Exploring Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man and Essential Elements of Poetry

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core poetic elements, structures, sound devices, types of imagery, and figurative language devices discussed in the lecture.

Line

A single row of words written across the page.

Stanza

A group of lines separated by a space that forms a single conceptual or structural unit within a poem.

Enjambment

A dynamic structure where a line of verse does not end with punctuation but flows directly into the next line mid-sentence.

End-stopped Line

Occurs when a line of verse ends with a natural pause, usually indicated by a punctuation mark such as a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or dash.

Meter

The rhythmic structure of a line of verse consisting of a regular, recurring pattern of stressed (loud) and unstressed (soft) syllables.

Rhyme Scheme

The intentional, ordered pattern of rhymes at the end of the lines in a poem or stanza.

Sound Device

Stylistic techniques that poets and writers use to reinforce the meaning of a poem through the literal sound of the words.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses — sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

Visual Imagery

Imagery that focuses on what you can see — colors, shapes, sizes, patterns, and movement.

Auditory Imagery

Imagery that captures things you can hear, often using onomatopoeia or vivid descriptions of noise and silence.

Olfactory Imagery

Imagery that triggers the sense of smell, evoking scents that are pleasant, foul, or nostalgic.

Gustatory Imagery

Imagery that describes flavors, textures on the tongue, and the experience of eating or drinking.

Tactile Imagery

Imagery that focuses on what you can feel on your skin or through physical contact — textures, temperature, and pressure.

Diction

The poet's deliberate selection of words for their sound, meaning, and emotional weight.

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things explicitly using the connecting words "like" or "as."

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as."

Personification

Giving human qualities, actions, traits, or emotions to non-human things, animals, or objects.

Hyperbole

An extreme, deliberate exaggeration used to emphasize a point or add humor, not meant to be taken literally.

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality, which can be verbal, situational, or dramatic.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory or opposing terms right next to each other to reveal a deeper truth or create a striking effect.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech where a part of something is used to represent the whole, or a whole is used to represent a part.

Metonymy

Replacing the name of an object or concept with something else that is closely associated or linked with it.

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd on the surface, but upon closer investigation expresses a profound underlying truth.

Symbolism

A literary device where an author uses a concrete object, person, place, or action to represent a deeper, abstract idea that goes far beyond its literal meaning.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject matter or the audience.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere or "vibe" created by the text that the reader feels while moving through the piece.

Theme

The underlying message, core idea, or universal truth about human nature or society that the poem explores.

Onomatopoeia

Words that phonetically imitate, mimic, or resemble the actual sound they are describing.

Trochee

A poetic foot pertaining to stressed followed by unstressed syllables.

Iamb

A poetic foot pertaining to unstressed followed by stressed syllables.

Pentameter

A metrical unit pertaining to five meters per line.

Anapest

A poetic foot pertaining to two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

Dactyl

A poetic foot pertaining to one unstressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words that are close together.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds within internal words that are close together, but with different consonant endings.

Consonance

The repetition of identical consonant sounds anywhere within the words.