Lit & Poetry Terms (FINAL)

alliteration

repetition of a constanant word; tongue twisters; Dunkin Donuts

allusion

reference to a particular literature; if the reader read it, they'll understand; ‘looks like shrek’ (needs to know how shrek looks like)

anachronism

person who is out of their time; Dana in Kindred

apostrophe

direct address to someone or something that is not there and do not expect to answer you; talking to the dead

assonance

same vowel sound but not the same consonant ending

cacophony

sound that is not working together; opposite of harmony; lunchroom

carpe diem

latin for cease the day;

connotation

emotions associated with words

consonance

same consonant ending but not the same vowel sound

denotation

the dictionary definition of a word

diction

high - higher vocab, good/proper grammar, no profanity

low - bad grammar, slang, profanity

(educated or not)

end rhyme

rhyming at the end of lines

epic

long ahh poem

euphemism

word or phrase that takes place of another word or phrase; “sleeping together”; doesn’t directly say something

free verse

doesn’t follow traditional rules; no rhyme scheme

haiku

3 lines; 5:7:5 syllables; 17 syllables total

hyperbole

exaggeration to make a point; “i’ve told you a million times”

internal rhyme

rhyme with each other in the the same line

ode

onomatopoeia

sound; “boom!” “kapow!”

oxymoron

two word phrase; opposite of each other but makes sense; “loud whisper”

paradox

whole phrase opposite of each other; “it’s cold as hell outside”

persona

speaker of the poem, not the author

personification

adding human qualities to nonhuman things like animals and objects

pun

jokes on items; “leaf me alone”

reification

when you think of or treat something abstract as a physical thing; a complex idea for when you treat something immaterial — like happiness, fear, or evil — as a material thing.

rhyme scheme

ordered pattern of rhymes at the end of a verse/line (abab cdcd…)

soliloquy

speech to one’s self on stage for production; speaks their thoughts out loud so the audience can understand

sonnet

14 line poem (4 lines, 4 lines, 4 lines, 2 lines), 10 syllables per line (140 total, (abab cdcd efef gg)

stanza

poem paragraph

synecdoche

part of something represents the whole thing

synesthesia

switch sense for another sense; e.g. “loud perfume” “sweet car” “smelling flavor”

couplet

two line stanza

tercet

three line stanza

quatrain

four line stanza

quintet

five line stanza

sestet

six line stanza

septet

seven line stanza

octave

eight line stanza