Poetry Unit terms
Poetry Unit Terminology
Directions: Using any online reputable site, define the following terms. Notice that some definitions have been provided for you.
1. Narrative Poetry: TELLS A STORY
2. Folk Ballad: A song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture. *HAS NO KNOWN AUTHOR
3. Literary Ballad: A narrative poem written by a poet in imitation of the old anonymous folk ballad.
4. Epic: LONG NARRATIVE POEM; EPIC HERO
5. Refrain: GROUP OF REPEATING LINES
6. Lyric Poetry: EXPRESSES A POET’S INNERMOST THOUGHTS/FEELINGS
7. Lullaby: Usually a soothing song to lull a child to sleep.
8. Sonnet: 14 LINE LYRIC POEM
9. Ode: A lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotions.
10. Elegy: A mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem; a funeral song or lament of the dead.
11. Haiku: A Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables, 3 lines (5-7-5). Usually highly evocative allusions and comparison; often the subject of nature.
12. Dramatic Poetry: Similar to narrative poetry – tell stories – however, one or more of the story’s characters act it out.
13. Verse Play: The plays of Shakespeare (all written in blank verse/iambic pentameter).
14. Dramatic Monologue: POEM; WRITTEN IN SPEECH
15. Connotation: IDEA/FEELING OF A WORD
16. Denotation: THE DICTIONARY FORM OF A WORD
17. Figurative Language: FORM OF EXPRESSION; USES ABSTRACT MEANINGS/IDEAS
18. Simile: COMPARISON USING LIKE OR AS
19. Metaphor: FIGURE OF SPEECH; COMPARES WITHOUT USING LIKE OR AS
20. Personification: GIVING HUMAN QUALITIES TO INANIMATE OBJECTS
21. Assonance: internal vowels repeated; middle (ONE NIGHT THROUGH MILES OF PINE)
22. Consonance: Repetition of consonants at the end of words; jump/stump/rump
23. Stanza: GROUP OF LINES IN APOEM
24. Blank Verse: VERSE WITH NO RHYME
25. Couplet: A pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same length.
26. End Rhyme: Rhyme of the terminal syllables of lines of poetry.
27. Epigram: A short satirical poem dealing concisely with a single subject and usually ending with a witty or ingenious turn of thought.
28. Epitaph: A brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.
29. Free Verse: POEM WITH NO RHYTHM AND NO RHYE
30. Imagery: DESCRIBES IN DETAIL THINGS -- USES SENSES
31. Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry. For example, “The splendor falls on castle walls.”
32. Light Verse: Verse that is written to entertain, amuse, or please often by the subtlety of its form.
33. Metonymy: Using the name of one object or concept for that of another which is related. (ex: the sails billowed through the harbor…[means the reader visually sees sails unattached to anything…to create an image…]; the White House issued a press conference [not literally the White House but the President]
34. Onomatopoeia: SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS THE WAY IT IS SPELLED (WHEEEEEE) (MEOW)
35. Quatrain: Stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhyme
36. Rhythm - WAY POEM FLOWS; UP AND DOWN BEATS
37. Alliteration -- INITIAL CONSONANT REPEATS