Poetry Exam Terms

allegory

a literary work in which characters, actions, and even settings have two connected levels of meaning. Elements of the literal level signify (or serve as symbols for) a figurative level that often imparts a lesson or moral to the reader.

abecedarian

ancient poetic form in which the opening words of each line (or, occasionally each stanza) reproduce the letters of the alphabet (from A to Z).

alliteration

the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds through a sequence of words\-- for example, "cease my song, till fair Aurora rise"

allusion

brief, often implicit and indirect reference within a literary text to something outside the text, whether next (e.g the Bible, a myth, another literary work, a painting, or a piece of music) or any imaginary or historical person, place or thing

anaphora

figure of speech involving the repetition of the same word or phrase in (and especially at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences, as in "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--/We passed the Setting Sun"

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words with different endings\-- for example, "The death of the poet was kept from his poems"

ballad

a verse narrative that is, or originally was, meant to be sung

blank verse

the metrical verse form most like everyday human speech in English; consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter

caesura

short pause within a line of poetry; often but not always signaled by punctuation

concrete poetry

poetry in which the words on the page are arranged to look like an object; also called shaped verse

connotation

what is suggested by a word, apart from what it literally means or how it is defined in the dictionary

consonance

the repetition of certain consonant sounds in close proximity, as in mishmash.

couplet

two consecutive lines of verse linked by rhyme and meter

denotation

a word's direct and literal meaning

dramatic monologue

a type of subgenera of poetry in which a speaker addresses a silent auditor or auditors in a specific situation and setting that is revealed entirely through the speaker's words; this kind of poem's primary aim is the revelation of the speaker's personality, views, and values.

elegy

any lyric in sorrowful mood that takes death as its primary subject

end-stopped line

line of verse that contains or concludes a complete clause and usually ends with a punctuation mark

English sonnet

a sonnet that consists of three quatrains and a couplet and often rhymes abab cdcd efef gg

enjambment

in poetry, the technique of running over from one line to the next without stop

epigram

very short, usually witty verse with a quick turn at the end

free verse

poetry characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non rhyming lines

haiku

poetic form, Japanese in origin, that in English consists of seventeen syllables arranged in three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively.

iambic pentameter

a metrical form in which most lines consist of five iambs

Italian sonnet

a sonnet that consists of eight rhyme-linked lines (an octave) plus six rhyme-linked lines (a sestet), often with either an abbaabba cdecde or aabbacddc defdef

limerick

light or humorous poem or subgenera of poems consisting of mainly anapestic lines of which the first, second, and fifth are of three feet; the third and fourth lines are of two feet; and rhyme scheme is aabba

metaphor

figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared implicitly\-- that is, without the use of a signal such as the word like or as\-- as in "Love is a rose, but you better not pick it"

meter

the more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

metonymy

figure of speech in which the name of one thing is used to refer to another associated thing. When we say, "The White House has promised to veto the bill," for example, we use the White House as a metonym for the president and his administration

motif

recurrent device, formula, or situation within a literary work

octave

eight lunes of verse linked by a pattern of end rhymes, especially the first eighth lines of a Petrarchan sonnet

ode

lyric poem characterized by a serious topic and formal tone but without a prescribed formal pattern in which the speaker talks about, and often to, and especially revered person or thing

onomatopoeia

word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes buzz is a good example

personification

figure of speech that involves treating something nonhuman, such as an abstraction, as if it were a person by endowing it with humanlike qualities, as in "death entered the room"

Petrarchan sonnet

a sonnet that consists of eight rhyme-linked lines (an octave) plus six rhyme-linked lines (a sestet), often with either an abbaabba cdecde or abbacddc defdef rhyme scheme

quatrain

four-line unit of verse, whether an entire poem, a stanza, or a group of four lines linked by a pattern of rhyme

rhyme

repetition or correspondence of the terminal sounds of words

sestet

six lines of verse linked by a pattern of rhyme, as in the last line of the Petarchan sonnet

setting

time and place of the action in a work of fiction, poetry or drama

Shakespearean sonnet

a sonnet that consists of three quatrains and a couplet and often rhymes abab cdcd efef gg

simile

involving a direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection, as in "My love is like a red, red rose"

situation

basic circumstances depicted in a literary work, especially when the story, play, or poem begins or at a specific later moment in the action

speaker

(1) the person who is the voice of a poem (2) anyone who speaks dialogue in a work of fiction, poetry, or drama

Spenserian sonnet

stanza consistono of eight lines or iambic pentameter (five feet) followed by a ninth one of iambic hexmeter (six feet). The rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc

stanza

section of a poem, makes by extra line spacing before and after, that often has a single pattern of meter and/or rhyme.

symbol

person, place, thing, or event that figuratively represents or stands for something else

synecdoche

type of metonymy in which the part is used to name or stand i for the whole, as when we refer to manual laborers as hands or say wheels to mean a car

theme

broadly and commonly, a topic explored in a literary work; more narrowly and properly, the insight about a topic communicated in a work.

tone

attitude a literary work takes toward its subject or that a character in the work converts, especially as revealed through diction

iamb

an unstressed or unaccented syllable followed by a stressed or accented one ("she went," "believe). the meter is called iambic

trochee

a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one ("meter," "Hómer". This meter is called trochaic

anapest

two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one ("comprehénd," "after yóu".) This meter is called anapestic

dactyl

a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones ("roundabout," "dinnertime"). this meter is called dactylic

spondee

two stressed syllables. spondaic feet vary or interrupt the prevailing rhythm, emphasizing a syllable that would expect to be unstressed

pyrrhic

two unstressed syllables. Pyrrhic feet similarly interrupt the expected rising or falling beats, placing an unstressed syllable where we expect an emphasis.

monometer

one foot

dimeter

two feet

trimester

three feet

tetrameter

four feet

pentameter

five feet

hexameter

sex feet

heptameter

seven feet

octameter

eight feet