Poetry Terms

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alliteration

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repetition of two or more consonant sounds in successive words in a line of verse or prose. "cool cups"

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antithesis

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Words, phrases clauses or sentences set in deliberate contrast to each other

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conceit

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a poetic device using elaborate comparisons such as equating a loved one with the gaces and beauties of the world.

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connotation

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an association or additional meaning that a word, image or phrase carry apart from its literal denotation or dictionary definition. A word picks up connotations from all its uses to which it has been put in the past.

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denotation

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The literal dictionary meaning of a word

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diction

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word choice or vocabulary. Diction refers to the class of words that an author decides to use in a particular work.

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Concrete diction

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Involves a highly specific word choice in the naming of something or someone.

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Abstract diction

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Contains words that express more general ideas or concepts

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dramatic irony

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A special kind of suspenseful expexctation, when the audience or reader understands the implication of a situation onstage and forsees the the incoming disaster (tragedy) or triumph (comedy) but the character does not. The irony forms the constrasting levels of knowledge of the character and the reader.

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dramatic monologue

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A poem written as a speech made by a character at some decisive moment. Speaker is usually addressing a silent

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exact rhyme

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A full rhyme in which the sounds following the initial words are identical in sound as in follow and hollow.

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figure of speech

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An expression of comparison that relies not on its literal meaning but rather on its connotations or suggestions.

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image

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a word or series of words that refers to any sensory experience (usually sight, also sound, smell, touch or taste). An image is a direct or literal recreation of physical experience

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imagery

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The collective sets of images in a poem or other literary work.

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internal rhyme

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Rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry

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irony

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A literary device in which a discrepancy of meaning is masked beneath the surface of the language. Present when a writer syas one thing and means something quite the opposite. Two main types of irony are: verbal irony and situational irony

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metaphor

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A statement that one thing is something else, which in one sense it is not. By asserting that a thing is something else, a metaphor creates a close association between the two entitities ...Richard is a pig..

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Meter

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A recurrent, regular rhythmic pattern in verse. When stresses recur at fixed intervals, the result is meter.This is the basic organizational device of poetry.

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Metonymy

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Figure of speech in which the name of a thing is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.

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monologue

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An extended speech by a single character. Solo speech that has listeners. poem can be written in a monologue form..

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narrative poem

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a poem that tells a story. Narrative is one of 4 traditional styles of poetry.

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Onomatopeia

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a literary device that attempts to represent a thing or action by the word that imitates the sound associated with it..(crash, bang)

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overstatement

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hyperbole---Exaggeration used to emphasize a point.

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personification

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a figure of speech in which a thing, an animal, or an abstract term is endowed with human characteristics.

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pun

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a play on words in which one word is substituted for another similar or identical sound, but of very different meaning.

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simile

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a comparison of two things, indicated by some connective, usually like, as, than or a verb such as resembles. A simile usually compares two things that intitially seem unlike but are shown to have a resemblance. "Cool as a cucumber"

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symbol

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A person, place, or thing in a narrative that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense. Symbol is related to allegory but it works more complexity.

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synecdoche

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The use of a significant part of a thing to stand for the whole or part of it or vice versa.

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tone

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The attitude toward a subject conveyed in a literary work. Tone can be playful, serious, sad, ironic..

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understatement

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an ironic figure of speech that deliberately describes something in a way that is less than the true case.