Grade 9 English Poetry Definitions

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Euphony

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The quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words

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Ballad

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Written in quatrains withabcbrhyme scheme,couplets, or six line stanzas. Lines 1, 3 have four accented syllables/beats, rhyming lines have two

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Alliteration

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The repetition of the first sound; ex. “What atale ofterror now, theirturbulencytells”

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Cacophony

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The harsh joining of sounds; ex. “We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will”

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Allusion

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A brief, indirect/vague reference to a person, place thing, significant idea, etc.

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Simile

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A comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”

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Hyperbole

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Exaggerating for emphasis; ex. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”

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Sonnet

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14 lines long, written in iambic pentameter; each line contains 10 syllables, stress on every other syllable. Rhyme scheme of eitherabab cdcd efef gg(Shakespearean; three quatrains and a couplet) orabba cddc efg efg(Italian)

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Personification

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Assigning animate/living qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas

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Oxymoron

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A combination of two words that seem to contradict each other; ex. “Bittersweet,” “civil war”

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe; ex. “Meow,” “whir,” “hiss”

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Metaphor

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Implies a relationship/similarity between two different objects

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Imagery

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Verbal expression of a sensory detail (visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory)

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Rhyme Scheme

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A prescribed pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines of a stanza/poem

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Stanza

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A unit of poet lines often repeated in the same form throughout a poem; a poetic verse or paragraph

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Consonance

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Consonants in words agree, vowels don’t; ex.lickandluck

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Assonance

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Vowels in words agree, consonants don’t; ex. seat and weak

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Metre

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A prescribed rhythmic structure in a stanza/poem

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Enjambment

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The continuation of a sentence without a pause between lines/couplets/stanzas

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Theme

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The meaning or lesson behind a poem

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Couplet

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A pair of lines, usually rhyming

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Tercet

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A.k.a. Triplet, a couplet with a third rhyming line

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Quatrain

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A four-line stanza or grouping of four lines of verse

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Sextet

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A six-line stanza

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Octet

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An eight-line stanza

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Cinquain

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5 lines, syllables per line: 2-4-6-8-2, 22 syllables total

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Haiku

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3 lines, syllables per line: 5, 7, 5, 17 syllables total

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In-rhyme

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A string of words that rhyme within a line; ex. “Is it true that you knew...”

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Ode

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Celebratory poem. Early odes followed formal structure, contemporary odes don’t follow set rhyme scheme or stanza pattern

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Unison

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A group reading together

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Antiphonal

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A group divided in two parts; two subgroups can dialogue w/ or echo each other

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Cumulative

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A gradual building/adding of voices, like a crescendo in music. Voices added individually or in groups

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Solo

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A single voice reading, emphasizes a particular part/piece of text

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Line Around

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Each line/phrase read by different voice, creates illusion of many participants

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Free Verse

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Lines with no prescribed pattern or structure

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Multi-syllable rhymes

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Words/phrases where the last 2+ syllables rhyme; ex. Crying silently, dying violently

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Iambic Pentameter

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A form of rising meter; each line contains ten syllables, every other syllable accented

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Pun

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Play on words/humourous use of a single word/sound with 2+ implied meanings

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Epitaph

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Short poem, often rhymed, clever, includes play on words. Comments on dead person’s personality or the way they lived

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Villanelle

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Includes 5 tercets and a quatrain; tercets rhymeaba, quatrain rhymesabaa. Lines 1, 3 f first stanza alternate as line 3 of rest of tercets, form couplet together in last stanza

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Anaphora

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Repeating the same word(s) at the beginning of successive lines, ex. “Was ever a woman in this humourwoo’d? /Was ever a woman in this humorwon?”

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Epistrophe

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Repeating same word(s) at the end of successive lines, emphasizes last word in a phrase/sentence.

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Roundel

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3 stanzas, 11 lines total. Lines in stanzas: 4, 3, 4. Rhyme scheme: abab bab abab. Lines 4. 11 use same line/phrase

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True Rhyme

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Initial sound or consonants change, but succeeding vowels and consonants stay the same; ex. “Ends” and “friends”

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Ear Rhyme

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Words spelled differently, but sound the same; ex. “Beer” and “fear”

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Near Rhyme

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Changes within the vowel sounds of words meant to rhyme; ex. “Sleeve” and “revive”