Poetic Terms/Techniques
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48 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Subject | what the poem is literally about |
| theme | the message/point that the poet is trying to say about the subject |
| lyric poetry | short, that expresses thoughts/feelings of a single speaker; one point of view |
| narrative poetry | tells a story |
| dramatic poetry | presents voice of imaginary character speaking directly to the reader |
| didactic poetry | written to teach a message; pass on moral lesson |
| dramatic monologue | one speaker tells story |
| tone | the speaker's attitude or feeling towards the subject/theme of the poem |
| speaker | whose voice is heard in the poem, may or may not be the poet |
| ironic point of view | poet's POV is not the same as the speaker's; |
| verbal irony | the speaker's meaning is different, sometimes opposite of the words |
| sarcasm | verbal irony that is especially bitter, heavy-handed |
| dramatic irony | when audience or reader has knowledge that the character doesn't |
| cosmic irony | when fate, God, supernatural forces seem to oppose efforts of a human being |
| diction | word choice |
| concrete words | touch it, senses, visible, real object |
| abstract words | ideas and concepts not tangible |
| allusion | indirect reference to any person, place, thing |
| portmanteau | a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings |
| denotation | straight forward meaning of a word |
| connotation | what a word implies or suggests |
| image | word or phrase that calls to mind a sense experience |
| visual imagery | imagery that appeals to sight |
| auditory imagery | imagery that appeals to hearing |
| tactile imagery | imagery that appeals to touch |
| olfactory imagery | imagery that appeals to smell |
| gustatory imagery | imagery that appeals to taste |
| figure of speech | when a speaker or writer departs from the usual denotations of words |
| simile | a comparison of two things indicated by: like, as, than |
| metaphor | a statement that one thing is something else, comparison |
| implied metaphor | a metaphor that uses neither a connective word nor the verb to be |
| mixed metaphor | is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification inconsistent with the first, things clash |
| personification | a figure of speech in which a thing, an animal, or an abstract term is made human |
| apostrophe | a way of addressing someone or something invisible or not ordinarily spoken to |
| hyperbole | overstatement, exaggeration for effect |
| understatement | implying than is said |
| metonymy | the name of a thing is substituted for that of another closely associated with it |
| synecdoche | the use of a part of a thing to stand for the whole of it, vice-versa |
| paradox | occurs in a statement that at first strikes us as self-contradictory but that on reflection makes some sense |
| pun | reminds of another word, similar in sound, different in meaning |
| symbol | visible object that suggests some further meaning in addition to itself with multiple messages |
| conventional symbol | conventional meaning |
| allegory | a narrative in which persons, places, or things are used in a continued system of symbols |
| euphony | when the sounds of words work well together to please the ear |
| cacophony | sounds of words are harsh, upsetting, jangled |
| onomatopoeia | word represents sound |
| alliteration | repetition of the same consonant sound |
| assonance | repetition of the same vowel sound |
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