English 102 Poetry Terms – Flashcards

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Connotation
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The implied or figurative meaning that a word or image carries, as distinct from its literal or explicit meaning. (For instance "home" literally means the place one lives, but often carries connotations to feelings of safety or security)
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denotation
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the literal or explicit meaning that a word or image carries, as distinct from its implied or figurative meaning. Dictionary definitions are usually denotative.
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imagery
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in poetic writing the stress may be expressly on the image that is being described or envisioned.
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simile
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a figure of speech whereby two unlike objects are compared to each other with the word "like" or "as".
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metaphor
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a figure of speech, not meant to be factually true, in which one thing is compared or substituted for something else.
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personification
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the attribution of human characteristics to an inanimate object.
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apostrophe
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an address either to a person who is dead or not present, to an inanimate object or abstract concept, designed in part to provide insight into the character's thoughts.
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metonymy
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a figure of speech which substitutes the name of one thing with that of another with which it is closely associated with in common experience.
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synecdoche
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a figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part (For instance: "All hands on deck" hands stands for people)
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allusion
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a reference, often to a historical figure, myth, or artwork, that exists outside literary work.
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hyperbole
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an overstatement used to express a point.
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pun
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a kind of word-play that depends upon identical or similar sounds among words with different meanings.
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paradox
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a statement or expression playing on words that initially seems self-contradictory, but which provokes deep reflection on ways or contexts in which it might seem valid.
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oxymoron
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a condensed paradox combining two contradictory terms, such as bittersweet.
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alliteration
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a repetition of a sound, usually the initial sound, in a sequence of words, such as "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen"
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assonance
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a pattern of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in stressed syllables of words with different end sounds (for instance: the "o" in..."Roll down, thou deep and dark-blue ocean, roll!"
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consonance
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a pleasant combination of sounds, also the repetition of consonants or groups of consonants, particularly at the ends of words.
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rhyme
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concurrence of similar or identical sounds within different words.
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rhyme scheme
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the pattern of repeated words-sounds throughout the course of an entire poem or stanza.
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approximate rhyme
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also referred to as a slant or near-rhyme, these rhymes share sound qualities or sounds within words.
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end rhyme
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rhyme occurring in the final word or syllables of two or more lines of poetry.
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internal rhyme
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within the lines of a poem, words will rhyme, affecting the ear more than the rhythm, as does a rhyme at the end of a line.
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onomatopoeia
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the attempt to label a thing by forming a word from sounds associated with it.
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meter
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a regular, recurring rhythm, or pattern of stresses and pauses, in lines of verse.
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foot
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in poetry, the means of measuring a meter. A foot has either two or three syllables with varying accents.
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scansion
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the process of determining a poem's rhythmic patterns through recognition of stressed and unstressed syllables.
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anapest
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a metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable. (for instance: like a child.)
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dactyl
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a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables (Strawberry, or horrible)
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trochee
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a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable.
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iamb
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a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one accented syllable.
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iambic pentameter
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a line of poetry consisting of five iambic feet
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blank verse
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unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter.
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free verse
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has no prescribed form or meter.
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stanza
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the basic unit of a poem typically comprised of two or more lines.
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couplet
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two successive lines of poetry of the same metrical length, usually rhyming, that form a complete unit.
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quatrain
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a four-line stanza
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sestet
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a six-line stanza
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octave
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an eight line stanza
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english sonnet
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fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, usually divided into three quatrains followed by a couplet, with the rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg.
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italian sonnet
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fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, usually divided in an octet with the rhyme scheme of abbaabba followed by a sestet with rhyming schemes of either cdcdcd or cdecde
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