Poetry Glossary 1. Basic Terms denotation: the dictionary meaning of a word connotation: the implied or suggested meaning connected with a word literal meaning: limited to the simplest, ordinary, most obvious meaning figurative meaning: associative or connotative meaning; representational meter: measured pattern of rhythmic accents in a line of verse rhyme: correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse 2. Figurative Language apostrophe: a direct address of an inanimate object, abstract qualities, or a person not living or present. Example: Beware, O Asparagus, youve stalked my last meal. hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis (the opposite of understatement) Example: Im so hungry I could eat a horse. metaphor: comparison between essentially unlike things without using words OR application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally applicable Example: [Love] is an ever fixed mark, / that looks on tempests and is never shaken. metonymy: a closely related term substituted for an object or idea Example: We have always remained loyal to the crown. oxymoron: a combination of two words that appear to contradict each other Example: bittersweet paradox: a situation or phrase that appears to be contradictory but which contains a truth worth considering Example: In order to preserve peace, we must prepare for war. personification: the endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities Example: Time let me play / and be golden in the mercy of his means pun: play on words OR a humorous use of a single word or sound with two or more implied meanings; quibble Example: Theyre called lessons . . . because they lessen from day to day. simile: comparison between two essentially unlike things using words such as like, as, or as though Example: My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun synecdoche: a part substituted for the whole Example: Friends, Romans, countrymen: lend me your ears 3. Poetic Devices irony: a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant (verbal irony) or what is expected in a particular circumstance or behavior (situational), or when a character speaks in ignorance of a situation known to the audience or other characters (situational) Example: Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea imagery: word or sequence of words representing a sensory experience (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory) Example: bells knelling classes to a close (auditory) synesthesia: an attempt to fuse different senses by describing one in terms of another Example: the sound of her voice was sweet symbol: an object or action that stands for something beyond itself Example: white = innocence, purity, hope alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginning of words Example: . . . like a wanderer white assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds Example: I rose and told him of my woe elision: the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry Th expense of spirit in a waste of shame onomatopoeia: the use of words to imitate the sounds they describe Example: crack or whir allusion: a reference to the person, event, or work outside the poem or literary piece Example: Shining, it was Adam and maiden 4. Poetic Forms open: poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and metrical form closed: poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern stanza: unit of a poem often repeated in the same form throughout a poem; a unit of poetic lines (verse paragraph) blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter free verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhymed heroic couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter (tradition of the heroic epic form) quatrain: four-line stanza or grouping of four lines of verse sonnet fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; its subject is traditionally that of love English (Shakespearean) Sonnet: A sonnet probably made popular by Shakespeare with the following rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet: A form of sonnet made popular by Petrarch with the following rhyme scheme: abbaabba cdecde OR cdcdcd Its first octave generally presents a thought, picture, or emotion, while its final sestet presents an explanation, comment, or summary. 5. Meter stress: greater amount of force used to pronounce one syllable over another pause: (caesura) a pause for a beat in the rhythm of the verse (often indicated by a line break or a mark of punctuation) rising meter: meter containing metrical feet that move from unstressed to stressed syllables iambic (iamb): a metrical foot containing two syllables--the first is unstressed, while the second is stressed anapestic (anapest): a metrical foot containing three syllables--the first two are unstressed, while the last is stressed falling meter: meter containing metrical feet that move from stressed to unstressed syllables trochaic (trochee): a metrical foot containing two syllables--the first is stressed, while the second is unstressed dactylic (dactyl): a metrical foot containing three syllables--the first is stressed, while the last two are unstressed spondee: an untraditional metrical foot in which two consecutive syllables are stressed iambic pentameter: a traditional form of rising meter consisting of lines containing five iambic feet (and, thus, ten syllables) Support independent booksellers Make your purchase online through IndieBound or find a local bookstore on the National Poetry Map. 19 3 StumbleUpon1 Google +0 Reddit3 15 - See more at: poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17105#sthash.to60JmhL.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:26:19 +0000
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