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Masculine Rhyme

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A rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel sound is in the final syllable of the words involved

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Metaphor

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A figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike.

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Meter

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The regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse; the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry

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Metonymy

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A figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience

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Monometer

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A metrical line containing one foot

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Octave

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An eight-line stanza; first 8 lines of a sonnet

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound

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Overstatement

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A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth

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Oxymoron

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A compact paradox in which two successive words seemingly contradict each other.

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Paradox

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A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements

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Paradoxical statement

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A figure of speech in which an apparently self-contradictory statement is nevertheless found to be true

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Paraphrase

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A restatement of the content of a poem designed to make its prose meaning as clear as possible.

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Pentameter

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A metrical line containing five feet

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Personification

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A figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.

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Prose meaning

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The part of a poem's 'total message that can be separated out and expressed through paraphrase

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Prose poem

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Usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse

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Quatrain

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A four-line stanza; a four-line division of a sonnet

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Refrain

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A repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form

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Rhetorical pause

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A natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntax

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Rhyme

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The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in important or importantly positioned words

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Rhyme scheme

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Any fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas.

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Rhythm

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Any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound

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Run-on line

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A line that has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line.

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Sarcasm

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Bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed

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Satire

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A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the ostensible purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice

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Scansion

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The process of measuring metrical verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern.

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Sentimental poetry

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Poetry that attempts to manipulate the reader's emotions in order to achieve a greater emotional response than the poem itself really warrants.

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Sestet

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A six-line stanza; last six lines of an italian sonnet

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Simile

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A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. The comparison is made by using like or as.

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Sonnet

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A fixed form of fourteen lines, normally iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme conforming one of two main types.

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Stanza

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A group of lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout a poem.

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Stress

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Another term for accent.

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Structure

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The internal organization of a poem's content

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Symbol

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A figure of speech in which something means more than what it is. Able to be read both metaphorically and literally.

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Synecdoche

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A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole. A type of metonymy.

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Tercet

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A three-line stanza exhibited in many poetic forms

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Tetrameter

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A metrical line containing four feet

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Theme

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The central idea of a literary work

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Tone

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The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience, or himself; the "emotional coloring of the work"

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Total meaning

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The total experience communicated by a poem. It includes all those dimensions of experience by which a poem communicates and it can be communicated in no other words than those of the poem itself.

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Trimeter

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A metrical line containing three feet

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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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Understatement

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A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrents

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Verse

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Metrical language; opposite of prose

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Villanelle

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A nineteen-line fixed form consisting of five tercets rhymed aba and a concluding quatrain rhymed abaa, with line 1 and 3 of the first tercet serving as refrains in an alternating pattern through line 15 and then repeated as lines 18 and 19.

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End Rhyme

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Rhymes that occur at the ends of lines

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End-Stopped Line

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A line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation

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English Sonnet

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A poem rhyming ababcdcdefefgg. Its content or structure parallels rhyme scheme: Three quatrains and a concluding couplet

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Euphony

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A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds.

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Extended Figure

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A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.

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Extended Metaphor

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A metaphor sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.

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Extended Simile

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A simile sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.

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Feminine Rhyme

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A rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or the third-last syllable of the words involved

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Figurative language

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Language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally.

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Figure of Speech

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Any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly, a way of saying one thing and meaning another

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Foot

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The basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of metrical verse.

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Form

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The external pattern or shape of a poem, describable without reference to its content.

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Free Verse

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Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms.

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Hexameter

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A metrical line containing six feet.

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Hyperbole

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a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor

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Iamb

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A metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable

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Iambic meter

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A meter in which the majority of feet are iambs

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Imagery

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The representation through language of sense experience

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Internal Rhyme

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A rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme words occur(s) within the line

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Irony

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A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy (General Term)

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Verbal Irony

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A figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said.

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Irony of situation

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A situation in which there is an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate, or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass

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Italian sonnet

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A sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba and of a sestet using any arrangement of two or three additional rhymes, such as cdcdcd or cdecde

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Accent

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A syllable given more prominence in pronunciation than its neighbors

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Allegory

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A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one.

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Alliteration

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The repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds or beginning vowels of accented syllables or important words

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Allusion

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A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in literature or history

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Anapestic

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A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllables

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Apostrophe

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A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply

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Assonance

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The repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words

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Aubade

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A poem about dawn; a morning love song; a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn

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Ballad

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A fairly short narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form

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Blank Verse

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Unrhymed iambic pentameter

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Cacophony

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A harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds

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Caesura

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A speech pause occurring within a line

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Connotation

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What a word suggests beyond its basic dictionary definition; a word's overtones of meaning

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Consonance

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The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words

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Couplet

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Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme

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Dactyl

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A metric foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

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Denotation

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The basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word

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Didactic poetry

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Poetry having as a primary purpose to teach or preach

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Dimeter

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A metrical line containing two feet

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Dramatic irony

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A device by which the author implies a different meaning from that intended by the speaker in a literary work.

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Duple meter

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A meter in which a majority of the feet contain two syllables. Iambic and trochaic are both examples of this meter.

English Literature: Sound and Sense All Literary Terms – Flashcards

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