Elements Of Poetry Terms

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Allegory

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A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons or actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself

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Alliteration

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Repetition of consonant sounds within a line of poetry

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Allusion

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A reference, implicit or explicit, to something in previous literature or history

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Apollonian

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Literary writing which is characterized by form, symmetry, reason, order, moral rectitude, discipline, well-balanced and objective view of nature

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Apostrophe

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

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Aubade

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A dawn song which usually expresses the regret of two lovers that day has come to separate them

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Ballad

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A simple poem wich deals with a dramatic situation, usually created for singing

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Blank Verse

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Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter

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Carpe Diem

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Literally "seize the day"-Advises the reader to enjoy present pleasures because of the brevity of life and finality of death

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Cliche

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An overused phrase which has lost its freshness

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Conceit

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A far-fetched, extended or fantastic metaphor comparing two unlike objects with powerful effect by arousing feelings of surprise, shock or amusement

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Connotation

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What a word suggests beyond its basic definition; a word's overtones or cluster of implications that a word or phrase may carry that distinguishes it from its denotative meanings

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Denotation

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The specific, exact meaning of a word, independent of its emotional coloration or associations

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Dionysian

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A term used to describe literary writing which is intuitive, chaotic, orgastic, frenzied, uninhibited, reckless or irrational

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Dramatic Monologue

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A lyric poem told by one speaker about a dramatic event in which he/she is involved. The speaker demonstrates his character through the poem. The speaker addresses a listener who does not speak but whose presence helps to develop the speaker's speech

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Elegy

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A lyric poem that meditates upon the death of an individual, the absence of something deeply loved, or the transience of mankind. The elegy has a solemn, dignified tone as it laments the loss of something dear.

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Enjambment

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Employment of "run-on" lines which carry the completion of a statement from one line to another without rhetorical pause

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Imagery

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The representation in poetry of any sense experience. Imagery does not consist merely of "mental pictures", but may make an appeal to any of the senses