrain

Kind of sound, kind of stanza - a line, phrase, or single word that is repeated periodically within the poem to build up drama, emphasis, or rhythm