Poetry Terms and Devices Flashcards

Flashcards for poetry terms and devices

Antimetabole

When the poet inverts the words used in the first half of a sentence in the second half of a sentence to create emphasis through repetition. Example: “worked to choose” and “chose to work” as well as “use their house to build the foundation” and “use their foundation to build a house.”

Tone

The attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Enjambment

When a line runs on to the next line without stopping.

End-stopped

When a line ends with punctuation.

Refrain

A phrase, line, or lines that are repeated.

Alliteration

The repetition of a speech sound at the beginning of a word in a sequence of nearby words.

Simile

A comparison between two different things using 'like' or 'as.'

Metaphor

Any comparison of two unlike things.

Extended Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things that is explored and continues.

Symbol

A word or an image that stands for something other than itself.

Hyperbole

The use of exaggeration.

Personification

An object or idea is given human qualities.

Allusion

A reference to a literary or historical person, place, or event, or another piece of literature.

Diction

The use of words in a literary work. Can be described as formal, informal, colloquial, or slang.

Syntax

The ordering of words into patterns or sentences.

Alliteration (Sound Device)

The repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words.

Anaphora

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

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Consonance

The repetition of similar consonant sounds in close proximity.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words whose sound suggests their meaning. Examples are 'buzz,' 'hiss,' or 'honk.'

Refrain (Sound Device)

A group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.

Repetition

The repeated use of a word or phrase.

Rhyme

Close similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end.

Slant/Imperfect Rhyme

Rhyme in which the consonants match but the vowels do not (e.g. shape/keep).

Rhythm

The recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Meter

The repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. Each unit of meter is known as a foot.

Structure

The arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work.

Enjambment (Structural Choice)

The continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next.

End-stopped (Structural Choice)

A line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.

Stanza

A grouping of lines separated from others in a poem. Can be used to mark a shift in mood, time, or thought.

Free Verse

Nonmetrical, nonrhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech.

Narrative Poem

A non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy. Traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or 'turn' of thought in its concluding lines.

Villanelle

A French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas.

Figurative Language

Writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language).

Allusion (Figurative Language)

A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which someone (usually absent), some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present.

Extended Metaphor (Figurative Language)

An implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem.

Hyperbole (Figurative Language)

A deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect.

Imagery

Sensory details that combine to create a complete 'image,' usually visual, but also auditory, tactile or olfactory.

Metaphor (Figurative Language)

A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like 'as,' 'like,' or 'than.'

Metonymy

A figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself.

Mixed Metaphors

The mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous.

Oxymoron

A form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression.

Paradox

A situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense.

Personification (Figurative Language)

A kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.

Simile (Figurative Language)

A directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with 'like,' 'as,' or 'than.'

Symbol (Figurative Language)

Something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.

Synecdoche

A form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole.

Irony

The contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning.

Paraphrase

A restatement of an ideas in such a way as to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form.

Satire

Writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule.

Speaker

The narrative voice in the poem. We typically distinguish between the author and the speaker.

Style

The mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author.

Theme

The main thought expressed by a work. The abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work.

Tone (Other Devices)

The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning.

Understatement

The opposite of hyperbole. A kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is.