Poetry Literary Terms for Grade 10 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Poetry Literary Terms for Grade 10

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE “Language of the Imagination” Definition: Language based on some sort of comparison that is not Literally true

METAPHOR

METAPHOR “Speak in imaginative shorthand” Definition: comparison between unlike things which some reasonable connection is instantly revealed. More forceful: uses ‘is’ to compare ideas

DIRECT METAPHOR

DIRECT METAPHOR Definition: States that something IS something else. Example: X is Y

IMPLIED METAPHOR

IMPLIED METAPHOR Definition: Implies or suggests a comparison between things that have very little in common. Ways of saying something that can open our eyes to a new way of seeing the world.

EXTENDED METAPHOR

EXTENDED METAPHOR Definition: A Metaphor that develops its comparison over several lines or even an entire poem. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”

FIGURE OF SPEECH

FIGURE OF SPEECH Definition: language shaped by the play of the imagination, in which one thing is compared to something that seems to be entirely different. This is never literally true

SIMILE

SIMILE Definition: A figure of speech that uses the words like, as, than, and resembles to compare things that have little or nothing in common.

PERSONIFICATION

PERSONIFICATION Definition: When we attribute human- like qualities to a non-human thing or to an abstract idea. “The future calls”

SYMBOL

SYMBOL Definition: An ordinary object which has extraordinary meaning attached to it. “Red roses for love” “Skull and crossbones for danger”

SYMBOLIC MEANING

SYMBOLIC MEANING Definition: The deeper layer of meaning suggested by a work’s literal, or surface, meaning. “And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. ”

CONFLICT Internal Conflict and External Conflict

CONNOTATION

CONNOTATION Definition: All the associations and emotions that are attached to a word. Housman’s “Loveliest of Trees”

AMBIGUOUS

AMBIGUOUS Definition: Allowing for opposing interpretations, or meanings. Frost’s “Mending Wall”

SPEAKER

SPEAKER Definition: The voice that talks directly to the reader in a poem; the speaker is not always the poet. Masters “George Gray”

TONE

TONE Definition: The attitude of the writer or the speaker toward the subject of the poem or toward the audience. Can be inferred from words and details. Hongo’s “The Legend”

IDIOM

IDIOM Definition: An expression that is peculiar to a particular language. It means something different from the literal meaning of each word. Clifton’s “Miss Rosie”“I stand up”

FREE VERSE

FREE VERSE Definition: Poetry that does not have regular meter or rhyme. Usually captures natural rhythms of ordinary speech. Means: “Freedom from rules”

BLANK VERSE

BLANK VERSE Definition: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (no rhyme pattern, 10 syllables).

SONNET Italian (Petrarchan) And English (Shakespearean)

SONNET Definition: Fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter. Italian: two parts octave(eight lines) and sestet (six) English: four parts three quatrains (four lines) and couplet (pair of rhymed lines)

IAMBIC PENTAMETER

IAMBIC PENTAMETER Definition: Used in Shakespeare, when each line contains five iambs and a total of ten syllables.

RHYME

RHYME Definition: Repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem.

RHYMED COUPLET

RHYMED COUPLET Definition: A two-line unit in a poem that rhymes. In a Shakespearean sonnet, the last pair of lines( labeled gg ).

END RHYME

END RHYME Definition: Rhyme which occurs at the end of lines in a poem.

RHYME SCHEME

RHYME SCHEME Definition: A pattern of rhymed lines in a poem. This is indicated by labeling each new end rhyme with a letter of the alphabet. Example: abab cdcd efef gg (E. Sonnet)

INTERNAL RHYME

INTERNAL RHYME Definition: Rhyme that occurs within a line or lines of poetry. “The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing, ” -Shelley

APPROXIMATE RHYME

APPROXIMATE RHYME Definition: Words that sound similar, but do not rhyme exactly. Also called half rhyme, slant rhyme or imperfect rhyme. Blade/ blood; flash/ flesh

QUATRAIN

QUATRAIN Definition: A four-line unit in poetry, normally found in a sonnet.

RHYTHM

RHYTHM Definition: Musical quality in language, produced by repetition Established by: *a meter, *repetition of grammatical structures *using pauses *varying line lengths *balancing long and short words and phrases.

METER

METER Definition: A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

SCANNING

SCANNING Definition: Analyzing the metrical pattern of a poem. Also called scansion. Meter is measured in units called feet.

FOOT

FOOT Definition: Usually consists of one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllable. Examples: iamb trochee anapest dactyl spondee

BALLAD

BALLAD Definition: Song or song-like poem that tells a story. It is a story-poem that is meant to be sung. Use: simple language meter refrain Folk Ballad is one type is this poem.

REFRAIN

REFRAIN Definition: Whole lines or stanzas repeated at regular intervals.

TANKA

TANKA Definition: A Japanese poetic form, containing five (5) unrhymed lines and a total of thirty-one (31) syllables. Evokes a strong feeling with a single image.

ONOMATOPOEIA

ONOMATOPOEIA Definition: Use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning. buzz, splash, knock, bark

ALLITERATION

ALLITERATION Definition: Repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together. “Where the quail is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheat-lot. ” Whitman

ASSONANCE

ASSONANCE Definition: Repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together. “I lie down by the side, Of my darling, of my darling, my life and my bride. ” -Edgar Allen Poe

PROSE POEM

PROSE POEM Definition: A short piece that is written in the form of prose but uses the elements of poetry. Usually evokes powerful images that make the writer’s world easy to see and feel.