1. Poetic Terms

2. Alliteration : Initial consonant sounds are repeated at the beginning of words. Example: Macbeth: “life’s f itful f ever.” Allusion : A passing reference to historical or fictional characters, places or events that the writer assumes the reader will recognize. Example: “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.” This refers to the story of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. Anachronism : An event, object, or person that is out of its natural order in time. Example: Having cars in a story about ancient Rome

3. Antithesis : Sharply opposing ideas are balanced against each other in grammatically parallel syntax Example: More light and light it grows/ More dark and dark our woes Apostrophe : Addressing a person or personified abstraction as though it were present. Example: Oh whirling, wild sea, speak to me! Archetype : A pattern or model of action, character, imagery, or theme that recurs consistently enough in literature to be universal. Example: The Hero : He or she is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness and struggles against evil in order to restore harmony and justice to society, e.g. Beowulf or Hercules.

4. Assonance : the repetition of vowel sounds in non- rhyming words. Example: Up above the world so high/ Like a diamond in the sky Ballad : A simple narrative poem recounting a specific episode, usually with a song-like chorus or refrain. Originally designed to be sung or recited. Blank Verse : Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

5. Caricature : A description of a character with certain selected features exaggerated for comic effect. Example: “Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system. Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright. He is very much embarrassed about the arms, as if they were inconvenient to him.” -Charles Dickens

6. Conceit : An elaborate, extended, and fanciful comparison of two very different things. Example: Love is a smoke made with the fumes of sighs, rising above our hearts. Connotation : All the associations and ideas that come to mind with a particular idea or word: they are subjective (different for everyone). Example: Connotations for the work shark might be: cool, evil, savage, sneaky, Jaws. Consonance : The close repetition of identical consonant sounds in the middle or ends of words. Example: The gian t sa t with a fi t.

7. Couplet : Two lines with end rhyme. A Heroic Couplet: two lines of rhyming pentameter. Example: "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind ; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Denotation : A word’s literal, dictionary definition. Compare to connotation. Diction : The choice of words. Levels of diction are suited for different occasions/genres. Example: formal, informal, colloquial. Didactic : Poetry that aims to teach a lesson. Dissonance : Harsh or jarring sounds to rhythmical patterns. Same as cacophony. Example: “finger of birth-strangled babe.”

8. Dramatic Monologue : A poem in which a singular character reveals a dramatic situation to a silent listener. Example: In Romeo and Juliet, as Romeo is hiding in the Capulet garden, waiting for a glimpse of his new love, Juliet steps out onto the balcony. Romeo then reveals his thoughts to the audience through a monologue. Elegy : A lyrical poem of sorrow or mourning for the dead; also, a reflective poem in a solemn or sorrowful mood. Epic : A long narrative poem in a lofty style dealing with heroic characters. Example: Milton’s Paradise Lost or Beowulf. Epitaph : An inscription on tombstone.

9. Eulogy : A formal composition or speech in high praise of someone or something. Euphony : Sounds or rhythmical patterns that are pleasing to the ear. Opposite of dissonance. Example: A trill of silver laughter spoke. Fable : A brief narrative, with characters that are often animals, illustrating a explicit or moral truth. Example: Aesop’s Fable The Lion and the Mouse Free Verse : A poem with irregular meter, no rhyme scheme, and no set length of lines.

10. Hyperbole : A deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or humour. Example: The dog was as big as a house. Lyric : A poem expressing the thoughts and opinions of a single speaker. Its distinguishing characteristics are emotion, subjectivity, imagination, and description. Metaphor : A direct comparison or dissimilar objects without using “like” or “as.” Example: The in-class essay was a breeze or Her voice is music to my ears. Metonymy : The name of a related object is substituted for the subject at hand. Examples: The suits are in a meeting. (The suits stand for business people.) May I lend you a hand? (Hand means help.)

11. Narrative : Poetry that tells a story, featuring elements of plot and character. Ode : A long and elaborate lyric poem, often dignified or formal in tone, written to praise something of something, or to mark an important occasion. Onomatopoeia : The use of words that imitate the sounds they represent. Example: The bacon sizzled. The bees buzzed. Oxymoron : Two contradictory words or phrases are combined in a single expression. Examples: screaming silence; wise fool; cruel kindness. Paradox : A statement or idea that at first glance appears illogical, but reveals some truth. Examples: “What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw Truth is honey which is bitter.

12. Pastoral : Poetry that concerns life in the country, meadows, forests, etc. Pathetic Fallacy : Nature or setting details reflect the mood or events in a poem. Example: During the intense argument, a thunderstorm howls outside. Pathos : The quality in a work of art or literature that arouses feelings of pity, sorrow or sympathy in the reader or viewer. Personification : Inanimate objects, animals or abstract ideas are endowed with human qualities. Examples: Joyful day stood upon the mountaintops. The trees danced in the wind.

13. Pun : Word playing involving a) the use of a word with two different meanings and b) the use of homonyms. Example: I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger; then it hit me. Quatrain : A stanza of four lines. Refrain : A line or lines repeated at intervals during a poem, usually at the end of each stanza. Rhetoric : The art of persuasion (by the way of diction, register, phrasing, etc), in speaking or writing. Satire : Ridicule meant to expose folly, vice, or shortcomings of others through the use of humor.

14. Simile : A comparison of two dissimilar objects using “like,” “as,” or “than.” Example: Her cheeks are red like a rose. Sonnet : Lyric poem of fourteen lines and a regular rhyme scheme. Petrarchan Sonnet: The first eight lines are called the octave, while the final six are called the sestet. Rhyme scheme is abba abba cdecde. Shakespearean Sonnet: Written in iambic pentameter and finishing with a rhyming couplet. Rhyme Scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Synecdoche : The name of a part of an object is substituted for the whole object. Compare to metonymy. Example: Calling a car “wheels” is a synecdoche because a part of a car “wheels” stands for the whole car.