Vocabulary & Figurative Language
What is a symbol in poetry?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: A symbol is something that stands for a bigger idea, like a mask representing hidden emotions.
What is a theme in literature?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: A central idea or message about life.
What is the difference between tone and mood?
Tone is the author’s attitude; mood is the feeling the reader gets.
What is a stanza?
A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in prose.
How does imagery appeal to the senses in poetry?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: It uses descriptive language to make readers imagine sights, sounds, and feelings.
How can you find the theme if the poet doesn’t state it directly?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Look for repeated images, emotions, and the speaker’s experiences.
What is the tone of "We Wear the Mask"?
Sample Answer: The tone is sorrowful, bitter, and resilient because it talks about hidden pain and the need to endure.
What is a “shift” in poetry?
A change in tone, subject, perspective, etc..
What is diction, and why does it matter in poetry?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Diction is word choice; it shapes tone and how the reader interprets meaning.
Why might a poet choose a metaphor instead of directly saying the theme?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Metaphors make the theme more powerful and universal by engaging the reader’s imagination.
How can diction (word choice) create a sorrowful tone?
In general, author's can use words with a sad or negative connotation to create a sorrowful tone. Words like “scar” or “bleeding” create sadness and heaviness.
How does stanza structure affect meaning in a poem?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Each stanza can build a different part of the message, like moving from description to emotion to resolution.
Explain how irony can add meaning to a poem.
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Irony creates contrast between appearance and reality, showing deeper truths, like smiling while hiding pain.
How does the speaker’s perspective shape the theme of a poem?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: The speaker’s feelings and experiences guide the message; if the speaker feels trapped, the theme may be about oppression.
How does repetition of words or phrases affect tone?
Repetition emphasizes strong emotions, making the tone more intense.
Why might a poet start with imagery and then move to abstract ideas?
Concrete images draw readers in before revealing deeper, abstract meaning.
Give an example of figurative vs. literal meaning in poetry and explain how the figurative meaning reveals theme.
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Literally, a “cage” traps a bird; figuratively, it represents oppression, showing how freedom is denied.
Why might a poem communicate both suffering and hope at the same time, and how does that affect the theme?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: It reflects real human experiences; showing both pain and resilience makes the theme more complex and realistic.
How might the tone shift from one stanza to the next, and what effect does that shift have?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: A poem may begin calm and descriptive, then shift to emotional and painful, showing a change in focus and deepening meaning.
How does contrast (like freedom vs. confinement) strengthen theme development?
Answers may vary.
Sample Answer: Opposites highlight what is missing or desired; freedom seems more powerful when shown against captivity.