1. Vocabulary, Terms, and How to Incorporate Them in Reading Poetry and Other Forms of Literature E.M.R. Mrs. M. Freshman Honors English B March 21, 2011 Period 1
3. Allusion A reference to a person, event, or place in history or literature “ That roamed through the young world, the glory extreme / Of high Sesostris, and that southern beam” -“The Nile” By James Henry Leigh Hunt
4. Apostrophe A figure of speech where the speaker directly addresses something nonhuman “ America free Tom Mooney / America save the Spanish Loyalists / America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die / America I am the Scottsboro boys.” -“America” By Allen Ginsberg
5. Connotation The implied meaning of a word “ I give you an onion. / It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. / It promises light / like the careful undressing of love.” -“Valentine” By Carol Ann Duffy
6. Denotation The literal meaning of a word “ And always serve bread with your wine.” -“Advice to My Son” By J. Peter Meinke
7. Metaphor A comparison of two unlike things without the use of “like” or “as” “ The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas” -“The Highwayman” By Alfred Noyes
8. Oxymoron The putting of two contradictory words together “ Some fond regrets to entertain” -“Anecdote for Fathers” By William Wordsworth
9. Paradox Two contradictory ideas that, when put together, make sense “ Shun advice / at any price - / that’s what I call / good advice.” -“Good Advice” By Piet Hein
10. Parallelism Important phrases, words, or ideas are repeated within a poem in the same manner; parallel structure “ A baby is a European / He does not eat our food: / He drinks from his own water pot. / A baby is a European / He does not speak our tongue: / He is cross when the mother understands him not. / A baby is a European” -“A Baby is a European” An Ewe Traditional Poem
11. Personification The giving of human qualities to animals or objects “ A boat beneath a sunny sky, / Lingering onward dreamily” -“A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky” By Lewis Carroll
12. Simile Comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as” “ My thoughts are like the boots randomly arrayed / In the rack outside the window ” -“Pedestrian Ambitions” By Ivan Donn Carswell
14. Alliteration The repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words “ Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard” -“The Highwayman” By Alfred Noyes “ Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard” -“The Highwayman” By Alfred Noyes
15. Assonance The repetition of the vowel sounds in words, but not the consonant sounds “ He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee” -“The Cremation of Sam McGee” By Robert W. Service
16. Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds in words, but not vowel sounds “ The hosts of witness stand!” -“Sleep is Supposed to Be” By Emily Dickinson
17. End Stopped A line that has a natural pause at the end using periods, commas, etc. “ To keep your marriage brimming / With love in the loving cup, / Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; / Whenever you’re right, shut up. ” -“A Word to Husbands” By Ogden Nash
18. Enjambment The running over of a sentence or thought into the next line without a pause at the end of the line; a run-on line “ A firefly, I think, a tiny flash of light / Within the gloom. I wonder, will it / Stay, or will it vanish, as have others?” -“Firefly” By Lawrence Beck
19. Free Verse Unrhymed poetry without a specific pattern “ My thoughts are like the boots randomly arrayed / in the rack outside the window, some in pairs neatly / stacked, comfortably worn with a relaxed air of / confidence, some scattered in patterns of bizarre / relationships, one in Benson’s den under guard from / thought predators he fears plagiarized an d stole / its partner’s soul. While I find it endearing / it involves a change in enterprise, his goal / in the pas t has mainly been slippers. ” -“Pedestrian Ambitions” By Ivan Donn Carswell
20. Onomatopeia A word that imitates the sound it represents “ Silver bells! / What a world of merriment their melody foretells! / How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle” -“The Bells” By Edgar Allan Poe
21. Refrain A line or set of lines at the end of a stanza or section of a longer poem that repeat at regular intervals “ Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’” -“The Raven” By Edgar Allan Poe
22. Rhyme A pattern of repeated sounds “ Whosever room this is should be ashamed! / His underwear is hanging on the lamp . / His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair, / And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp . / His workbook is wedged in the window, / His sweater's been thrown on the floor . / His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV, / And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door . ” -“Messy Room” By Shel Silverstein This poem’s rhyming pattern is A B C B
23. Stanza A unified group of lines in poetry; the paragraph in a poem -“Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face” By Jack Prelutsky
25. Last evening the moon rose above this rock Impure upon a world unpurged. The man and his companion stopped To rest before the heroic height. In many majesties of sound: They that had left the flame-freaked sun To seek a sun of fuller fire. Coldly the wind fell upon them Instead there was this tufted rock Massively rising high and bare Beyond all trees, the ridges thrown Like giant arms among the clouds. There was neither voice nor rested image, No chorister, nor priest. There was Only the great height of the rock And the two of them standing still to rest. There was the cold wind and the sound It made, away from the muck of the land That they had left, heroic sound Joyous and jubilant and sure. How to Live. What to Do. By Wallace Stevens
