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Poetry
Poetry terms & specific poems
34
English
Undergraduate 3
03/07/2013

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Term
Alliteration
Definition
the repetition of an initial consonant sound through a sequence of words
Term
Ambiguity
Definition
the use of a word or expression to mean more than one thing
Term
Dramatic Monologue
Definition
monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience. ("Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" Browning)
Term
Elegy
Definition
in classical times, any poem on any subject written in "elegiac" meter; since the Renaissance, usually a formal lament on the death of a particular person. ("Mid-Term Break" Heaney)
Term
English, or Shakespearean Sonnet
Definition
sonnet form that divides the poem into 3 units of 4 lines each and a final unit of 2 lines. Classic rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, but there are variations
Term
Epic
Definition
poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, usually in founding a nation or developing a culture, and uses elevated language and a high, grand style
Term
Figurative Language/Figure of Speech
Definition
usually applied to language that uses figures of speech. Heightens meaning by implicitly or explicitly representing something in terms of some other thing, the assumption being that the "other thing" will be more familiar to the reader. Comparisons in which something is pictured or figured in other, more familiar terms
Term
Iambic Pentameter
Definition
metrical form in which the basic foot is an iamb and most lines consist of 5 iambs; most common poetic meter in English
Term
Imagery
Definition
Any sensory detail or evocation in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or describe an object
Term
Irony
Definition
Illustrates a situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of discrepancy. Result of an action or situation is the reverse of what is expected. ("Water, water, everywhere" from Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
Term
Italian, or Petrarchan, Sonnet
Definition
Divides a poem into one section of 8 lines and a second section of 6 lines usually following ABBAABBAA CDECDE or ABBACDDC
Term
Lyric
Definition
Originally, a poem mean to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre; now, any short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion rather than describing a narrative or dramatic situation. ("A Noiseless Patient Spider" Whitman)
Term
Metaphor
Definition
One thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them; an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a verbal signal. Sometimes used as a general term for figure of speech.
Term
Meter
Definition
The more or less regular patter of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. Determined by the kind of "food" and by the number of feet per line.
Term
Monologue
Definition
Speech of more than a few sentences, usually in a play but also in other genres, spoken by one person and uninterrupted by the speech of anyone else
Term
Ode
Definition
lyrical poem characterized by a serious topic and formal tone by no prescribed formal pattern
Term
Paradox
Definition
statement that seems contradictory buy may actually be true
Term
Pastoral
Definition
poem that describes the simple life of country folk, usually shepherds, which live a timeless, painless life in a world full of beauty, music, & life
Term
Pantameter
Definition
line of poetry with five feet
Term
Rhyme scheme
Definition
the pattern of end rhymes in a poem
Term
Rhythm
Definition
modulation of stressed & unstressed elements in the flow of speech.
Term
Setting
Definition
time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play
Term
Simile
Definition
direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words 'like' or 'as' to draw the connection
Term
Sonnet
Definition
fixed verse form consisting of 14 lines usually in iambic pentameter
Term
Speaker
Definition
the person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of a poem
Term
Stanza
Definition
section of a poem demarcated by extra line spacing. (Paragraph in prose)
Term
Syllabic verse
Definition
a form in which the poet establishes a precise number of syllables to a line and repeats it in subsequent stanzas
Term
Tone
Definition
attitude a literary work takes toward its subject and theme
Term
"How Do I Love Thee?" Elizabeth Browning
Definition
Written to Robert Browning, universal quality that could apply to anyone
Term
"Mid-Term Break" Seamus Heaney
Definition
Elegy; about the little brother dying
Term
"[Let me not to the marriage of true minds]" Shakespeare
Definition
English sonnet; follows sonnet rhyme scheme; argument & metaphysical
Term
"Persimmons" Li-Young Lee
Definition
Free verse; irony
Term
"Barbie Doll" Marge Piercy
Definition
Not about an individual girl, but a phenomenon. Cautionary.
Term
"London" William Blake
Definition
Protest; beginning of Romanticism; references to prostitution and venereal diseases; equates soldiers with harlots
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