English I Accelerated Poetry Unit

Spring 2007 Poetry

Terms

Figurative Language & Figures of Speech

Allusion-a reference to a presumably familiar person, object, place, or event or to a literary, historical,
artistic, mythological or biblical passage or work which the writer expects will be known to his readers

Apostrophe-the direct address to a deceased or absent person as if that person where present, or to an
animal or thing, or an abstract idea or quality as if it could understand you. Apostrophe is sometimes
used with personification

Connotation-an association or suggestions that a word calls to mind in addition to its literal meaning

Denotation-the literal or dictionary meaning or meanings of a word

Figurative language-language that is not meant to be interpreted on a strict literal level because it
would make no sense or little sense if it were

Image-a word or phrase which brings a picture to the reader's mind or appeals to his senses of sight,
hearing, touch, taste, or smell. The collective term for images is imagery.

Irony-a figure of speech in which the writer says something in such a way that the opposite meaning is
implied. Irony may be present in situations as well as words.

Metaphor-a comparison between two dissimilar things without the use of like or as

Paradox-a self-contradictory statement which nevertheless reveals some truth

Parody-the conscious exaggerated imitation of a literary style in individual work with the intention of
achieving humor through distortion

Personification-giving human qualities to animals, inanimate objects, or ideas

Poetic inversion-words arranged in such a way that they reverse in some manner the normal word
order of a sentence. Often inversion is used for the sake of a rhyme.

Satire-the use of ridicule, sarcasm, wit or irony in order to expose, set right or destroy a vice or folly

Simile-a comparison between two dissimilar things using the words like or as

Speaker-the person whose voice we "hear" in the poem

Symbol-using an object, person, place, event or quality to stand for something other than itself--
something which is not directly compared in the poem.

Theme-the central idea or one of the main ideas underlying a literary work

Tone-the poet's attitude toward the subject or audience. Tone in poetry corresponds to tone in
speaking.

Sound Devices

Alliteration-the repetition of sounds, usually consonant sounds, at the beginning of words in the same
line or in successive lines
Assonance-the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants. The words may appear in
the same line or in successive lines.

Free verse-poetry that does not have a strict or fixed rhythmic pattern or equal line lengths, and which
does not rhyme

Onomatopoeia-the use of words whose sounds imitate natural sounds

Rhyme-the repetition of two or more words reasonably close to each other in which the last vowel sound
and the last consonant sound are the same.

Rhythm-in poetry, the reoccurrence or repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables in a regular
pattern or manner. When rhythm in poetry is so strictly patterned that it can be measured in feet, it is
called meter

Types of Poetry

Ballad-a relatively short poem which tells a story. There are two types of ballads, folk ballads and
literary ballads. Folk ballads were meant to be sung; literary ballads were meant to be printed and read.

Blank verse-unrhymed poetry, in which each line usually has ten syllables. Five of the syllables are
stressed--generally the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth.

Elegy-a poem mourning the death of an individual. It is often also a melancholy meditation on the trials
and grief of life in general

Epic-a long story-poem which retells the deeds of a heroic character, usually a national hero

Light verse-verse which is primarily humorous or entertaining

Narrative poem-a poem which tells a story, whether briefly as in the ballad or at length as in the epic

Ode-a lyric poem which is lofty and dignified in subject matter and style

Sonnet-a lyric poem of fourteen lines usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets usually
follow on of two types of rhyme schemes, but the rhymes may vary

Poetic Form

Couplet-two successive lines, usually rhymed, which form a single unit of verse

Foot-a unit used in measuring or scanning lines of poetry. Each foot usually contains at least one
stressed syllable. In addition, it usually has one or two unstressed syllables

Meter-an organized rhythmic pattern created by the repetition of the same foot, or group of stressed and
unstressed syllables, throughout a poem. Among the common metrical feet are:

anapestic-two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable as in in-ter-VENE. A

single anapestic foot is called an anapest.

dactylic-one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables as in HIS-to-ry. A single

dactylic foot is called a dactyl.
 iambic-on unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable as in de-FEND. A single iambic
foot is called an iamb. A frequently used combination of iambic feet is called iambic pentameter
in which each line consists of five iambic feet.

Quatrain-a four line stanza