Poetry Vocabulary

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Accent

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The prominence of emphasis given to a syllable or word.

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Alliteration

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The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.

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Anaphora

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In writing or speech, deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect.

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Apostrophe

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Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea.

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Assonance

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The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose.

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Ballad

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A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, characterized by swift action and narrated in direct style. A ballad tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.

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Cacophony

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Refers to the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unmelodious sounds, primarily those of explosive consonants (p,b,d,g,k,ch) to achieve desired results.

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Carpe diem

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A Latin expression that means seize the say. Carpe diem poems urge the reader to live for today and enjoy the pleasures of the moment.

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Connotation

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The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning.

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Consonance

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The repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words.

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Couplet

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A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.

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Denotation

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The dictionary meaning of a word.

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Diction

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The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes and suggest values.

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Elision

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The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry.

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Enjambement

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The continuation of a complete idea from one line or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause.

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Epistrophe

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The repetition of phrases of words at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

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Euphony

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Derived from the Greek word "euphonos" meaning "sweet-voiced." It can be defined as the use of words and phrases that are distinguished as having a wide range of noteworthy melody or loveliness in the sounds they create. It gives pleasing and soothing effects to the ears due to repeated vowels and smooth consonants.

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Feminine rhyme

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A rhyme that occurs in a final unstressed syllable.

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Figurative language

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A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words.

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Figure of speech

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A verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular effect.

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Free verse

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Poetry without a regular pattern or meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as a sonnet or a ballad.

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Haiku

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A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, Haiku often reflect on some aspect of nature.

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Image

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A concrete representation of sense impression, a feeling, or an idea.

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Imagery

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The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work.

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Irony

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A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and literature.

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Literal language

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A form of language in which writers and speakers mean exactly what their words denote.

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Lyric/Lyric poem

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A relatively short poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem may resemble a song in form or style. It is characterized by brevity, compression and the expression of feeling.

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Masculine rhyme

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A rhyme that occurs in a final stressed syllable.

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Narrative poem

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Any poem that tells a story as a ballad or epic.

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Onomatopoeia

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A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds.

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Oxymoron

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A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.

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Personification

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The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities.

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Quatrain

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A four-line stanza in a poem.

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Refrain

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A line or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.

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Rhyme

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The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words.

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Simile

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A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using "like" and "as."

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Stanza

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A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form either with similar or identical patterns of rhyme and meter or with variations from one stanza to another.

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Symbol

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An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself.

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Syntax

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The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue. The organization of words and phrases and clauses in sentences of prose, verse, and dialogue.

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Tercet

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A three-line stanza.

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Theme

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The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization.

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Trope

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A figure of speech, such a metaphor or metonymy, in which words are not used in their literal sense but in a figurative sense.

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Verse

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A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general.

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Convention

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A customary feature of a literary work. They are defining features of particular literary genres.