English Final Honors 10 Poetry Terms

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alliteration

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a pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds. The repetition can be located at the beginning of successive words or inside the words. Poets often use alliteration to audibly represent the action that is taking place.

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assonance

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The Assonance Literary Term is the repetition or a pattern of similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage of verse or prose. but with different An assonance can be described as a vowel rhyme as in the words date and fade.

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couplet

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a style of poetry defined as a complete thought written in two lines with rhyming ends. The most popular of the couplets is the heroic couplet. The heroic couplet consists of two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter usually having a pause in the middle of each line.

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consonance

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A common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds: home, same; worth, breath. See also rhyme.

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enjambment

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In poetry, when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning. This is also called a run-on line. The transition between the first two lines of Wordsworth’s poem "My Heart Leaps Up" demonstrates enjambment:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
Envoy See sestina.

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folk ballad

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A song or story or poem that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture

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free verse

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Also called open form poetry, free verse refers to poems characterized by their nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza. Free verse uses elements such as speech patterns, grammar, emphasis, and breath pauses to decide line breaks, and usually does not rhyme. See open form.

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iambic pentameter

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A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.) See also foot, meter.

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literary ballad

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The literary ballad is a narrative poem created by a poet in imitation of the old anonymous folk ballad. Usually the literary ballad is more elaborate and complex; the poet may retain only some of the devices and conventions of the older verse narrative

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lyric poem

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A type of brief poem that expresses the personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker. It is important to realize, however, that although the lyric is uttered in the first person, the speaker is not necessarily the poet. There are many varieties of lyric poetry, including the dramatic monologue, elegy, haiku, ode, and sonnet forms.

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narrative poem

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A poem that tells a story. A narrative poem may be short or long, and the story it relates may be simple or complex. See also ballad, epic.

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metonymy

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Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. Some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience. A metonymy is a play on words based on association such as the poem 'Out, Out' by Robert Frost where the injured boy holds up his hand "as if to keep the life from spilling." The literal meaning of this line is to keep the blood from spilling but it also tells us that the life of the boy is in mortal danger.

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ode

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A relatively lengthy lyric poem that often expresses lofty emotions in a dignified style. Odes are characterized by a serious topic, such as truth, art, freedom, justice, or the meaning of life; their tone tends to be formal. There is no prescribed pattern that defines an ode; some odes repeat the same pattern in each stanza, while others introduce a new pattern in each stanza. See also lyric.

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onomatopoeia

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A term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes. Buzz, rattle, bang, and sizzle all reflect onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia can also consist of more than one word; writers sometimes create lines or whole passages in which the sound of the words helps to convey their meanings.

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What is the difference between folk and literary ballads?

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A folk ballad was written anonymously and passed down through generations before being written. Literary ballads are written to mimic the format of a folk ballad. Think Rape of the Lock (mock epic) versus Beowulf (true epic).