Poetry Terms Pre-Test

SECTION 1: Poetic Devices/Components

speaker

character or voice through which poem is told

simile

personification

refrain

repeated verse in a poem

onomatopoeia

allusion

metaphor

hyperbole

extreme exaggeration

personification

giving human qualities to non-human things

SECTION 2: Types of Poetry

sonnet

a lyric poem made up of exactly 14 lines following strict rules of structure, meter, and rhyme

epic poem

a long, narrative poem with a cultural hero who goes on great adventures

lyric poetry

has a musical quality and expresses an intense personal feeling

ode

a long (usually) lyric poem, usually praising some subject, and written in dignified language

elegy

a poem of mourning (usually about a person who has died)

narrative poetry

a poem that tells a story but is not intended to be sung which has a series of related events

free verse

a poem whose writing does not follow a regular scheme or meter

ballad

a song-like poem that tells a (usually sad) story, and handed down orally from generation to generation

SECTION 3: Rhyme/sound

repetition

the refrain of any song

alliteration

couplet

two consecutive lines with end rhymes

exact rhyme

cold / bold

assonance

the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words

approximate rhyme

rain / again

consonance

to create certain repeated sounds throughout a written work.

EX: Well, Son, I’ll tell you

Internal rhyme

1. a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.

2. EX: There are strange things done in the midnight sun

end rhyme

two consecutive lines of poetry have end words that rhyme.

EX: Off in the distance, a cowbell sounds, and an old tomcat sits and frowns.

Rhythm

Regular repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry

Repetition

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep,

Meter

Basic rhythmic structure/unit of verse