Poetic Terms

Metaphor Allusion = an indirect reference to a person, event, statement, or theme found in literature, the other arts, history, myths, religion, or popular culture Allegory = presentation of an abstract idea through more concrete means; narrative or description that has a second meaning beneath the surface Epithet = an adjective or phrase applied to a noun to accentuate a certain characteristic EX. Magic Johnson Extended metaphor = is a sustained comparison in which part or all of the poem consists of a series of related metaphors Implied metaphor = mentions only the vehicle of comparison. EX. She sliced through traffic. Metaphor = A figure of speech that associates two distinct things; the representation of one thing by another. (There is no connective word.) Conceit = an elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently highly dissimilar things. (Extended metaphor) Personification = a figure of speech that bestows human characteristics upon anything nonhuman. Simile = A figure of speech that compares two distinct things by using a connective word such as like, as, than, and resembles.

Pauses Caesura = a pause in a line of poetry dictated by the natural speaking rhythm (and not the meter.) End-stopped line = a line of poetry in which a grammatical pause (in the form of punctuation) and the physical end of the line coincide. (Opposite of enjambment) Enjambment / run-on line = poetic expression that spans more than one line; does not end with grammatical breaks, and is not complete without the following lines. Stanza = a group of set lines in a poem, usually physically set off from others such clusters by a blank line.

Reading Enjambment “The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation.” – Leo Cherne Link: Poet versus Computer

Rhymes Approximate rhyme/Slant rhyme (near rhyme) = similar sounding words, but do not rhyme exactly EX. Care and Core Couplet = two successive lines of rhyming verse, often of the same meter End rhyme = rhyme that occurs at the end of lines in verse Exact rhyme = (Perfect rhyme) sound preceding the first accented vowel in the rhyming sounds differ EX. Lard, shard, marred, and thinking, drinking, shrinking Feminine rhyme = (a perfect rhyme) rhyming stressed syllables are followed by identical unstressed syllables. EX. Slaughter and Daughter Masculine rhyme = rhyme with one stressed syllable EX. Care/Ware Internal rhyme = rhyme that occurs within a line of verse Rhyme scheme = pattern of end rhymes

Speaker Apostrophe = a figure of speech in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or otherwise not physically present, an imaginary person or entity, something inhuman. Connotation = the emotional association(s) evoked by a word Denotation = a word’s literal and primary meaning Diction = word choice (formal vs. informal) Dramatic monologue = a lyric poem where the speaker addresses a silent listener, revealing himself in the context of a dramatic situation Dramatic situation = the time, setting, key events, and other characters involved in the situation at hand Imagery = refers to the actual language that a writer uses to convey a visual picture/represent the sensory experience AND figures of speech used to express abstract ideas in a vivid and innovative way. Metonymy = a figure of speech where one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it. EX. calling a monarch “the crown.” Speaker = persona presenting the poem (POV) Synaesthesia/synesthesia = the association of two or more different senses in the same image. EX. The coal was red hot. Sight – color and Touch – hot Synecdoche = a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole, or when the whole is used to represent a part. EX. Saying a car is your “wheels.” Syntax = arrangement of words within a phrase, clause, or sentence. (Complexity vs. simplicity) Theme = the statement the text makes about the subject of the poem Tone = the attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work

Sounds Alliteration = the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Assonance = repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, followed by different consonant sounds. EX. Fate and Cave (note—not perfect rhyme!) Cacophony = a mixture of harsh, unpleasant, or discordant sounds. Consonance = the repetition of final consonant sounds or sounds following different vowel sounds in proximate words. EX. Made and Wood Euphony = pleasing, harmonious sounds. (Opposite of cacophony) Onomatopoeia = words that signify meaning through their sound effects EX. Hiss and Sizzle Phonetic intensives = a word whose sound, by an obscure process, to some degree suggests its meaning EX. Initial “fl” sound = light (flame, flicker, and flash) Short “i” sound = small (inch, imp, thin, slim, little, bit, chip, sliver, etc.)

Similarities and Differences Antithesis = a rhetorical figure in which two ideas are directly opposed. EX. “I long and dread to close.” Hyperbole/overstatement = a figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect, whether serious, comic, or ironic Understatement = opposite of hyperbole where one says less than one means Irony = a contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality. Oxymoron = a figure of speech that has two opposite or contradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox. EX. Bittersweet, Eloquent Silence Paradox = a statement that seems self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface, but upon closer examination, contains an underlying truth. Parallelism = rhetorical device used to accentuate or emphasize ideas or images by using grammatically similar constructions

Meter Free verse = vers libre—poetry that lacks regular meter, does not rhyme, and uses irregular line lengths. Meter = regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry (related to rhythm) Foot = a rhythmic unit into which a line of metrical verse is divided. (See meter handout) Scansion = the analysis of poetic meter (uses symbols to mark stressed and unstressed syllables)

Breughel's Paintings “The Kermess” “The Dance”

Visuals for “Pretty”

Phonetic Intensives Edgar Allan Poe chose "nevermore" as the word that his raven would say in "The Raven," because he thought that the -ore sound was the most despairing in the English language (as in mourn, forlorn, tore, and deplore).

Phonetic Intensives flame, flare, flash, flicker glare, gleam, glint, glow, glisten slippery, slick, slide, slime, slop, slobber, slushy staunch, stalwart, stout, sturdy, stable, steady, stocky, stern, strong, stubborn, steel inch, imp, thin, slim, little, bit, chip, sliver, snip, wink, kid, glimmer, flicker, miniature moan, groan, woe, toll doom, gloom, moody flare, glare, stare, blare spatter, scatter, shatter, chatter, rattle, clatter, batter ripple, bubble, twinkle, sparkle, rumble, jingle

Common Metrical Patterns Iambic (iamb) ( ) A two syllable pattern in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed. Trochaic (trochee) ( ) A two syllable pattern in which the first syllable is stressed and the second syllable is unstressed. Anapestic (anapest) ( ) A three syllable pattern in which the first two syllables are unstressed and the third syllable is stressed. Dactylic (dactyl) ( ) A three syllable pattern in which the first syllable is stressed and the last two syllables are unstressed. Spondaic (spondee) ( ) A two syllable pattern in which both syllables are stressed. A spondee is used as a substitute foot. It is never used as the metrical pattern. Pyrrhic (pyrrhic) ( ) A two syllable pattern in which both syllables are unstressed. A pyrrhic is used as a substitute foot. It is never used as the metrical pattern.

Most Common English Meter But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

We Real Cool

“When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A.E. Housman When I was one-and twenty I heard a wise man say, “Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.” But I was one-and twenty, No use to talk to me. When I was one-and twenty I heard him say again, “The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; ‘Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue.” And I am two-and-twenty, And oh, ‘tis true, ‘tis true.