poetry terms english 11. couplet two lines of poetry which rhyme little bow peep has lost her sheep
TRANSCRIPT
Alliteration
• The repetition of consonant sounds in a line of poetry
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Oxymoron
• When two words which mean the opposite are put together
• Jumbo shrimp• The sound of silence• Loving hate• Blinding sight
Simile
• A comparison of two things which uses “like”, “as”, or “than”
• She swims like a fish• He’s faster than a speeding bullet• She as sly as a fox
Hyperbole
• A huge exaggeration for effect (not meant to deceive)
• I’m so hungry I could eat a horse• I must have cried a zillion tears• I have a ton of homework
Personification
• When human qualities are given to an inanimate (non-living) object
• The sun smiled down on us• The trees danced in the wind
Metaphor
• A direct comparison between two things (does not use a comparison word)
• Love is a rose.• The garden hose is a snake in the grass.
Imagery
• Using the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to fully describe something
• The aroma of rotten eggs wafting up from the corner of the room where a pair of damp sweat socks lay forgotten, brought the acrid taste of bile into his mother’s mouth.
Anachronism
• A person, place or object out of its natural order in time
• An automobile in a story about ancient Rome• Shakespeare’s use of dollars in Macbeth, in a time
where money did not exist
Antithesis
• Sharply opposing ideas place in parallel syntax• More light and light it grows• More dark and dark my woes
Allusion
• Making reference to a famous person, place or thing from mythology, the Bible, history, or Shakespeare
• He strode across the room, a modern Napoleon• He was the Jordan of the basketball court
Consonance
• Differing vowel sounds between repeating consonant sounds
• Short shirt• Leave love• Tip top• Hip hop• Zig zag
Connotation
• The associations we make with words (as opposed to their literal meanings)
• A house• An estate• An abode• A mansion• A shack
Denotation
• The dictionary definition of a word• House, mansion, estate, abode, etc: a residence; a
place to live
Stanza
• A group of lines of poetry (like a paragraph)Whose woods these are I think I knowHis house is in the village thoughHe will not see me stopping hereTo watch his wood fill up with snow
Octave & Sestet
• Octave:• Eight lines of poetry • The first 8 lines of a Petrarchan sonnet
• Sestet:• Six lines of poetry• The last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet
Pathetic Fallacy
• When nature reflects the mood• When there is a storm during a battle scene in Macbeth
Paradox
• A statement which at first appears contradictory, but which is actually true
• Parental punishment is an expression of love
Apostrophe
• A type of personification, where an inanimate object or idea is addressed as though present
• Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, thou art not so.
Conceit
• An extended metaphorThe fog creeps in on little cat feetSits looking over harbour and city
And then moves on
juxtaposition
• Placing words / ideas side by side for effectMy name is Ozymandias, King of kings,Look on my works ye Mighty and despair.”And round the decay of that colossal wreckThe lone and level sands stretch far away.
By placing the bragging words of Ozymandias next to the description of the broken statue in the desert, the poet creates irony