Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Poetry Terms
Everything You Need To Know About Poetry
109
English
12th Grade
01/31/2010

Additional English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Accent
Definition
A syllable given more prominence in pronunciation than its neighbors is said to be accented
Term
Allegory
Definition
A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one
Term
Alliteration
Definition

The repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words

 

Ex. map-moon, kill-code, preach-approve

Term
Allusion
Definition
A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in literature or history
Term
Anacrusis
Definition
In metrical verse, the omission of an unaccented syllable at the beginning of a line
Term
Anapest
Definition

A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable.

 

Ex. un-der-stand

Term
Anapestic Meter
Definition
A meter in which a majority of the feet are anapests (Also see Triple Meter)
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply
Term
Approximate Rime
Definition

A term used for words in a riming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but are not perfect rimes


Ex. Push-Rush

Term
Assonance
Definition
The repition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables, or important words
Term
Aubade
Definition
A poem about dawn, a morning love song, or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn
Term
Ballad
Definition
A fairly short narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form
Term
Blank Verse
Definition
Unrimed Iambic Pentameter
Term
Cacophony
Definition
A harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sound
Term
Caesura
Definition
See Grammatical Pause and Rhetorical Pause
Term
Connotation
Definition
What a word suggests beyond its basic definition; a word's overtones of meaning
Term
Continuous Form
Definition
That form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of meaning
Term
Couplet
Definition
Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rime
Term
Dactyl
Definition

A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

 

Ex. Mer-ri-ly

Term
Dactylic Meter
Definition
A Meter in which a majority of the feet are dactyls
Term
Denotation
Definition
The basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word
Term
Didactic Poetry
Definition
Poetry having as a primary purpose to teach or preach
Term
Dimeter
Definition
A metrical line containing two feet
Term
Double Rime
Definition

A rime in which the repeated vowel is in the second last syllabe of the words involved

 

Ex. Politely-Rightly-Spritely

Term
Dramatic Framework
Definition
The situation, whether actual or fictual, realistic or fanciful, in which an author places his or her characters in order to express the theme.
Term
Duple Meter
Definition
A meter in which a majority of the feet contain two syllables. Iambic and Trochaic are both duple meters.
Term
End Rime
Definition
Rimes that occur at the ends of the lines
Term
End-Stopped Line
Definition
A line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation
Term
English (Or Shakespearean) Sonnet
Definition
A sonnet riming ababcdcdefefgg. Its content or structure ideally parallels the rime scheme, falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet; but it is often structured, like the Italian sonnet, into octave and sestet, the principal break in thought coming at the end of the 8th line.
Term
Euphony
Definition
A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
Term
Expected Rhythm
Definition
The Rhythmic Expectation set up by the basic meter of a poem
Term
Extended Figure
Definition
A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines through a whole poem
Term
Extra-Metrical Syllables
Definition
In metrical verse, extra unaccented syllables added at the beginnings or endings of lines; these may be either a feature of the metrial form of a poem or occur as exceptions to the form.
Term
Feminine Rime
Definition

A rime in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or third last syllable of the words involved

 

Ex. Ceiling-Appealing, Hurrying-Scurrying

Term
Figurative Language
Definition
Language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally
Term
Figure of Speech
Definition
Broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly, a way of saying one thing and meaning another.
Term
Fixed Form
Definition
Any form of poem in which the length and pattern are prescribed by previous usage or tradition such as sonnet, limerick or haiku
Term
Folk Ballad
Definition
A narrative poem designed to be sung, composed by an anonymous author, and transmitted orally for years or generations before being written down.
Term
Foot
Definition
The basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of metrical verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables.
Term
Form
Definition
The external pattern or shape of a poem, describable without reference to its content
Term
Free Verse
Definition
Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and natural speech rhythms replace metrical regularity as a formal device
Term
Grammatical Pause (Caesura)
Definition
A pause introduced into the reading of a line by a mark of punctuation.
Term
Haiku
Definition
A three line poem, Japanese in origin, narrowly conceived of as a fixed form in which the lines contain respectively five, seven, and five syllables.
Term
Heard Rhythm
Definition
The actual rhythm of a metrical poem as we hear it when it is read naturally. The heard rhythm mostly conforms to but sometimes departs from or modifies the expected rhythm.
Term
Hexameter
Definition
A metrical line containing 6 feet
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
See Overstatement
Term
Iamb
Definition

A metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable

 

Ex. Re-Hearse

Term
Iambic Meter
Definition
A meter in which the majority of feet are iambs.
Term
Imagery
Definition
The representation through language of sense experience
Term
Internal Rime
Definition
A rime in which one or both of the rime words occur within the line
Term
Irony
Definition

A situation or a use of language involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy

 

 

Term
Verbal Irony
Definition
A figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said
Term
Dramatic Irony
Definition
A device in which the author implies a different meaning from that intended by the speaker in a literary work
Term
Irony of Situation
Definition
A situation in which there is an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass
Term
Italian (Or Petrarchan) Sonnet
Definition
A sonnet consisting of an octave riming abbaabba and of a sestet using any arrangement of two or three additional rimes, such as cdcdcd or cdecde.
Term
Limerick
Definition
A fixed form consisting of five lines of anapestic meter, the first two trimeter, the next two dimeter, the last line trimeter, riming aabba, used exclusively for humorous or nonsense verse
Term
Masculine Rime
Definition

A rime in which the repeated accented vowel sound is in the final syllable of the words involved

 

Ex. Dance-Pants, Scald-Recalled

Term
Metaphor
Definition
A figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike.
Term
Meter
Definition
The regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse; the measurable repitition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry.
Term
Metonymy
Definition
A figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.
Term
Metrical Variation
Definition
Departures from the basic metrical pattern
Term
Monometer
Definition
A metrical line containing one foot
Term
Octave
Definition
An eight line stanza
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
The use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound
Term
Overstatement (Or Hyperbole)
Definition
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth
Term
Paradox
Definition
A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements
Term
Paradoxical Situation
Definition

A situation containing apparently but not actually incompatible elements.

 

Ex. Celebration of a 5th birthday party for a 25 year old man is paradoxical but explainable if he were born on Feb. 29th

Term
Paradoxical Statement
Definition
A figure of speech in which an apparently self-contradictory statement is nevertheless found to be true
Term
Paraphrase
Definition
A restatement of the content of a poem designed to make its prose meaning as clear as possible.
Term
Pentameter
Definition
A metrical line containing 5 feet
Term
Personification
Definition
A figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept
Term
Phonetic Intensive
Definition
A word whose sound, by an obscure process, to some degree suggests its meaning.
Term
Prose
Definition
Nonmetrical Language, the opposite of verse
Term
Prose Meaning
Definition
That part of a poem's total meaning that can be separated out and expressed through paraphrase
Term
Prose Poem
Definition
Usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse
Term
Quatrain
Definition
A four line stanza
Term
Refrain
Definition
A repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form
Term
Rhetorical Pause
Definition
A natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntax.
Term
Rhetorical Poetry
Definition
Poetry using artificially eloquent language, that is, language too high-flown for its occasion and unfaithful to the full complexity of human experience
Term
Rhetorical Stress
Definition
In natural speech, as in prose and poetic writing, the stressing of words or syllables so as to emphasize meaning and sentence structure
Term
Rime
Definition

The repition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in important or importantly positioned words.

 

Ex. Cold-Old, Vain-Reign, Court-Report, etc.

Term
Rime Scheme
Definition
Any fixed pattern of rimes caracterizing a whole poem or its stanzas
Term
Run-On Line
Definition
A line which has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line.
Term
Sarcasm
Definition
Bitter or cutting speech
Term
Satire
Definition
A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice.
Term
Scansion
Definition
The process of measuring metrical verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern
Term
Sentimental Poetry
Definition
Poetry aimed primarily at stimulating the emotions rather than at communicating experience honestly and freshly.
Term
Sestet
Definition
A 6 Line Stanza
Term
Simile
Definition
A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike.
Term
Sonnet
Definition
A fixed form of 14 lines, normally iambic pentameter, with a rime scheme conforming to or approximating one of two main types
Term
Spondee
Definition

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented

 

Ex. True-Blue

Term
Stanza
Definition
A group of lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout the poem
Term
Stanzaic Form
Definition
The form taken by a poem when it is written in a series of units having the same number of lines and usually other characteristics in common, such as metrical pattern or rime scheme.
Term
Structure
Definition
The internal organization of a poems content
Term
Substitution
Definition
In metrical verse, the replacement of the expected metrical foot by a different one
Term
Syllabic Verse
Definition
Verse measured by the number of syllables rather than the number of fet per line
Term
Symbol
Definition
A figure of speech in which something means more than what it is. May be read both literally and metaphorically
Term
Synecdoche
Definition
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.
Term
Terza Rima
Definition
An interlocking rime scheme with the pattern aba bcb cdc, etc.
Term
Tetrameter
Definition
A metrical line containing 4 feet
Term
Theme
Definition
The central idea of a literary work
Term
Tone
Definition
The writer's, or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience or his/herself; the emotional coloring of a work
Term
Total Meaning
Definition
The total experience communicated by a poem
Term
Trimeter
Definition
A metrical line containing 3 feet
Term
Triple Meter
Definition
A meter in which a majority of the feet contain 3 syllables
Term
Trochaic Meter
Definition
A meter in which the majority of feet are trochees
Term
Trochee
Definition

A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable

 

Ex. Bar-ter

Term
Understatement
Definition
A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasional warrants
Term
Verse
Definition
Metrical Language, the opposite of prose
Supporting users have an ad free experience!