“How to Read Poetry” Terms
Alliteration- repletion of the same letter at the beginning of a series of words (e.g. Amy ate apples.)
Allusion- an indirect reference to something or someone well known (e.g. He’s a real Romeo with the ladies – Romeo and Juliet).
Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds (e.g. The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plains)
Ballad- a narrative poem consisting of stanzas of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter (e.g. Amazing Grace)
Bank Verse- no rhyme scheme, but does have iambic pentameter (five iambs per line,5 heart beats daDum, daDum, daDum, daDum, daDum) (e.g. "a lot of people think we speak in it.)
Caesura- a pause in a line of poetry that is formed by the rhythms of natural speech (e.g. Cause baby you’re a firework ||come on show them what you’re worth)
Couplet- tiny stanzas that sometimes rhyme (e.g. "How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,/If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show!").
Diction- word choice (e.g. Should you call your crush "sweetie," "dearest," "darling," "beloved," "boo," "sugar pie," or "Hey, you"?).
End Rhyme- rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines. (e.g. In Flanders fields the poppies blow/ Between the crosses, row on row,/That mark our place; and in the sky/ The larks, still bravely singing, fly./ Scarce heard amid the guns below.)
Enjambment- when a phrase carries over a line-break without a major pause (e.g. Or gazing on the new soft-fallen masque/ Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—).
Epic- a story that starts in the middle of the action (e.g. Starwars, The Iliad, The Odessey)
Foot- the most basic unit of a poem's meter (e.g. Iamb: daDUM/ Trochee: DUMda/ Spondee: DUMDUM/ Anapest: dadaDUM/ Dactyl: DUMdada/ Amphibrach: daDUMda/ Pyrrhic: dada)
Free Verse- lacks a regular meter or rhyme scheme. (e.g. Walt Witman Poetry)
Imagery- the pictures and sensations a piece of writing conjures.
Lyric- a glimpse inside the speaker's head in order to directly convey the speaker's thoughts and emotions. (e.g. Shall I Compare the to a Summer’s Day, O Captain! My Captain! )
Metaphor- comparing without using like or as (e.g. You’re a toad!)
Meter- a poem's underlying structure; the rhythm beneath the words (e.g. see foot example)
Ode- sings the praises of the poem's subject (e.g. John Keats – “Ode to Nightingales”)
Onomatopoeia- words that resemble the sound that they represent (e.g. Bam! Pow! Biff! Vronk! Sploosh!).
Repetition- repeats the same words or phrases to make an idea clearer.
Rhyme scheme- patterns of end rhymes in poems and songs, that make things sound nice. (e.g. Poe’s “The Raven”)
Rhythm- the beat of a piece of writing, often a poem.
Simile- comparing using like or as (e.g. As hungry as a horse)
Sonnet- the most common poetic forms (requirements: fourteen lines, a rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, a turn somewhere around line 8 or 9, where the poem takes a new direction).
Stanza- division within a poem where a group of lines are formed into a unit.
Stress- emphasis given to particular syllables (e.g. the word "produce" a farmer may proDUCE carrots, which a greengrocer will sell as PRODuce).
Theme- a central idea in a work of literature.
Tone- an author's attitude—the emotions and feelings conveyed by the work of literature.
Verse- a single line of poetry or stanza.
Volta- turn of thought or argument (e.g. Shal I Compare The to a Summer’s Day—Line 9)