English Poetry Unit Vocabulary

Front 1

Alliteration

Back 1

repetition of first letter or sound in two or more words in a line or phrase
Assonance

Front 2

Consonance

Back 2

repeated consonant sounds (not rhyming)

Front 3

Onomatopoeia

Back 3

words represent or imitate natural sounds

Front 4

Meter

Back 4

rhythm pattern of a poetic line

Front 5

Masculine Rhyme

Back 5

has one rhyming syllable, often creates a hard, bold sound

Front 6

Feminine Rhyme

Back 6

has more than one rhyming syllable, often creates a softer, easing sound

Front 7

Rhyme Scheme

Back 7

poems with rhyme generally rhyme in a pattern.

Front 8

Ballad

Back 8

tells a story. Often, this kind of poem will rhyme, be in 4-line stanzas (quatrain) and have a definite rhythm.

Front 9

Epic

Back 9

a long narrative poem, usually on a dignified or noble historical, mythological, or religious subject

Front 10

Couplet

Back 10

a two line in a row with the rhyme scheme aa

Front 11

Haiku

Back 11

a form of Japanese poetry that uses few words but has great meaning Line 1: five syllables Line
: seven syllables

Front 12

Quatrain

Back 12

four rhymed lines. The rhyme scheme can take various forms

Front 13

Refrain

Back 13

a line or liens repeated at the end of several successive stanzas. In songwriting, it is called the chorus.

Front 14

Sonnet

Back 14

14 lines usually written in iambic pentameter. The lines are split into two ideas, one related to the other.

Front 15

Octave

Back 15

the first 8 lines of a sonnet, usually developing the principle idea, presents a picture, or makes an assertion

Front 16

Sestet

Back 16

the final six lines of a sonnet which presents a solution, or comment on the diea in the octave

Front 17

Stanza

Back 17

a division of a poem based on thought or form, kind of like the paragraphs of the poem

Front 18

Tercet

Back 18

three-line stanza

Front 19

Quatrain

Back 19

four line stanza

Front 20

Quintet

Back 20

five line stanza

Front 21

Sestet

Back 21

six line stanza

Front 22

Septet

Back 22

seven line stanza

Front 23

Octave

Back 23

eight line stanza

Front 24

Blank Verse

Back 24

poetry written without rhyme but with meter and rhythm

Front 25

Free Verse

Back 25

Poetry written without meter nor rhyme

Front 26

Ambiguity

Back 26

the presence of multiple meanings in a word or phrase

Front 27

Allusion

Back 27

a reference to something

Front 28

Denotation

Back 28

a definition of a word from the dictionary

Front 29

Connotation

Back 29

a meaning of a word that is not the exact dictionary definition but evokes an image in our minds

Front 30

Cliché

Back 30

a trite phrase/expression or idea that has been used too many times

Front 31

Hyperbole

Back 31

deliberate exaggeration

Front 32

Irony

Back 32

any statement that clearly is at odds with the actual attitude of the speaker

Front 33

Paradox

Back 33

a seemingly self-contradictory statement or phrase

Front 34

Metaphor

Back 34

an implied comparison between two unrelated or unlike things

Front 35

Personification

Back 35

attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas, or animals

Front 36

Simile

Back 36

a direct comparison between two unrelated things, uses like or as

Front 37

Satire

Back 37

a poetry that ridicules human foolishness, especially the inept actions and ridiculous behavior of people of politics or other high places

Front 38

Pun

Back 38

a humorous use of a word or words that sound alike or nearly alike but have two different meanings

Front 39

Epitaph

Back 39

a remembrance of a person on a tombstone