Poetry Terms
A group of lines of poetry, usually separated from other groups of lines by a space.
What is a stanza?
The central problem in a story.
What is a conflict?
The most important statement in the essay. This statement must be clear, concise, and provable.
What is the claim?
A comparison between two seemingly unlike things using "like" or "as".
Example: Her eyes were as blue as the budding flower.
What is a simile?
The main idea or lesson learned in a story.
What is the theme?
The pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines in a poem.
What is rhyme scheme?
The turning point in a story; the point of most suspense; the point at which the conflict is usually resolved or changed in some way.
What is the climax?
These words come after an excerpt in an essay and EXPLAIN how the excerpt supports the claim. These words usually begin with "This shows . . .".
What is analysis?
Giving human qualities to something that is not living.
What is personification?
The perspective from which a narrator tells a story (First, Second or Third Person).
What is Point of View?
A word, line, or phrase repeated throughout a poem, especially at the ends of stanzas.
What is repetition?
The part of the plot that introduces characters, setting, and background information.
What is the exposition?
A type of language that is polished and used for academic writing.
What is formal language?
A comparison between two seemingly unlike things that equates them without using "like" or "as".
Example: Life is a spinning carousel.
What is a metaphor?
The attitude of the author.
What is the tone?
A word that sounds like the sound it describes.
Example: The sink drip, drip, dripped.
What is onomatopoeia?
The series of events in the plot that build suspense.
What is the rising action?
The use of present tense when writing about literature.
What is literary present tense?
Extreme exaggeration.
What is hyperbole?
What is Irony?
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.
Example: The slithering snake slid by.
What is alliteration?
The events in the plot that lead to the resolution.
What is the falling action?
Words that are used to introduce an excerpt in an essay. These words should provide background information about the excerpt and should flow seamlessly into an excerpt.
What is context?
Making a reference to another work of literature, film, or art within a text.
What is allusion?
The main character, the good guy.
Who is the protagonist?