Poetry Terms

Madeline S.
Terms from Poetry textbook Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound, and Sense, ninth edition, Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. absurd
    inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense
    The comedic book is absurd in it's emphasis of emptiness and meaningless of life.
  2. accent
    a symbol used to indicate stress or a special pronunciation
    A syllable with more stress is said to have an accent.
  3. allegory
    a short moral story
    A narrative with a second meaning of an abstract idea or moral principle is an allegory.
  4. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
    As Allison arrived in Albany, Augustus arrived in Atlanta is an example of an alliteration.
  5. allusion
    passing reference or indirect mention
    An allusion is a reference to another work or piece of history.
  6. anapest
    two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable
    An example of anapest is un-der-stand.
  7. anaphora
    repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses
    Repetition of an opening word or phrase in multiple lines is an anaphora.
  8. antagonist
    someone who offers opposition
    Lord Voldemort is the main antagonist of the Harry Potter novels.
  9. apostrophe
    an address to an absent or imaginary person
    Apostrophe can be used to communicate extreme emotion with an absent or imaginary person.
  10. aside
    a line spoken by an actor not intended for others on stage
    The actress spoke aside to communicate her disappointment in her brother onstage.
  11. assonance
    the repetition of similar vowels in successive words
    Assonance is shown in the comparison between ran and amber as well as vein and made.
  12. ballad
    a narrative poem of popular origin
    A ballad is written in a narrative song-like stanza form.
  13. blank verse
    unrhymed poetry, usually in iambic pentameter
    Hamlet is an example of blank verse.
  14. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    Cacophony is not pleasant to listen to due to it's disagreeing arrangement of sounds.
  15. caesura
    a break or pause in the middle of a verse line
    A caesura can be taken for emphasis.
  16. catharsis
    purging of emotional tensions
    Catharsis is a term used by Aristotle to describe an emotional release at the end of a tragedy.
  17. chance
    an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon
    She could have died by chance.
  18. character
    an actor's portrayal of someone in a play, film, etc...
    Ophelia was a character in Hamlet.
  19. characterization
    the act of describing essential features
    Only the author can pick the characterization of a play.
  20. chorus
    any utterance produced simultaneously by a group
    A chant by a group often found in Greek drama is called a chorus.
  21. climax
    the decisive moment in a novel or play
    The climax is the high point of a plot.
  22. coincidence
    the property of two things happening at the same time
    Sally seeing Paul at the airport was a coincidence.
  23. comedy
    light and humorous drama with a happy ending
    A comedy is the opposite to a tragedy and also involves humor.
  24. conflict
    opposition in a work of fiction between characters or forces
    A conflict can be about actions, desires, ideas or goals and is often woven into the plot.
  25. connotation
    the internal content of a term or concept
    Connotation is when a word has more meaning beyond the dictionary definition.
  26. consonance
    the repetition of sounds especially at the ends of words
    Book and thick both have a 'k' sound at the end known as consonance.
  27. couplet
    a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse
    A couplet is two lines of a verse of the same meter linked by rhyme.
  28. dactyl
    metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables
    Mer-ri-ly is an example of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or a dactyl.
  29. denotation
    the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression
    The basic definition of a word and the opposite of connotation is denotation.
  30. denouement
    the resolution of the main complication of a literary work
    The portion of plot that reveals the ending of conflicts is a denouement.
  31. deus ex machina
    an agent who appears unexpectedly to solve a difficulty
    An unexpected character to rescue a protagonist from an impossible situation.
  32. dilemma
    state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options
    Whether to choose chocolate or vanilla ice cream could be seen as a dilemma for some people.
  33. double rhyme
    a two-syllable rhyme
    Rightly and politely are examples of a two-syllable rhyme called a double rhyme.
  34. dramatic irony
    when the audience understands something the characters don't
    The dramatic irony unfolded when the main character discovered a chest from her past but did not recognize it.
  35. dramatization
    conversion into a form for performance
    A presentation of character through the actions of a character is dramatization.
  36. editorialize
    insert personal opinions into an objective statement
    She editorialized the novel to reflect parts of her own life and beliefs.
  37. end-rhymed
    rhymed on the terminal syllables of the verses
    All of the lines finished in an 'oo' sound and end-rhymed.
  38. end-stopped
    (verse) having a rhetorical pause at the end of each line
    A line ending in a natural pause, usually with punctuation, is an end-stopped line.
  39. English sonnet
    a sonnet consisting three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg
    A type of poem where the pattern is ababcdcdefefgg is an English sonnet.
  40. epiphany
    a usually sudden insight, perception, or understanding of something
    She had an epiphany as if she had been in the room before.
  41. euphony
    any pleasing and harmonious sounds
    The orchestra created an euphony of musical sounds.
  42. fantasy
    fiction with a large amount of imagination in it
    The Harry Potter series is an example of fiction.
  43. farce
    a comedy characterized by broad satire
    A type of drama like comedy but emphasizing improbable situations is an example of farce.
  44. figurative
    not literal
    Figurative language cannot be taken literally.
  45. figure of speech
    language used in a nonliteral sense
    His offensive joke was just a figure of speech.
  46. first person
    pronouns and verbs used to refer to the speaker
    When a piece uses "I" and refers to themselves as the speaker it is first person point of view.
  47. folk ballad
    a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture
    A folk ballad is what slaves might have sung while they worked in cotton fields that was then passed down orally through generations.
  48. foot
    a group of syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm
    A foot contains one accented syllables and one or two unaccented syllables in a poem.
  49. form
    the sound or appearance of a word
    The form of a poem is the external pattern or shape.
  50. free verse
    poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter
    Hamlet is an example of a free verse poem with no rhyming or pattern.
  51. hamartia
    the character flaw or error of a tragic hero
    A hamartia is an act of ignorance that a character makes for the sake of greater good and eventually his downfall.
  52. hexameter
    a verse line having six metrical feet
    A hexameter has six metrical feet.
  53. hyperbole
    extravagant exaggeration
    An overstatement is the same as a hyperbole.
  54. imagery
    the ability to form mental pictures of things or events
    The imagery of the work was descriptive.
  55. indeterminate
    not fixed or known in advance
    An indeterminate ending is an unknown part of a piece of work.
  56. internal rhyme
    a rhyme between words in the same line
    A rhyme between words in the same line is an internal rhyme.
  57. irony
    incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
    The irony of his appearance right on mention was uncanny.
  58. Italian sonnet
    a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd
    A variation of a sonnet using octave rhyming in abbaabba and sestet with more additional rhymes like cdcdcd or cdecde is an Italian sonnet.
Created on Thu Nov 08 18:16:28 EST 2012 (updated Thu Nov 08 20:13:33 EST 2012)

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