1. Poetry & Figurative Language Vocabulary
Core C - American Lit - Poetry Unit

2. Figurative Language Simile Metaphor Hyperbole
A figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas
Examples: good as gold; pale as a ghost; spread like wildfire
Metaphor
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically different but have something in common; does not contain like or as
Examples: Her hair was silk; in the evening of life
Hyperbole
An intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect
Examples: mile-high ice cream cones

3. Personification Alliteration Onomatopoeia
A form of metaphor in which language relating to human action, motivation, and emotion is used to refer to non-human agents or objects or abstract concepts
Examples: The stuffed bear smiled as the little boy hugged him; The weather is smiling on us today; Love is blind
Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words; used to draw attention to certain words or ideas, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects
Examples: The wild walrus waits and wonders when we'll walk by; Rough & ready; She's super strong!
Onomatopoeia
The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning
EX: buzz, screech, hiss, jingle, cluck,

4. Idiom Assonance Consonance
A phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say; usually understandable to a particular group of people
Examples: “on cloud nine;” “over his head”
Assonance
The repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds
Example: tilting at windmills, Adam’s apple
Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds within and at the ends of words
Examples: think & blank, strong & string

5. Allusion Symbol Extended Metaphor
A reference in literature (or in visual or performing arts) to a familiar person, place, thing or event
Symbol
A person, place, or object that represents something beyond itself
Example: Bald eagle for America
Extended Metaphor
A long, drawn out metaphor that makes a very detailed and explicit comparison - the two things involved have many things in common. Sometimes, an entire poem can be one long extended metaphor

6. Rhythm Rhyme Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
Rhyme
The repetition of sounds at the ends of words; used to add a song-like quality to writing
Examples: light, night; sky, why, sigh; lay, weigh
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern in which rhyme sounds occur in a stanza; usually presented by the assignment of the same letter of the alphabet to each similar sound in a stanza
Example: Dashing through the snow (a)
In a one-horse open sleigh (b)
O’er the fields we go (a) Laughing all the way (b)

7. Stanza
A recurring grouping of two or more verse lines of the same length, metrical form, and, often, rhyme scheme