Poetry Revision Glossary of Terms (Love through the Ages Based)

?
  • Created by: Rebecca
  • Created on: 05-06-13 14:50
Alliteration
repetition of sounds, usually the first letters of successive words, or words that are close together. Alliteration usually applies only to consonants
1 of 43
Anapest
two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable "**/"
2 of 43
Assonance
repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds
3 of 43
Ballad
originally a song which tells a story, often involving dialogue. Characteristically the storyteller's own feelings are not expressed.
4 of 43
Caesura
strong pauses in a line of verse, usually appearing in the middle of a line and marked with a comma, semi-colon or a full stop
5 of 43
Couplet
pair of rhymed lines, often used as a way of rounding off a sonnet;, hence the term "closing couplet"
6 of 43
Dactyl
a stressed syllable, followed by two unstressed syllables "/**"
7 of 43
Dialogue
spoken exchange between characters, usually in drama and fiction but also sometimes in poetry
8 of 43
Diction
writer's choice of words. Poetic diction might be described, for instance, as formal or informal, elevated or colloquial
9 of 43
Elegy
poem of loss, usually mourning the death of a public figure, or someone close to the poet
10 of 43
Ellipsis
omission of words from a sentence to achieve brevity and compression
11 of 43
Enjambment
the use of run-on lines in poetry. Instead of stopping or pausing at the end of a line of poetry, we have to carry on reading until we complete the meaning in a later line. The term comes from the French for "striding"
12 of 43
Epic
A long narrative poem dealing with events on a grand scale, often with a ero above average in qualities and exploits
13 of 43
Epigram
Witty, condensed expression. The closing couplet in some of Shakespeare's sonnets is often described as an epigram.
14 of 43
Foot
a unit of metre with a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
15 of 43
Heroic couplet
iambic pentameter lines rhyming in pairs, most commonly used for satiric or didactic poetry, and particularly favoured in the 18th century
16 of 43
Iamb
unstressed followed by a stressed syllable "x/"
17 of 43
Iambic pentameter
a line of consisting of five iambs
18 of 43
Imagery
special use of language in a way that evoke sense impression (usually visual) Many poetic images function as mental pictures that give shape and appeal to something otherwise vague and abstract. Similie and metaphor are two types of imagery
19 of 43
Metaphor
Image in which one thing is substituted for another, or the quality of one object is identified with another. The sun, for Shakespeare, become the "eye of heaven"
20 of 43
Metre
(Greek metron* "measure") measurement of a line of poetry, including its length and its pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Most sonnets for example written are divided into lines of 10 syllables 5 stresses pentameter
21 of 43
Narrative
the telling of series of events (either true or fictitious). The person relating these events is the narrator. However, it is more usual in poetry to refer to the "speaker"
22 of 43
Octave
group of eight lines of poetry, often forming the first part of a sonnet
23 of 43
Ode
A poem on a serious subject, usually written in an elevated formal style; often written to commemorate public events
24 of 43
Onomatopoeia
A word that seems to imitate the sound or sounds associated with the object or action, for example "cuckoo"
25 of 43
Ottava ruma
a poem in eight-line stanzas rhyming abababcc
26 of 43
Personification
writing about something not human as if it were a person, for example "busy old fool, unruly Sun/Why dost thou thus?"
27 of 43
Poetic inversion
reversing the order of normal speech in order to make the words fit a particular rhythm or rhyme, or both.
28 of 43
Pun
Double meaning or ambiguity in a word, often employed in a witty way. Pun are often associated with wordplay.
29 of 43
Quatrain
Group of four lines of poetry usually rhymed
30 of 43
Refrain
A line or phrase repeated throughout a poem, sometimes with variations, often at the end of each stanza
31 of 43
Rhyme
echo of similar sound, usually at the end of a line of poetry. Occasionally internal rhymes can be found as in "Sister, my sister, O fleet, sweet swallow"
32 of 43
Rhyme scheme
pattern of rhymes established in a poem. The pattern of rhymes in a quatrain for instance might be "abab" "abba"
33 of 43
Rhythm
the pattern of beats or stresses in a line creating a sense of movement
34 of 43
Sestet
group of six lines of poetry, often forming the second part of a sonnet
35 of 43
Similie
image in which one thing is likened to another. The similarity is usually pointed out with the word "like" or "as" "my love is like a red red rose"
36 of 43
Sonnet
fourteen iambic pentameter lines with varying rhyme schemes
37 of 43
Spondee
two stressed syllables "//"
38 of 43
Syllable
single unit of pronunciation. "sun" is one syllable, "sunshine" is two syllables
39 of 43
Tercet
group of three lines in poetry, sometimes referred to as a triplet
40 of 43
Trochee
a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable "/ x"
41 of 43
Turn
distinctive movement of change in mood or thought or feeling. In the sonnet, the turn usually occurs between the octave and the sestet, though the closing couplet in Shakespeare's sonnets often constitutes the turn
42 of 43
Villanelle
an intricate French verse form with some lines repeated, and only two rhyme sounds throughout the five three-line stanzas and final four-line stanzas
43 of 43

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Anapest

Back

two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable "**/"

Card 3

Front

Assonance

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Ballad

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Caesura

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Love through the ages resources »