Poetic Terms PDF

Glossary of Poetic Terms Source: McGraw Hill On-line Learning Centre Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy." Anaphora....

Glossary of Poetic Terms Source: McGraw Hill On-line Learning Centre Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy." Anaphora. A repetition device where the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences. Allusion An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is expected to be familiar. Allusions are usually literary, historical, Biblical, or mythological. Asyndeton A series of words separated by commas (with no conjunction), e.g. "I came, I saw, I conquered." The parts of the sentence are emphasized equally; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. Caesura A strong pause within a line of verse. The following stanza from Hardy's "The Man He Killed" contains caesuras in the middle two lines: He thought he'd 'list, perhaps, Off-hand-like--just as I-- Was out of work-had sold his traps-- No other reason why. Concrete Language Language that describes specific, observable things, people or places, rather than ideas or qualities. Connotation Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations associated by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation. Diction The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values. We can speak of the diction particular to a character, as in Iago's and Desdemona's very different ways of speaking in Othello. We can also refer to a poet's diction as represented over the body of his or her work. Enjambment A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over Poetic Terms Page 1 from one line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an end-stopped line in which the grammatical and logical sense is completed within the line. In the opening lines of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," for example, the first line is end-stopped and the second enjambed: That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now.... Euphemism The use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but is also considered less distasteful or less offensive than another. E.g. "He is at rest" instead of "He is dead." Free verse Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad. Hyperbole A figure of speech involving exaggeration. Imagery The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work. Imagery of light and darkness pervade Romeo and Juliet. Irony A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In irony of circumstance or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters. Literal language A form of language in which writers and speakers mean exactly what their words denote. Metaphor A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as. Normally a form of the verb “be” is used. An example is "My love is a red, red rose,”. Metaphor is one of the most important of literary uses of language. Shakespeare employs a wide range of metaphor in his sonnets and his plays, often in such density and profusion that readers are kept busy analyzing and interpreting and unraveling them. Dead Metaphor—So overused that its original impact has been lost. Extended Metaphor—One developed at length and involves several points of comparison. Mixed Metaphor—When two metaphors are jumbled together, often illogically. Poetic Terms Page 2 Motif A frequently recurrent image, incident, or concept in literature. For example, blood is a motif in Macbeth. Onomatopoeia The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. Words such as buzz and crack are onomatopoetic. Personification The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities. An example: "The yellow leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze." Wordsworth's "I wandered lonely as a cloud" includes personification. Polysyndeton Sentence which uses and or another conjunction, with no commas, to separate the items in a series, usually appearing in the form X and Y and Z, stressing equally each member of the series. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in the asyndeton. Rhyme The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. The following stanza of "Richard Cory" employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first and the fourth with the second: Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him; He was a gentleman from sole to crown Clean favored and imperially slim. Simile A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. An example: "My love is like a red, red rose." Style The way an author chooses words, arranges them in sentences or in lines of dialogue or verse, and develops ideas and actions with description, imagery, and other literary techniques. This includes: Connotation, Denotation, Diction, Figurative language, Image, Imagery, Irony, Metaphor, Narrator, Point of view, Syntax, and Tone. Symbol An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself. The glass unicorn in The Glass Menagerie, the rocking horse in "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the road in Frost's "The Road Not Taken"--all are symbols in this sense. Tone The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work. Poetic Terms Page 3  Extra Information on Tone & Tone Words Tone is a key aspect in literary passages, whether fiction, drama or poetry. Tone is often the result of several other elements working together like diction, selection and arrangement of details like images, or of the cumulative effect of figures of speech. Please Note: ⮚ Words placed on the same line are not necessarily synonyms for each other but they belong “in the same family” of words. ⮚ Notice how intensity grows in most strings of words Positive Light-hearted, cheery or cheerful, amused, contented, joyful Agreeable, appreciative, amiable, friendly, benevolent, hopeful, optimistic Exuberant, elated, high-spirited, enthusiastic, passionate Negative Disgusted, rude, harsh, threatening, inflammatory Bitter, malicious, revengeful Bleak, grim Sorrow Sad, solemn, sober, sorrowful, sombre, gloomy, depressed, dejected, disheartened, melancholic, elegiac (the last -not about a person -- but about a piece of writing that expresses sorrow or loss) Regret Disappointed, apologetic, regretful, remorseful Shame Self-deprecating, embarrassed, ashamed, humiliated, Anxiety/Fear Concerned, apprehensive, nervous, perturbed, disquieted, disturbed, alarmed, agitated, obsessive, overwhelmed Urgent, foreboding Anger Irritated, aggravated, petulant, vexed, indignant, angry, wrathful, furious, outraged PridePositive Confident, self-assured Pride Negative Snobbish, haughty, presumptuous, domineering, arrogant (opposite of pride: humility --- humble, meek) Poetic Terms Page 4 Sympathy Sympathetic, empathetic, consoling, compassionate, humane insensitive) Effort A tone of determination or resolve Acceptance Resigned, accepting, stoical Attitudes to the Past (opposite: apathetic, unfeeling) Reminiscent, nostalgic, sentimental Bitter, remorseful Degrees of Surprise Wondering, puzzled, baffled, bewildered, incredulous, shocked For Humour or Satire Mock-serious, bantering, irreverent, flippant, facetious, humorous, comic, satiric, sarcastic, ironic, cynical For Scorn Critical, sharp, scornful, disdainful, condescending, patronizing, sardonic Tone is neutral, rather than suggesting a stronger attitude. Detached, objective, factual, clinical, informative, authoritative For Texts that Argue or Plead Convincing, persuasive, pleading, moving (or the opposite) -- unconvincing, unpersuasive, irrational) Tone Suggests a Teaching Function Instructive, didactic Other (These are all excellent tone words but do not fit into the categories above.) banal, dreamy, envious, frenetic, frivolous, gentle, hypnotic, hypocritical, impatient, jealous, laconic, numb, paranoid, passive, remote, romantic, seductive, serene, shrewd, soothing, stern, timid, whimsical, zealous Poetic Terms Page 5