List of Literary Terms

Secondary II List of Literary Terms Term 3

Types of poems:

Ballad: a narrative poem, usually containing much repetition and often a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally folk songs passed on from age to age.

Concrete Poetry: poetry in which the visual arrangement of words or letters suggests something about the subject of the poem.

Haiku: a lyric (descriptive poem) originating in Japan that captures the essence of a moment in a simple image. Always written in the present tense.

Limerick: a type of nonsense verse with a definite pattern: a five-line stanza with a rhyming pattern of AABBA. ______Literary Terms

Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or within words. Alliteration is used for unity, emphasis, and musical effect. I.e. the slimy snake slithered.

Image (imagery): words or groups of words that help the reader picture or sense what is being described. ▪ Makes use of the reader’s five senses. Can create images by using metaphors, similes, and personification.

Metaphor: A direct comparison of unlike things that is short and vivid. I.e. The man was a bear.

Mood: The attitude or tone which runs through an entire literary work; the attitude which the writer takes toward the subject or theme.

Onomatopoeia: the use of a word whose sound imitates, suggests, or reinforces its meaning. I.e. “Crash” “Buzz” “Hum”

Refrain: a phrase or sentence repeated at regular intervals in a poem or song. Refrains usually occur after each stanza.

Rhyme: the similarity of sound between two words. I.e. old/cold and take/lake

Rhythm: the patterned flow of sounds in poetry and prose. Simile: an indirect comparison of unlike things using like or as. I.e. He was as hungry as a bear.

Stanza: any distinct grouping of lines usually in recurring units of the same number within a poem.