Poetry Spring 2019
Flashcards due Wednesday, March 13th List 4 Vocab Words Flashcards due Wednesday, March 13th
What is Poetry? Writing is divided into two categories: poetry and prose. Prose is ordinary writing, like our short stories. Poetry is a type of literature, or artistic writing, that attempts to stir a reader's imagination or emotions. The poet does this by carefully choosing and arranging language for its meaning, sound, and rhythm
1. Stanza Group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit. A stanza is something like a paragraph – it often expresses a unit of thought.
2. Quatrain A stanza of four lines.
3. End Rhyme Rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines. Example: My last defense “defense” and “tense” rhyme Is the present tense. It little hurts me know I shall not go “know” and “go” rhyme
4. Internal Rhyme Rhyme that occurs in the middle of a line. Example: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary”
5. Repetition A word, a phrase, a full sentence, or a poetical line repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text. When an entire line is repeated, it is called a refrain.
6. Alliteration Repetition of the same or very similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are usually close together in a poem. Example: While I pondered weak and weary
7. Onomatopoeia The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning. Examples: crackle, pop, fizz, click, zoom, chirp, etc.
8. Personification A nonhuman thing or quality is given human characteristics. Example: The avalanche devoured everything standing in its way.
9. Diction A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words. The connotations of words are an important part of diction.
10. Simile A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles. Example: His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.
11. Metaphor A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of the words like, as, than, or resembles. Example: The curtain of night fell upon us.
12. Couplet Two consecutive (back to back) lines of poetry that rhyme. Example: I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I am.
13. Meter Meter is a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern within the lines of a poem. Stressed syllables tend to be longer, and unstressed shorter. In simple language, meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern for the lines, as it gives poetry a rhythmical and musical sound.
14. Iamb (pronounced “I am” A metrical unit consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Sounds like BaDUM Examples: Attain, Describe, Portray, Today
15. Iambic Pentameter A line of poetry consisting of five iambs. Sounds like BaDUM BaDUM BaDUM BaDUM BaDUM
16. Scansion Indicating the metrical pattern of a poem. Stressed syllables are marked with a dash above the syllable and unstressed syllables with a “u” shape.