Poetic Terms to Know

Poetic Terms to Know!!! 1. alliteration 2. assonance 3. ballad 4. connotation 5. couplet 6. denotation 7. diction 8. imagery 9. lyric poem 10. metaphor 11. meter 12. narrative 13. allusion 14. onomatopoeia 15. personification 16. repetition 17. rhyme scheme 18. rhythm 19. free verse 20. simile 21. sonnet 22. stanza 23. symbol 24. tone 25. speaker POETIC TERMS TEACHER KEY

1. Alliteration- the repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) of stressed syllables in neighbouring words or at short intervals within a line or passage, usually at word beginnings

Example- I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

2. Assonance- Is the relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage, thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, date and fade.

3. Ballad- a simple narrative poem of folk origin, composed in short stanzas and adapted for singing.

4. Connotation- The suggestion of a meaning by a word beyond what it explicitly denotes or describes. The word, home, for example, means the place where one lives, but by connotation, also suggests security, family, love and comfort

5. Couplet- Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme. The couplet, for practical purposes, is the shortest stanza form, but is frequently joined with other couplets to form a poem with no stanzaic divisions

6. Denotation- The literal dictionary meaning(s) of a word as distinct from an associated idea or connotation

7. Diction- The choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language in a literary work; the manner or mode of verbal expression, particularly with regard to clarity and accuracy. The diction of a poem can range from colloquial to formal, from literal to figurative, or from concrete or abstract.

8. Imagery- The elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery is a variable term which can apply to any and all components of a poem that evoke sensory experience and emotional response, whether figurative or literal, and also applies to the concrete things so imaged.

9. Lyric poem- One of the three main groups of poetry, the others being narrative and dramatic. By far the most frequently used form in modern poetic literature, the term lyric includes all poems in which the speaker's ardent expression of a (usually single) emotional element predominates.

10. Metaphor- A comparison between two unlike ideas or things without the use of like or as.

11. Meter- A measure of rhythmic quantity; the organized succession of groups of syllables at basically regular intervals in a line of poetry, according to definite metrical patterns. The metrical element of sound makes a valuable contribution to the mood and total effect of a poem.

12. Narrative- The narration of an event or story, stressing details of plot, incident, and action. Along with dramatic and lyric, it is one of the three main groups of poetry.

13.Allusion- An implied or indirect reference to something assumed to be known, such as a historical event or personage, a well-known quotation from literature, or a famous work of art. An allusion can be used by the poet as a means of imagery, since, like a symbol, it can suggest ideas by connotation.

14. Onomatopoeia- Strictly speaking, the formation or use of words which imitate sounds, like whispering, clang, and sizzle, but the term is generally expanded to refer to any word whose sound is suggestive of its meaning, whether by imitation or through cultural inference.

15. Personification- A type of metaphor in which distinctive human characteristics, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object, or idea, as "the haughty lion surveyed his realm" or "my car was happy to be washed" or "'Fate frowned on his endeavors."

16. Repetition- A basic artistic device, fundamental to any conception of poetry. It is a highly effective unifying force; the repetition of sound, syllables, words, syntactic elements, lines, stanzaic forms, and metrical patterns establishes cycles of expectation which are reinforced with each successive fulfillment.

17. Rhyme scheme- The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as the ababbcc of the Rhyme Royal stanza form.

18. Rhythm- An essential of all poetry, the regular or progressive pattern of recurrent accents in the flow of a poem as determined by the arses and theses of the metrical feet, i.e., the rise and fall of stress. The measure of rhythmic quantity is the meter.

19. Free verse- The free in free verse refers to the freedom from fixed patterns of meter and rhyme, but writers of free verse employ familiar poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration, imagery, caesura, figures of speech etc.

20. Simile- A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two essentially unlike things, usually using like, as or than

21. Sonnet- A fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse.

22.Stanza- A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space, usually of a corresponding number of lines and a recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme. A poem with such divisions is described as having a stanzaic form, but not all verse is divided in stanzas.

23. Symbol- An image transferred by something that stands for or represents something else, like flag for country, or autumn for maturity. Symbols can transfer the ideas embodied in the image without stating them

24. Tone- The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression toward the subject, e.g., loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, etc. Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion.

25.Speaker-