Poetry Terms

Front 1

diction

Back 1

word choice. Very strong in poems. Helps convince the reader. (p. 6)

Front 2

denotative

Back 2

the literal meaning of the word. Makes the work explicit. (p. 6)

Front 3

conotative

Back 3

figurative meanings, nuances, implicit meanings of a word. Subtly shades the poem (p. 7)

Front 4

tone

Back 4

a poem's attitude toward the subject (formal, informal, neutral colloquial, vulgar, etc. p. 8).

Front 5

cliches

Back 5

stale, too familiar, overused phrases, words, or metaphors (p. 9)

Front 6

syntax

Back 6

the structure of phrases, clauses, sentences. The muscle of poetry (p. 10)

Front 7

end-stop

Back 7

when a line is ended with normal punctuation (p. 30).

Front 8

enjambment

Back 8

lines ending without a normal parallel to a normal speech pause (they don't have a comma etc. to end them. p. 30).

Front 9

obscurity

Back 9

NOT being clear, intentionally being difficult (p. 16).

"It's not difficult to be difficult." - Robert Francis

Front 10

ambiguity

Back 10

when a poem's meaning is unclear, and offers plausible alternative readings (p. 17)

Front 11

parody

Back 11

deliberate, exaggerated mimicking of another style (p. 242).

Front 12

sentimentality

Back 12

writing that doesn't earn the emotion it asks a reader to feel; writing more interested in self-expression than poetry (p. 247).

Front 13

overstatement

Back 13

claiming more than seems justified. This makes readers tune out (p. 247).

Front 14

hyperbole

Back 14

a brash, deliberate overstatement (p. 247).

Front 15

understatement

Back 15

deliberately underplaying something worthwhile; is cool and calm (p. 247).

Front 16

paradox

Back 16

a seemingly self-contradicting statement that nonetheless conveys some truth (p. 142).

Front 17

narratives

Back 17

poems that tell (or imply) stories (p. 156).

Front 18

negative capability

Back 18

the ability of the poets to empty the self, suspend judgments, and imagine others from the inside out (p. 160).

Front 19

persona poem

Back 19

a porm in which a fictional, mythic, historic or other figure speaks (p. 161).

Front 20

dramatic monologue

Back 20

when a character's speech creates a dramatic scene (p. 165).

Front 21

point of view

Back 21

the angle from which a poem comes to us. First person = I reports what happened, Second person = you... (p. 163).

Front 22

verbal irony

Back 22

a discrepancy between what the speaker says and what the speaker means (p. 170).

Front 23

dramatic irony

Back 23

discrepancy between what the reader/author know and what the speaker/characters know (p. 170).

Front 24

situational irony

Back 24

expectations meeting unexpected twists. i.e. "D" student becomes physics genius (p. 170).

Front 25

abecedarian

Back 25

a work where each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet (p. 280).

Front 26

onomatopoeia

Back 26

words that represent sounds; they imitate their meaning (p. 113).

Front 27

alliteration

Back 27

the repetition of consonant sounds in several words of a passage (p. 109).

Front 28

assonance

Back 28

the repetition of vowel sounds in a passage (p. 109).

Front 29

consonance

Back 29

identity of consonants with different main vowels (p. 110).

Front 30

metaphor

Back 30

transferring the qualities of one thing to another (p. 185).

Front 31

rhyme

Back 31

repeats stressed vowel sounds and their following consonants (p. 110).

Front 32

blank verse

Back 32

unrhymed iambic pentameter (p. 110).

Front 33

slant- or off-rhyme

Back 33

inexact rhyme (p. 110).

Front 34

end-rhyme

Back 34

when a the last word of one line finally rhymes with the last word of previous line (p. 112).

Front 35

internal rhyme

Back 35

rhymes taking place within lines, not at the end (p. 112).

Front 36

simile

Back 36

a comparison between two things; something is LIKE something else

Front 37

personification

Back 37

giving an inanimate object human characteristics or description (p. 189).

Front 38

animism

Back 38

assigning animal characteristics to humans (p. 189).

Front 39

hyperbole

Back 39

brash, deliberate overstatement (p. 247).

Front 40

metonymy

Back 40

substitute one thing for something associated with it; i.e. substituting "blood" for "life" (p. 190).

Front 41

synecdoche

Back 41

substituting a part for the whole, or whole for the part. I.e. "he bought himself a set of new wheels" (p. 190).

Front 42

conceit

Back 42

when metaphors dominate or organize a passage or poem (p. 198).

Front 43

mixed metaphor

Back 43

a metaphor that combines unrelated or even contradictory elements (p. 200).

Front 44

scansion

Back 44

identifying the meter of the passage (p. 62).

Front 45

foot

Back 45

one basic unit or a wave (p. 52).

Front 46

villanelle

Back 46

a type of poem repeating the first and third lines in alternating stanzas (p. 107).

Front 47

anaphora

Back 47

repeating a word at the start of consecutive phrases (p. 78).