Poetry Terms

Flashcards of poetry terms and literary devices with definitions and examples from lecture notes.

Caesura

A stop or pause in a line, often marked with punctuation. Example: “To be, or not to be -- that is the question.”

Connotation

The implied meaning of a word apart from its literal meaning. Example: He’s such a child (implies immaturity).

Denotation

The literal dictionary definition of a word. Example: He is a child (simply stating age).

Diction

The choice of words to convey an idea, point of view, or to tell a story effectively.

Enjambment

The continuation of a line without a pause at its end. Example: I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats high o’er vales and hills.

Figurative Meaning

A non-literal meaning that is implied or symbolic. Example: He carries the world on his shoulders.

Free Verse

Poetry that does not have a meter (rhyme). Example: the fog comes / on little cat feet.

Juxtaposition

To place one thing next to another to reveal a similarity OR a contrast. Example: “Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief? That is hot ice!”

Line

A row in a poem. Example: “here is a line in a poem / here is the next line”

Literal Meaning

The literal meaning of a phrase, word, or stanza. Example: He is walking.

Mood

The emotional feeling that the reader picks up on from a poem. Example: “The poem made the reader in a bad mood.”

Shift

A change in tone, subject, speaker, etc. Example: “And the world is nothing but a lifeless void / but it is beautiful / and I will appreciate it till its end.”

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem. Example: “hello / i am / awesome // now / this / is / the / next / stanzaaa”

Syntax

The order of words in a sentence. Example: Know you the neighbor of door next?

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each line. Example: I attacked the cat / then grabbed a locat / then agrapped the mat / to clack the pat

Tone

The attitude in the poem. Example: i hate the world

Allusion

A reference to a well-known event, figure, etc. Example: It was his waterloo.

Apostrophe

Talking to something that can’t talk back. Example: O’ sorrow! Come out and face me!

Hyperbole

Exaggeration in order to place emphasis on something. Example: I had a billion homework assignments to do last night!

Imagery

Descriptive language to appeal to the senses. Example: the cinnamon scent of baked apples filled the warm kitchen.

Metaphor

A direct comparison not using like or as. Example: time is a thief.

Metonymy

Substituting a word that is closely related for the actual subject. Example: the pen is mightier than the sword (pen being writing, sword being violence).

Oxymoron

Two contradictory terms used together. Example: jumbo shrimp.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be contradictory but holds some truth. Example: the only thing constant is change.

Personification

Giving human traits to non-human things. Example: the tree danced in the wind.

Simile

A direct comparison using like or as. Example: time is like a thief.

Symbol

An object representing an idea. Example: a red rose symbolizes love.

Synecdoche

A part of a thing representing the whole or vice versa. Example: all hands on deck (hands = sailors).

Understatement

Making something seem less significant than it is. Example: its just a scratch (he says as hes missing a leg).

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds to create softness. Example: peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds. Example: the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain.

Blank Verse

An unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example: to be or not to be that is the question

Couplet

Two consecutive rhymed lines. Example: the sun is high the sky is blue / today i think of you

Dissonance

Harsh sounds used to disrupt flow and create tension and discomfort to the reader. Example: The clinching interlocking claws a living fierce gyrating wheel

Onomatopoeia

A word intended to mimic a sound. Example: boom.

Quatrain

A stanza of 4 lines. Example: “hi / there / im / cool”

Repetition

Repeating a word phrase or line for emphasis effect alone alone, all, all alone / alone on a wide, wide sea

Rhyme (Approximate/slant, End, Internal)

Similar but not exact rhymes. Rhyme occurring at end of lines. Rhyme within a single line.

Meter

Rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (the beat basically)

Antithesis

Opposition: contrast of ideas or words in a parallel construction. Example: Give me liberty or give me death

Asyndeton

Leaving out conjunctions between clauses, words, etc. Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

Litotes

Emphasis using NOT or negative definition/example Not bad (meaning good)

Parallelism

Sentences or parts of a sentence are parallel when structures within them take the same form. Example: She wanted to sing, to dance, and to act.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions when you don’t have to. Example: We have ships and men and money and stores and an army.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for an effect (usually to invoke a thought) and not requiring an answer. Example: Who wouldn’t want to be happy?

Caesura

A stop or pause in a line, often marked with punctuation. Example: “To be, or not to be -- that is the question.”

Connotation

The implied meaning of a word apart from its literal meaning. Example: He’s such a child (implies immaturity).

Denotation\n\n

The literal dictionary definition of a word. Example: He is a child (simply stating age).

Diction

The choice of words to convey an idea, point of view, or to tell a story effectively. Example: His diction was very eloquent

Enjambment

The continuation of a line without a pause at its end. Example: I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats high o’er vales and hills.

Figurative Meaning

A non-literal meaning that is implied or symbolic. Example: He carries the world on his shoulders.

Free Verse

Poetry that does not have a meter (rhyme). Example: the fog comes / on little cat feet.

Juxtaposition

To place one thing next to another to reveal a similarity OR a contrast. Example: “Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief? That is hot ice!”

Line

A row in a poem. Example: “here is a line in a poem / here is the next line”

Literal Meaning

The literal meaning of a phrase, word, or stanza. Example: He is walking.

Mood

The emotional feeling that the reader picks up on from a poem. Example: “The poem made the reader in a bad mood.”

Shift

A change in tone, subject, speaker, etc. Example: “And the world is nothing but a lifeless void / but it is beautiful / and I will appreciate it till its end.”

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem. Example: “hello / i am / awesome // now / this / is / the / next / stanzaaa”

Syntax

The order of words in a sentence. Example: Know you the neighbor of door next?

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each line. Example: I attacked the cat / then grabbed a locat / then agrapped the mat / to clack the pat

Tone

The attitude in the poem. Example: i hate the world

Allusion

A reference to a well-known event, figure, etc. Example: It was his waterloo.

Apostrophe

Talking to something that can’t talk back. Example: O’ sorrow! Come out and face me!

Hyperbole

Exaggeration in order to place emphasis on something. Example: I had a billion homework assignments to do last night!

Imagery

Descriptive language to appeal to the senses. Example: the cinnamon scent of baked apples filled the warm kitchen.

Metaphor

A direct comparison not using like or as. Example: time is a thief.

Metonymy

Substituting a word that is closely related for the actual subject. Example: the pen is mightier than the sword (pen being writing, sword being violence).

Oxymoron

Two contradictory terms used together. Example: jumbo shrimp.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be contradictory but holds some truth. Example: the only thing constant is change.

Personification

Giving human traits to non-human things. Example: the tree danced in the wind.

Simile

A direct comparison using like or as. Example: time is like a thief.

Symbol

An object representing an idea. Example: a red rose symbolizes love.

Synecdoche

A part of a thing representing the whole or vice versa. Example: all hands on deck (hands = sailors).

Understatement

Making something seem less significant than it is. Example: its just a scratch (he says as hes missing a leg).

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds to create softness. Example: peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds. Example: the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain.

Blank Verse

An unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example: to be or not to be that is the question

Couplet

Two consecutive rhymed lines. Example: the sun is high the sky is blue / today i think of you

Dissonance

Harsh sounds used to disrupt flow and create tension and discomfort to the reader. Example: The clinching interlocking claws a living fierce gyrating wheel

Onomatopoeia

A word intended to mimic a sound. Example: boom.

Quatrain

A stanza of 4 lines. Example: “hi / there / im / cool”

Repetition

Repeating a word phrase or line for emphasis effect alone alone, all, all alone / alone on a wide, wide sea

Rhyme (Approximate/slant, End, Internal)

Similar but not exact rhymes. Rhyme occurring at end of lines. Rhyme within a single line.

Meter

Rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (the beat basically)

Antithesis

Opposition: contrast of ideas or words in a parallel construction. Example: Give me liberty or give me death

Asyndeton

Leaving out conjunctions between clauses, words, etc. Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

Litotes

Emphasis using NOT or negative definition/example Not bad (meaning good)

Parallelism

Sentences or parts of a sentence are parallel when structures within them take the same form. Example: She wanted to sing, to dance, and to act.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions when you don’t have to. Example: We have ships and men and money and stores and an army.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for an effect (usually to invoke a thought) and not requiring an answer. Example: Who wouldn’t want to be happy?