Literature: Poetry I Part 2

Synecdoche

In the line of poetry, "The western wave was all aflame," from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the poet's use of the word "wave" is an example of a figure of speech know as _____

cacophony

Opposite of euphony, ___________ is a the use of words that have a harsh or unpleasant sound or may have been purposefully misarranged by the author to convey a harsh or sharp tone such as in Lewis Carroll's poem "Jaberwocky" And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwocky, with eyes of flame, Came wiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

consonance

a literary device in which the writer repeats two or more consonant sounds without repeating the vowel sounds. "Split splat" "pitter patter"

The line "O Romeo, O Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" from the play Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet addresses Romeo even though he is not there in front of her, is an example of the literary device

apostrophe Apostrophe is a poetic device in which the speaker directly addresses a person or thing that is not there.

Edgar Allan Poe uses _________ in the following verse in his poem, "The Bells": "Hear the mellow wedding bells."

assonance Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that don't rhyme, usually with the vowel sounds found in the middle of words instead of at the beginning.

The poem "To Autumn" by John Keats contains _____________, words that sound pleasant to the ear when spoken due to phonetic quality of the consonants: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

euphony This poem utilizes euphony as opposed to cacophony.

Metonymy

is a figure of speech in which a word is substituted for another word in order to bring to mind or represent an associated idea. Example: the word "crown" is used to represent royalty.

oxymoron

is a figure of speech that joins two contradictory or dissimilar terms----such as "cold fire."

Understatement

is a form of speech in which the author says less than he or she actually means such as in Robert Frost's poem "Birches," which ends with, "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches."

onomatopoeia

is a literary device in which a word imitates the sound that it describes, such as "bark" to describe the sound a dog sometimes makes.

Caesura

is a pause within a line of poetry that may or may not be marked by punctuation (/) to cause the pause.

spoonerism

is a phrase such as "Runny Babbit" where two corresponding consonants or vowels of two words have been switched in order to convey a humorous message

allusion

is a poetic device in which a poet indirectly or subtly refers to an often well-known event or object that has actually taken place or existed in a context outside the poem. Poets may use allusions that refer to memorable historical events, famous individuals, and other well-known literature or artwork, etc.

Apostrophe

is a poetic device in which the speaker directly addresses a person or thing that is not there.

Alliteration

is a poetic device where the same consonant sound is repeated at the beginning of two or more words that are close by

conceit

is an extended metaphor or other form of comparison between two very unlikely objects. Conceits were used primarily by metaphysical poets in the 17th century. Metaphysical poets include a variety of individuals including John Donne and George Herbert.

symbol

is an object or feeling that takes on a meaning larger than itself or comes to represent or stand for something that it is not in and of itself.

Denotation

is its literal meaning according to the dictionary definition or its common use. Depending on how it is used, a word's denotation may be very different from the connotations that go along with the word.

Hyperbole

is overstated, purposeful exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally but is used to emphasize strong feelings or make an important point.

Assonance

is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that don't rhyme, usually with the vowel sounds found in the middle of words instead of at the beginning.

Imagery

is the use of figurative language in order to evoke a certain image in the reader's mind using the five senses.

enjambment

is when a writer intentionally runs lines of poetry together; breaks a thought, phrase, or sentence at the end of the line; and carries that thought, phrase, or sentence onto the next line.

connotation

its levels of meanings that extend beyond the actual definition. In other words, this refers to what a word suggests aside from its dictionary definition.

The poem "The Bells" by Edgar Allen Poe makes use of the literary device ________. "Oh the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells Oh Despair! How they clang and clash and roar! . . . . . . Yet the ear, it fully knows, By the twanging, And the clanging, . . . In the janging, And the wrangling . . ."

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is a literary device in which a word imitates the sound that it describes. In this poem, the words sound like an actual bell ringing.