Lit Terms

Front 1

Alliteration

Back 1

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

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Allusion

Back 2

Reference to a person, place, event.

Can be biblical, mythological, historical, literary.

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Apostrophe

Back 3

Addressing of words to someone who is not there to hear it.

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Assonance

Back 4

Repetition of vowel sounds within a group of words

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Atmosphere

Back 5

Mood or feeling of a poem

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Ballad

Back 6

A poem that tells a narrative story

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Ballad Stanza

Back 7

A quatrain, or four-line stanza, within a ballad

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Blank Verse

Back 8

Iambic pentameter with no rhyme.

(light beat followed by heavy beat, repeated 5 times per line)

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Cacophony

Back 9

Harsh/unmusical sounds

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Chorus

Back 10

A part of the poem that is repeated

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Consonance

Back 11

Repetition of similar consonant sounds within a group of words.

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Couplet

Back 12

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

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Dissonance

Back 13

Harsh/sharp sounds.

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Elegy

Back 14

A poem of mourning, usually over the death of a person.

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Epic

Back 15

A long poem about a heroic character.

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Euphemism

Back 16

The use of mild expression to replace the harsher, direct expression.

("pass away" is a euphemism for "die")

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Euphony

Back 17

Sounds pleasing to the ear.

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Extended Metaphor

Back 18

A metaphor that is extended throughout most of the poem.

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Free Verse

Back 19

A poem with no rhyme and no rhythm.

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Hyperbole

Back 20

Figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggerations for effect.

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Image

Back 21

a word or series of words that refers to sensory experiences.

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Imagery

Back 22

Words that create pictures/ images in readers minds using descriptive languages that appeal to the 5 senses.

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Irony

Back 23

When the actual meaning is opposite of the stated meaning, can be serious or humorous.

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Juxtaposition

Back 24

Contrast of elements in a piece of literature for effect.

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Lyric

Back 25

Short poem that expresses the private feelings.

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Metaphor

Back 26

Comparison between two things without the uses of "as/ like"

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Metonymy

Back 27

Replace the name of one thing with the name of something closely associated with it. ("White House" to refer to the "United States government")

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Metre

Back 28

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

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Metrical Poetry

Back 29

poetry written in regular and repeating rhythms

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Mood

Back 30

The atmosphere of a poem.

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Motif

Back 31

Recurring theme/ idea/ symbol in the poem.

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Narrative

Back 32

A poem that tells a story.

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Octave

Back 33

Eight line poem/ stanza

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Ode

Back 34

A poem expressing exciting emotion

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Onomatopoeia

Back 35

words that imitate the sounds they refer to.

(hiss, boom)

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Oxymoron

Back 36

Combination of two contradictory terms.

(cold fire)

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Paradox

Back 37

a statement that stays true despite its internal contradiction.

(Friends stab you in the front)

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Parallelism

Back 38

Two lines of poetry that are structurally similar to suggest similarities between them.

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Pastoral

Back 39

Poems about countryside/ shepherd lives.

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Personification

Back 40

Giving human qualities to non-human beings.

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Pun

Back 41

A humorous play on words, double meanings.

(potato puns are apeeling)

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Quatrain

Back 42

A stanza of four lines

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Refrain

Back 43

A word/ line/ phrase/ group of lines repeated regularly throughout the poem.

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Repetition

Back 44

Repeating a word/ line/ phrase/ group of lines/ for emphasizing purposes.

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Rhyme

Back 45

The repetition of sounds in two or more words that are at the end of a line in a poem.

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Rhyme Scheme

Back 46

A pattern of rhyme in a poem.

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Sarcasm

Back 47

Use of irony to mock things

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Satire

Back 48

Writing with humour to provoke socio-political change.

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Sestet

Back 49

A six line poem or stanza

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Simile

Back 50

Comparison between two things with the use of "as and like"

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Sonnet

Back 51

A lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter

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Stanza

Back 52

a segment within the pattern of a poem.

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Style

Back 53

Characteristic way of writing.

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Synecdoche

Back 54

When parts of the thing is used to represent the whole thing.

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Symbol

Back 55

Something that represents something more than itself.

(The christian cross is a symbol for religious beliefs)

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Symbolism

Back 56

The use of symbols

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Theme

Back 57

A general idea about life that the poet wishes to express

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Tone

Back 58

The specific way and style of writing

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Understatement

Back 59

Opposite of hyperbole, presenting something as being smaller and lesser.

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Wit

Back 60

Intelligent humour.