Terminology

• adjective


  a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical.
• tercet


  three line stanza
• isolated sentences


  A sentence separated from the main body of the text often for dramatic impact
• metaphor


  a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
• adverb

  A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
• allusions

  a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature
• verb


  An action word
• quatrains


  4 line stanzas
• emjambment


  the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
• personification


  the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
• Fronted conjunction:

  a sentence that starts with a conjunction (and, but, or, if, so)
• Interrogative sentence


  a sentence that takes the form of a question
• Imperative sentence


  a command sentence that includes a command verb e.g. sit down
• caesura


  a line pause near the middle of a line of poetry
• Emjambment

  a run-on line, continuing into the next without a grammatical break
• End stop line


  a full stop at the end of a line of poetry
• Hyperbole

  exaggeration
• Zoomorphism

  Applying animal characteristics to humans or gods
• minor sentence

  A sentence without a verb
• simple sentence


  A sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause
• Compound sentence


  a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions
• metaphor

  A comparison without using like or as
• Simile

  A comparison using "like" or "as"
• Sensory language

  Descriptive language that attempts to invoke one or more of the five senses.
• Volta


  the shift or point of dramatic change in a poem
• Innuendo


  a remark or remarks that suggest something sexual or something unpleasant but do not refer to it directly.
• Biblical allusion


  reference to the Bible in a work of literature
• Semantic field


  a collection of words which are related to one another be it through their similar meanings, or through a more abstract relation. E.g. of war - gun, solider, trenches, poppies
• Intertextual reference:


  references to external texts e.g. works of art, books, poems, plays, songs.
• Onomatopoeia


  A word that imitates the sound it represents.
• sibliance

  hissing sounds represented by s, z, sh
• Assonance:

  alliteration of vowel sound
• Plosive


  alliteration of p, b and ds
• Fricative

  alliteration of the 'f' sound
• Terecet

  three line stanzas
• Quatrain

  A four line stanza
• Superlative adjective:


  The extreme degree of comparison of adjectives. Used when comparing three or more things. Usually using the suffix -est, or the word 'most'. i.e. most beautiful, or highest
• Preposition:


  where something is in relation to something else e.g. under, above, bellow, behind
• Article:

  definite (the) vs indefinite (a)
• Contraction:

  can't, wouldn't - missing a letter and replacing this with an apostrophe