 | Term | Definition |
| |
figurative |
language that is not literal |
| |
prose |
the opposite of poetry |
| |
stanza |
a pararaph's equivalent |
| |
line |
a sentence's equivalent |
| |
blank verse |
has regular rhythm but irregular or no rhyme; sometimes it is called unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| |
traditional verse |
verse that has regular rhythm and regular rhyme |
| |
free verse |
has irregular or no rhythm and irregular or no rhyme; as a form, it first appeared in the twentieth century |
| |
personification |
giving life like qualities o an inanimate object |
| |
metaphor |
a comparison between two unlike objects |
| |
pun |
a word operating off two denotations |
| |
hyperbole |
a gross exaggeration |
| |
simile |
a comparson between two unlike objects usually introduced with like or as |
| |
metonymy |
use in something closely associated with an object or person to represent that object or person |
| |
apostrophe |
addressing a dead or absent person or object as if alive or present |
| |
understatement |
saying both what you mean and something else |
| |
paradox |
a seeming contradiction |
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symbol |
saying both what you mean and something else |
| |
allusion |
a reference to another source, usually Biblical, historical, or mythological |
| |
synechdoche |
using a part of something to represent a whole |
| |
allegory |
a narrative or description having a second meaning between the surface one. Each item in the original lines up/matches the second |
| |
denotation |
the dictionary definition of a word |
| |
imagery |
the representation through language of sensory experience |
| |
verbal irony |
saying one thing but meaning something else |
| |
connotation |
the emotional impact of a word |
| |
situational irony |
expecting one thing to happen and something else does |
| |
dramatic irony |
a character says one thing, but the audience knows it means something else |
| |
motif |
a theme, image, and symbol repeated throughout a work for purposes of unifying the work |
| |
foil |
a minor character who shares similarities with a major character but their differences makes the major character stand out more; device to develop characterization |
| |
alliteration |
the repetition of two or more initial consonant sounds in a line of poetry to create an effect |
| |
consonance |
the repetition of two or more consonant sounds,other than initial,in a line of poetry to create an effect |
| |
assonance |
the repetition of two or more vowels sounds in a line of poetry to create an effect |
| |
onomatopoeia |
the attempt to recreate phonetically the sound something makes |
| |
internal rime |
rime in which one or both of the rime words occur within the line |
| |
external rime |
rime that occurs at the end of a line |
| |
masculine |
rime involving only one syllable |
| |
feminine |
rime involving two or more syllables |
| |
rime scheme |
a poems rime pattern, either the entire poem or its stanzas |
| |
rhythm |
the regular arrangment of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem |
| |
caesuras |
a pause created by punctuation or rhetoric in the middle of a poetic line |
| |
enjanbnent |
the absence of a pause at the end of a poetic line because the sense of the line continues with the next line |
| |
anathora |
a rhetorical device where three or more lines or sentences beginnings are repeated |
| |
slant rime |
rime that is only approximate, often involves assonance |
