English iGCSE Poetry Terminology

Alliteration

Repetition of identical sounds in order to achieve a particular effect (normally, consonant sounds)

Assonance

The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words in close proximity

Onomatopoeia

blending consonant and vowel sounds imitating the activity being described (the use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning)

Sibilance

Repetition of 'S' sounds

Stanza

A group of poetic lines corresponding to paragraphs in prose.

Verse

A group of lines in a poem

Quatrain

A stanza of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes

Form

How a poem is structured or organised

Enjambment

A running over of the meaning and grammatical structure from one line to another, or between stanzas. The enjambed line has no punctuation at the end.

Caesura

A short but definite pause used for poetic effect in the middle of a line, usually a full stop.

End- stopped line

A line ending in a full pause, usually indicated with a full stop or semicolon.

Ballad

An ancient poem telling a story

A couplet

A stanza of two lines, often (but not always) rhyming

Rhyme

the pattern in which rhyme sounds occur in a stanza

Internal Rhyme

An exact rhyme within a line of poetry.

Meter

the recurrence of a rhythmic pattern in poetry

Iambic Pentameter

an unstressed stressed foot. The most natural and common kind of meter in English; it elevates speech to poetry.

Blank Verse

A regular poem written in unrhymed lines, which has a regular meter. Example: Shakespeare's plays

Imagery

concrete details which appeal to the senses so that we can see or sense what is being written about

Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things, this describes one thing as if it were something else. Does not use "like" or "as" for the comparison (see simile).

Simile

A direct comparison between two dissimilar things; uses "like" or "as" to state the terms of the comparison.

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things.

Connotation

the attitudes and feelings associated with a word

Denotatoin

the literal or dictionary definition of a word

Diction

the author's choice of words

Refrain

the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

free verse

No rules in rhythm, rhyme or stanza length. It mirrors natural speech.

Rhythm

the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Narrative

A poem that tells a story. Often in metered verse.

Sonnet

a 14 line poem set out as an argument, with the final clincher in the last rhyming couplet.

Chronological order

Told in order of time.

Juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Petrarchan Sonnet -

a sonnet named after the poet Petrarch. A poem of two halves: 8 lines to question, 6 lines to resolve an argument

Ambiguity

The poet creates meanings that are open to more than one interpretation.

Ambivalence

• having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Internal rhyme

words within a line that share the same sounds.

In Media Res

Starts in the middle of the action.

Semantic Field

Group of words which are related in meaning