POETRY TERMS Figure of speech Ø compares

POETRY TERMS

Figure of speech Ø compares one thing to something entirely different-It’s never literally true! Ø Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs.

Simile Ø figure of speech which compares two unlike things using like or as Ø Example: The horse ran like the wind.

Metaphor Ø comparing two unlike things without using like or as Ø Example: He is a beast on the football field.

Personification Ø giving human qualities to a non-human thing Ø Example: The Lion King or The wind whispered.

Alliteration Ø repetition of a consonant sound in words close together. Ø Ex: Sally sells seashells at the seashore!

Onomatopoeia Ø When a word sounds like what it represents Ø Example: The bee buzzed.

Tone Ø the attitude of the writer or the speaker towards the subject of the poem or toward the audience.

Free form poetry Ø Where a poem does not have a required form [This shrubby bush preparing itself to blossom re sem bles you]

Imagery Ø using the five senses to evoke a strong picture of a person, place, thing, or experience.

Lyric poem Ø A poem that expresses an emotion or tells how the author feels about life. Ø Neyo’s “Beautiful Monster” is a lyric poem because it tells how he feels about his girl.

Iambic Pentameter Ø This is a particular meter in poetry. Ø It refers to a line consisting of five iambic feet. Ø Below is a line of iambic pentameter Ay, Pil grim Lips that they must use in prayer

Fixed form poetry Ø -a type of poem or poetry that has a required form Ø (For example: it has a required amount of lines or syllables or rhyme scheme or all of the above) Ø Example: A haiku poem has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the 2 nd line, and 5 syllables in the last line

Speaker Ø the voice that talks directly to us in a poem. The speaker is not always the author.

Symbol Ø something that stands for or represents something else. Ø Example: A heart is a symbol for love.

Hyperbole Ø An overstatement or exaggeration Ø Example: Her heart was as big as a house! (p. s. also a simile)

Internal Rhyme Ø Is a rhyme that occurs within the lines or repetition of an end rhyme within a line Ø Example: Eminem raps, “That means I’m on top of my game, and it don’t stop til my hip don’t hop anymore”

Slant Rhyme rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical as in eyes, light; years, yours.

Rhyme Scheme the pattern of rhyme used in a poem Ø Example: (Shakespearean sonnets have an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme) Ø The last word of lines 1 and 3 will rhyme. Ø The last word of lines 2 and 4 will rhyme. Ø

Narrative poem Ø A poem that tells a story Ø Eminem’s song “Stan” is a narrative poem because it tells a story.

Enjambment The continuation of a complete idea (a sentence or clause) from one line or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause. Enjambment comes from the French word for "to straddle. "

Sonnet A lyric poem that is 14 lines long. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line "sestet, " with the rhyme scheme abba cdecde (or cdcdcd). English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a final couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg

Elegy A poem that laments the death of a person

Ballad A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain

Ode A lyric poem that is serious and thoughtful in tone and has a very precise, formal structure

Stanza Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme

COUPLET: 2 LINES IN A STANZA TERCET: 3 LINES IN A STANZA QUATRAIN: 4 LINES IN A STANZA CINQUAIN: 5 LINES IN A STANZA SESTET: 6 LINES IN A STANZA OCTET: 8 LINES IN A STANZA