Poetry Terminology

Alliteration is the repetition of __________ sounds, usually consonants, in neighboring words.

beginning

An allegory is a story with a second __________ hidden inside its literal one.

meaning

An allusion within a poem is a _____ to a work or an event, person, or place outside the world of the poem.

reference

Anaphora is repetition in which the same word or __________ is repeated, often at the beginning of lines.

phrase

Anastrophe is a deliberate __________ of the normal order of words.

inversion

Annotation refers to a reader’s written __________ on a poem.

comments

An anthology is a book of poems by different __________.

poets

Assonance involves the repetition of __________ sounds in neighboring words.

vowel

Cadence is a rhythmic pattern that’s based on the natural __________ and emphases in speech.

repetition

A caesura is a slight but definite __________ inside a line of a poem created by the rhythm of the language or a punctuation mark.

pause

A cliché is an expression that has been used so much it has lost its __________ or meaning.

freshness

Close form poetry is written to an established __________, e.g., a sonnet, limerick, or villanelle.

pattern

A collection is a book of poems by __________ poet.

one

Concrete refers to a real, tangible __________ or example of something.

detail

A couplet is a pair of lines, usually written in the same __________.

form

Connotation refers to the emotions and __________ that a word suggests beyond its literal meaning.

associations

The denotation of a word is its literal or __________ meaning.

dictionary

Diction is a poet’s __________ choices.

word

An elegy is a poem of __________ or praise for the dead.

mourning

An end-stopped line is when meaning and grammar pause at the end of a line: a line-break at a normal pause in speech, usually at a __________ mark.

punctuation

An enjambed line refers to when the meaning and grammar of a line continue from one line to the next with __________ pause.

no

An epigraph is a quotation placed at the __________ of a poem to make the poem more resonant.

beginning

Figurative language involves comparisons between unrelated things or ideas: metaphors, similes, personification, and hyperbole are all types of __________ language.

figurative

Free verse is poetry that doesn’t have a set rhythm, line length, or __________ scheme.

rhyme

The form of a poem refers to its __________; how it is built.

structure

Hyperbole is when a poet __________ on purpose for effect.

exaggerates

Imagery is a sensory response evoked in the mind of a reader by the __________ in a poem.

diction

Irony occurs when a poet says one thing but means __________.

something else

A line is a group of __________ in a row.

words

A line break is the most important point in a line of poetry: the pause or __________ at the end of a line.

breath

Literal language refers to the straightforward meanings of __________; the opposite of figurative language.

words

Lyric poetry consists of short poems (fewer than sixty lines) about personal __________ or feelings.

experiences

A metaphor is a comparison in which the poet writes about one thing as if it is something else: A = B, with the qualities of B __________ to A.

transferred

Open form is another term for __________ verse.

free

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two words that __________ each other.

contradict

Personification is a comparison that gives human qualities to an __________, animal, idea, or phenomenon.

object

The poet laureate is a title given to an outstanding Canadian poet by the __________ of Canada.

Parliament

A prose poem is a piece of writing that has poetic features—rhythm, imagery, compression—but doesn’t __________, conform to a set rhythm, or break into lines.

rhyme

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of __________ in a poem.

rhyming

Sensory diction involves language in a poem that evokes one of the __________ senses.

five

A simile is a kind of metaphor that uses like or as to __________ two things: A is like B.

compare

The speaker or persona is the voice that speaks the __________ of a poem, not necessarily the same person as the poet.

words

A stanza is a line or group of lines in a poem that’s separated from other lines by extra white __________.

space

A symbol is a thing or action that represents, in addition to itself, __________ else.

something

A tercet is a unit of __________ lines, usually written in the same form.

three

A theme is an idea about __________ that emerges from a poem.

life

Tone refers to the attitude of the speaker or poet toward the __________ of the poem or toward the reader.

subject

A tricolon is a rhythm, pattern, or emphasis used __________ times; a.k.a. 'the power of three.'

three

A turn in a poem is a point when its meaning moves in a new, significant __________, or its theme emerges.

direction