Figures of Speech I
Poetry (Meter)
Figures of Speech II
Poetry (Rhyme)
Figures of Speech III
100
The repetition of a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses to create emphasis.
Anaphora
100
Verse without fixed meter or rhyme, but using formal elements of patterned verse.
Free verse
100
The use of similar gramatical structures or word order in two sentences or phrases to suggest a comparison or contrast between them.
Parallelism
100
The pairing of two rhymed lines (AA, BB, etc.).
Couplet
100
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sequence of nearby words.
Assonance
200
A figure of speech in which a part of an entity is used to refer to the whole.
Synechdoche
200
Two syllables: unstressed, stressed
Iamb
200
A play on words that exploits the similarity in sound between two words with very different meanings.
Pun
200
A group of four lines, rhymed in various ways. The ballad's ABCB is a common pattern.
Quatrain
200
A common expression that has acquired a meaning that differs from its literal meaning.
Idiom
300
The repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants, at the beginning of words.
Alliteration
300
Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Blank Verse
300
A direct address to an absent or dead person, or to an object, quality, or idea.
Apostrophe
300
Less common, a grouping of three lines that usually has one rhyme.
Tercet
300
The repetition of similar consonant sounds in a sequence of nearby words.
Consonance
400
Two phrases in which the syntax is the same but the placement of words is reversed.
Chiasmus
400
Five iambs per line of poetry.
Iambic Pentameter
400
The use of words, such as "pop", "hiss", and "boing", that sound like the thing they refer to.
Onomatopoeia
400
A triple group of lines, but more complex than a simple tercet, consisting of interlocking triplets (ABA BCB CDC, etc.) often with a final couplet rhymed with the second line of the last triplet.
Terza Rima
400
The use of decorous language to express vulgar or unpleasant ideas, events, or actions.
Euphemism
500
An informal expression or slang, especially in the context of formal writing.
Colloquialism
500
Alternating tetrameter and trimeter, usually iambic and rhyming.
Ballad
500
A form of understatement in which a statement is affirmed by negating the opposite ("The dog is not disobedient.")
Litotes
500
Create a tercet with an ABA rhyme scheme and recite it to the class.
Answers will vary.
500
The substitution of one term for another that generally is associated with it.
Metonymy