Literary Devices and Poetry Vocabulary

A collection of vocabulary flashcards defining literary terms, poetic elements, sound devices, and figurative language from the reading material.

Style

The way an author chooses words; arranges them in lines, sentences, paragraphs, or stanzas; and conveys meaning through the use of imagery, rhythm, rhyme, figurative language, irony, and other devices.

Tone

The attitude of the author toward the subject of the work. (the tone of a work could be funny, complex, ironic, optimistic, pessimistic, romantic, etc.)

Diction

Choice of words.

Imagery

Words that appeal to the five senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell.

Syntax

The way words are arranged in phrases or sentences and the way phrases or sentences are arranged in paragraphs (fiction), speeches (plays), or lines and stanzas (poetry).

Rhythm

Pattern of sound. (the rhythm of a work could be everyday prose speech, poetic, etc.)

Alliteration

The repetition of identical initial sounds in neighboring words or syllables.

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds in a line of poem, anywhere in the middle or end.

Consonance

Repeated consonant sounds in a line of poem, anywhere in the middle or end.

Rhyme

Repetition of same or similar sounds at the end of a line.

Figurative language

Words or expressions that carry more than their literal meaning.

Metaphor

Comparison of two unlike things. (e.g. my little school mouse)

Simile

Comparison of two unlike things using the verbs "like" or "as". (e.g. You speak about me as if I were your pet.)

Apostrophe

Addressing an inanimate object or place as if it were alive. (e.g. Death, be not proud.)

Symbol

In a literary work, an object, action, person, or animal that stands for something more than its literal meaning.

Verbal irony

A discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what is said and what the reader knows to be true.

Lyric Poem

Poetry that expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of a particular poet or speaker.

Sonnet

Fourteen line lyric poem.

Elegy

A lyric poem that mourns the dead.

Stanza

Grouping of lines of poetry into a unit. (couplet: two lines of poem; quatrain: four lines of poem)

Allegory

A story that can be read symbolically.

Allusion

A reference to a person, place, object, or event outside of the work itself.