Poetry Terms
the narrative voice of the poem.
What is the speaker?
the emotional quality of a passage or the perceived attitude of a speaker towards a thing or idea in the text.
What is tone?
An ingenious and fanciful notion or conception, usually expressed through an elaborate analogy (may be a brief metaphor, but it also may form the framework of an entire poem).
What is conceit
Poetry that is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical
free verse?
a basic comparison of two generally unlike things that produced insight.
What is metaphor?
a combination of sounds that produces a harsh or discordant effect.
What is cacophony?
the author's choice of words based on their exact or connotative meaning for effect.
What is diction?
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
What is blank verse?
instructive; author attempts to educate or instruct the reader.
What is didactic?
Using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect.
what is polysyndeton?
the repetition of vowel sounds: “which din dims the light.”
What is assonance?
what a word suggests beyond its denotative (precise or dictionary) meaning, including social or emotional connections.
What is connotation?
the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced for the context.
What is ellipsis?
serious in purpose and convention (no slang, contractions; no idioms).
What is formal?
a figure of speech in which some significant aspect of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.
What is metonymy?
the speaker addresses something or someone that cannot answer, something nonliving or inanimate.
What is apostrophe?
a clever little story; a short account of an interesting situation relevant to the text and used as example.
What is an anecdote?
rhyme that appears correct from spelling, but is half rhyme or slant rhyme from the pronunciation (ex: "watch and match" or "love and move"
What is an eye rhyme?
an eight-line stanza
What is octave?
represented by a two syllable foot that contains one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
What is iambic meter?
a moment of insight, spiritual or personal; a character's sudden revelation about life or his or her own circumstances.
What is epiphany?
this type of sentence construction (or even paragraph construction) contains balanced grammatical structures that provide similar rhetorical value.
What is parallel sentence or parallel structure?
A six line stanza
What is sestet?
An emotional discharge that brings a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension or anxiety
What is catharsis?