Unseen poetry - Poetic terminology

• What is assonance in poetry?

  The repetition of the same vowel sounds and letters.
• What is alliteration?

  The repetition of the same consonant sounds and letters, often at the beginning of words.
• What does antithesis involve?

  The opposition of words/phrases or ideas that are put against each other in a sentence.
• What are connotations?

  The thoughts and/or feelings generated by a word or phrase.
• What is emotive language?

  Language that appeals to the reader's emotions.
• What is figurative language?

  Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning different from the literal interpretation.
• What is hyperbole?

  To emphasize a point by exaggerating.
• What is imagery in poetry?

  The use of descriptive language to evoke pictures, emotions, and images in the reader's mind.
• What is a metaphor?

  A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another.
• What is onomatopoeia?

  Words that sound like the thing they are describing.
• What is an oxymoron?

  A figure of speech combining two opposites.
• What is pathetic fallacy?

  Attributing human emotions and traits to nature or inanimate objects.
• What is personification?

  Inanimate things or ideas are given human characteristics.
• What is a rhetorical question?

  A question used for persuasive effect or to make the reader think, which does not require an answer.
• What is sibilance?

  The repetition of 's' or 'sh' sounds.
• What is a simile?

  Two things are compared by using the words 'like' or 'as'.
• What is symbolism in poetry?

  When something (character, object, color, etc.) is used to represent an abstract idea or concept.
• What does tone refer to in a text?

  The mood or atmosphere of a text.
• What is an accent?

  A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class.
• What is anaphora?

  The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a line, clause, or sentence.
• What is dialect?

  A particular form of a language, specific to a region or social group.
• What is caesura?

  A strong pause within a line, often found alongside enjambment.
• What is enjambment?

  A line ending in which the sense continues, with no punctuation, into the next line or stanza.
• What is an elegy?

  A poem that laments the death of someone or is simply sad or thoughtful.
• What is juxtaposition?

  Two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
• What is an octave in poetry?

  A stanza made up of eight lines written in iambic pentameter.
• What is a quatrain?

  A stanza made up of four lines.
• What is a refrain in poetry?

  A phrase, line, or group of lines repeated throughout a poem.
• What is rhyme?

  The same, or similar, sounds at the ends of verse lines.
• What is a rhyming couplet?

  Two lines that rhyme, often completing one thought.
• What is a sestet?

  A stanza made up of six lines written in iambic pentameter.
• What is a sonnet?

  A poem consisting of 14 rhyming lines of equal length.
• What is the structure of a Petrarchan sonnet?

  It consists of an 8 line octave (ABBAABBA) and a 6 line sestet (CDECDE or CDCDCD).
• What is the structure of a Shakespearean sonnet?

  It consists of 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet (ABABCDCDEFEFGG).
• What is a stanza?

  Two or more lines of poetry that split the poem up, like paragraphs in prose texts.
• What is a volta in poetry?

  The turn in the argument or mood in a sonnet.
• What is a first person narrator?

  A narrator written in "I" who speaks from their subject position.
• What is a third person narrator?

  A narrator who is outside the action being described.
• What is an omniscient narrator?

  A storyteller who knows what all the characters are doing, saying, and thinking.