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Definition
The repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words.
“Gnus never know pneumonia” is an example of alliteration since, despite the spellings, all four words
begin with the “n” sound |
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Definition
A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known
historical or literary event, person, or work. |
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Term
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Definition
A figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality,
or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present. |
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Definition
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. “A land laid waste with all its young men
slain” repeats the same “a” sound in “laid,” “waste,” and “slain.” |
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Definition
Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is the meter of most of Shakespeare’s plays, as
well as that of Milton’s Paradise Lost. |
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Term
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Definition
a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones. It may be an unconscious flaw in the
poet’s music, resulting in harshness of sound or difficulty of articulation, or it may be used consciously for
effect. Hard consonant sounds are usually heard as cacophonous |
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Term
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Definition
a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and
often greater than the normal pause |
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Term
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Definition
the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. The term usually refers to
words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowels that precede them are different.
Consonance is found in the following pairs of words: “add” and “read,” “bill and ball,” and “born” and
“burn.” |
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Term
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Definition
| a two-line stanza, usually with end-rhymes the same |
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Term
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Definition
the use of words in a literary work. Diction may be described as formal (the level of usage
common in serious books and formal discourse), informal (the level of usage found in the relaxed but polite
conversation of cultivated people), colloquial (the everyday usage of a group, possibly including terms and
constructions accepted in that group but not universally acceptable), or slang (a group of newly coined
words which are not acceptable for formal usage as yet). |
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Term
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Definition
a poem which employs a dramatic form or some element or elements of dramatic
techniques as a means of achieving poetic ends |
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Term
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Definition
a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death or another solemn
theme. |
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Term
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Definition
a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon,
an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines. |
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Term
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Definition
the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the
next. |
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Term
Extended metaphor
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Definition
an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire
poem. |
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Term
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Definition
a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate. Its opposite is
cacophony. Vowel sounds are usually taken as euphonious |
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Term
Figurative language
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Definition
writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is
actual or specifically denoted) such as metaphor, simile and symbolism |
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Term
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Definition
| poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical |
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Term
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Definition
two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually
completed in the two-line unit |
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Term
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Definition
a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious
or comic effect. |
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Term
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Definition
this is probably the most difficult term to define precisely. Generally, it is taken to describe the
sensory details, particularly when they combine to create a complete “image” usually visual, but also
auditory, tactile or olfactory. |
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Term
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Definition
the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning. Verbal irony is a
figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning. Irony is
likely to be confused with sarcasm, but it differs from sarcasm in that it is usually lighter, less harsh in its
wording though in effect probably more cutting because of its indirectness. The ability to recognize irony
is one of the surer tests of intelligence and sophistication. Among the devices by which irony is achieved
are hyperbole and understatement. |
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Term
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Definition
| rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end |
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Term
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Definition
any short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings. Love
lyrics are common, but lyric poems have also been written on subjects as different as religion and reading. |
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Term
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Definition
a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a
comparative term like “as,” “like,” or “than.” |
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Term
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Definition
the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. The meter of a poem emphasizes the
musical quality of the language and often relates directly to the subject matter of the poem. Each unit of
meter is known as a foot. |
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Term
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Definition
a figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely
associated with the word in mind for the word itself. In this way we commonly speak of the king as the
“crown,” an object closely associated with kingship, or the White House for the American administration |
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Term
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Definition
the mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first
is incongruous. Lloyd George is reported to have said, “I smell a rat. I see it floating in the air. I shall nip
it in the bud.” |
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Term
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Definition
a non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or
complex, long or short. Epics and ballads are examples of narrative poems |
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