CHOICES - Poetry

Alliteration

repeated consonant sounds at beginning of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. Some what looser definition is that it is the use of the same consonant in any part of adjacent words. Examples: fast and furious; Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clause. Example: "I have a dream" speech

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. Should be sounds that are accented or stressed. Example: He's a bruisin' loser; "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, over... lore" (long o sound, once, upon, pondered..)

Caesura

strong pause within a line of verse Example: "To be or not to be--that is the question'

Chiasmus

a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. Example: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country

Consonance

repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed neat each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented, this produces a pleasing kind of near-rhyme. Example: boats into the past, cool soul

cacophony

discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sound helps to convey disorder. This is often furthered by the combined effect of the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation. Example: My stick fingers click with a snicker.

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word or phase at the end of successive clauses.

Euphony

A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony and beauty to the language. Example: Than Oars divide the Ocean, /Too silver fo a seam....

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like their meanings. Example: boom, pop..

Polysyndeton

a stylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect.

Repetition

The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is. called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures. Example: Cannon to the right of them,/Cannon to the left of them...

Rhyme

Most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme.

Double rhyme

final two syllables Example: revival, arrival, survival

Triple rhyme

final three syllables: greenery, machinery, scenery

Half rhyme/slant rhyme

Final consonant sounds of the words are the same but the initial consonants and vowel sounds are different. Example, soul, oil, foul...

Near rhyme

final vowel sounds are same but final consonant sounds are slightly different. Example: fine, rhyme, poem

Slight rhymes/eye rhymes

words spelled the same but pronounced differently. Example, enough, cough, through, bough.

Rhythm

verbal stresses into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm distinguish poetry from prose. Can be referred as Meter. Poetry is organized by the division of each line into feet, metric units which each consist of a particular arrangement of strong and week stresses.

Iamb/Iambic

-/ invite

Trochee/Trochaic

/- deadline

Anapest/Anapestic

--/ to the beach

Dactyl/Dactylic

/-- frequently

Spondee/Spondiac

// true blue

Scansion

conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. Stressed labeled / and unstressed labeled -

Meter

number of feet in a line.

Monometer

one foot

dimeter

two feet

trimeter

three feet

heptameter

four feet

pentameter

five feet

hexameter

six feet

Allusion

A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, of Biblical or mythological situation or character.

Ambiguity

a pithy observation that contains a general truth.

Apostrophe

Speaking directly to a real or imagined listiner or inanimate object; addressing that person or thing by name

Cliché

Any figure of speech that was once clever and original but through overuse has became outdated.

Connotation

The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. It is what distinguishes the precisely correct word from one that is merely acceptable. Example: home vs house

Denotation

dictionary definition of a word, literal meaning apart from connotation

Contrast

Closely arranged things with strikingly different characteristics

Euphemism

understatement used to lessen the effect of a statement substituting something innocous for something that might be offensive or hurtful. Example: she is at rest (she is dead)

Hyperbole

outrageous exaggeration used for effect. Example: He weighs a ton.

Irony

a contradictory statement or situation to revel a reality different from what appears to be true. Sarcasm is a form of irony with the intention of expressing mockery or contempt.

Imagery

vivid languge to generate ideas/evoke mental images, not only for the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery apply to any component of a poem that evoke sensory experience and emotional response and also applies to the concrete things so brought to mind. Effective imagery can tap the inner wisdom of the reader to arous mediative and inspirational responses. Examples: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell....

Metaphor

a direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other. Implied metaphor: if something is associated. with it.

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it. Example: The White House (president) stated today that...

Oxymoron

Combination of two words that appear to contradict each other. Example: bittesweet

Paradox

a statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth. Example: I must be cruel only to be kind.

Personification

attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract ideas.

Pun

Word play in which words with totally different meanings have similar or identical sounds.

Simile

a direct comparison of two unlike things using like or as

epic simile

detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length.

Synechdoche

Indicating a person, object, by letting only a certain part represent the whole. Example: all hands on deck

Synesthesia

an attempt to fuse different senses by describing one kind of sense impression in words normally used to describe another. Example: the sound of her voice was sweet.

Line

fundamental to the perception of poetry, visual distinction from prose. Natural tendency to pause at the end of the line but careful reader will follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur.

Verse

one single line of peom arranged in a metrical pattern.

Stanza

A division of poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem. The stanzas within the poem are separated by blank lines.

Stanza form

couplet, tercet, quatrain, quintet, setet, septet, octave

rhyme scheme

rhyme in stanza, using letters to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, example aabb, abba, abcb

Enjambment

the continuation of the logical sense and therefore the grammatical construction beyond the end of the line of poetry

Form

the arrangement or method used to convey the content, such as free verse, ballade, haiku.

Open form

poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and metrical form.

Closed

fix structure: blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter (Shakespeare), free verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure-the poet determines all the variables as seems appropriate for each poem.

Aubade

morning love song or poems about lovers separating at dawn, melancholy, beautiful, reflect passage of time and transcend nature of love.

Ballad

poem or love song narrating a story in short stanzas. traditionally ballads are typically unknown of authorship.

Dramatic monolouge

poem in form of speech or narrative by an imagined person, where the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events.

Elegy

sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person

Ekphrasis

vivid description fo a scene or more commonly work of art

Haiku

Japanese form of poetry consisting of three lines 5-7-5 symbol pattern.

Limerick

humorous, frequently bawdy verse of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba.

Ode

poem that is lyrical in nature but not very lengthy.

Pastoral

a poem that idealizes rural life, nature, and landscapes

Sestina

a poem of six six-line stanzas and a three line envoy where the end words of the first stanza recur in the varying order in the other stanzas and envoy.

Sonnet

14 line poem fixed structure. Petrarchan follows abbaabba (octave) + cdecde or cdcdcd sestet. Shekespearean follows three quatrains of abab cdc efef with rhyming couplet gg at the end.

Villanelle

19 line poem with two rhymes throughout consisting of five tercets and quatrain with the first and third line of opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets and with both repeated at the close of the concluding quatrain.