APPENDIX A

DLP Q1,Week5,Day4

Poetic Devices and Literary Terminology

From the site of Mr. Steel

Allegory

When several symbols work together in a narrative to create a separate level of

meaning.
A story or narrative, like a fable, in which a moral principle or abstract truth is
presented by means of fictional characters.

Alliteration

The repetition of similar initial consonant sounds. The repetition of consonant

sounds, particularly at the beginning of words.

"From stem to stern."

"Yanked out yards of yellow yak yutt."

"Great green gobs of greasy gooey gopher guts."

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

Allusion

A brief, indirect reference to a historical or literary person, event or object. The

writer assumes that the reader will recognize the reference and superimpose the
ideas and meaning associated with it into the current context.

Antithesis

The arrangement of contrasting words, sentences, or ideas in a balanced

grammatical structure. It can be stylistically effective as well as a source of extra
emphasis.

"Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike."

Apostrophe

An impassioned address to something abstract or inanimate, or to someone

(usually absent) as if he/she were present. This technique is often used to create
a powerful emotional effect, and consequently is often used in oratory. A direct
address of an inanimate object, abstract qualities, or a person not living or
present. A figure of speech in which an address is made to an absent or
deceased person or a personified thing rhetorically.

"Beware, O Asparagus, you've stalked my last meal."

"O solitude! Where are the charms

That sages have seen in thy face?"

Assonance

The repetition of similar stressed vowel sounds. The repetition of similar vowel
sounds. Similarity of sounds; particularly, as distinguished from rhyme, the
similarity of like vowels followed by unlike consonants.

"cat" and "map"

"holy" and "story"

"I rose and told him of my woe"

"All is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil"

Ballad Stanza

A 4-line stanza of which the first and third lines are iambic tetrameter and the
second and fourth lines are iambic trimeter, the second and fourth lines rhyming.
The meter of the ballad stanza, called also common meter, is often varied in
practice (ex. Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner).

Ballade

A traditional French verse-form consisting of three stanzas and a concluding

envoy. In its original form, a refrain at the end of each stanza states the main
theme of the poem. This "envoy" is usually addressed to the poet's patron, or a
member of the court. The entire poem usually contains only three rhymes, with
the rhyme scheme consistent in each stanza. A poem commonly of three 8-line
stanzas with all stanzas following the rhyme-scheme ababbcbc, concluded by a
four-line envoy rhyming bcbc. Chaucer wrote ballades, as did some late-19th
century poets.

Cacophony

The use of unpleasant sounds or rhythms to create a jarring effect.

Consonance

The repetition of similar final consonant sounds.

Dramatic Monologue

A lyric poem in which the speaker addresses a silent but identifiable listener.
There is generally a specific physical setting and a dramatic situation to which
the speaker is responding. Dramatic monologues are similar to the soliloquy in
effect. The purpose of both is to enable readers to learn more about the speaker's
thoughts and feelings, and as such they are an excellent vehicle for character
revelation. A type of poem perfected by Robert Browning that consists of single
speaker talking to one or more unseen listeners and often revealing more about
the speaker than he or she seems to intend.

Elegy

A poem whose purpose is to express grief or sorrow. The theme is usually death.
A poem of lament, praise, and consolation, usually formal and sustained, over the
death of a particular person; also, a meditative poem in plaintive or sorrowful
mood.

Elision

The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of

poetry. The running together of vowels in adjacent words, for the sake of
eliminating a syllable.

"th'eternal, as happy'as I."

"Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame"

Enjambment

Occurs when the sense of a poetic line runs over to the succeeding line. The
running of one line into another. Lines not enjambed are end-stopped.

"In that blest moment from his oozy bed 

Old father Thames advanc'd his reverend head."

Envoy

A stanza, usually of 4 or 5 lines, concluding a ballade, a sestina, or some other

such form; normally interlaced with the foregoing stanzas by its rhyme-scheme.
Epic
A long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero. Epics typically
chronicle the origins of a civilization and embody its central values. Examples
from western literature include Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and
Milton's Paradise Lost.

Epigram

A brief, pithy statement that is often antithetical. Appears in prose as well as

poetry.

Euphemism

The use of inoffensive, mild, or vague words in place of harsher, more blunt ones.
Often used to reduce the risk of offending someone. "We are experiencing heavy
casualties" (many soldiers are being killed).

Euphony

The musical effect achieved when a poet uses words and phrases that create
pleasant, harmonious sounds and rhythms.

Foot

A group of two or three syllables constituting the unit of a metrical line. Normally,
in English, an iamb, trochee, anapest or dactyl.

Free verse

Poetry that contains no structured form or rhyme scheme, and does not follow a
standard metrical pattern.

Found poetry

A piece of prose selected and arranged to look like poetry. Snatches from other
people's work collected into a poem. A poem created from prose found in a non-
poetic context, such as advertising copy, brochures, newspapers, product labels,
etc. The lines are arbitrarily rearranged into a form patterned on the rhythm and
appearance of poetry.

Haiku

A Japanese poem in three lines, of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, which represents a clear

picture so as to at once to arouse emotion and suggest spiritual insight.

"The falling flower 

I saw drift back to the branch 
Was a butterfly"
Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration in order to emphasize a fact or feeling. It can be used to

create either a comic or a serious effect.

Exaggeration for emphasis (the opposite of understatement)

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"I've told you a billion times to put the cap back on the toothpaste tube!"

"I'd give my right arm for a piece of pizza."

Imagery

Word or sequence of words representing a sensory experience

"bells knelling classes to a close" (auditory)

Irony

Consists of a discrepancy between expectation and reality.

A contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant (verbal

irony) or what is expected in a particular circumstance or behaviour (situational),
or when a character speaks in ignorance of a situation known to the audience or
other characters (situational).

Ø Verbal irony

Involves a contradiction between what is said and what is meant.

Ø Situational irony

Contains an inconsistency between what one would expect to happen

and what does happen.

Ø Dramatic irony

Involves a discrepancy between what a character says and what the

author means.

Limerick

A light or humorous verse form of five chiefly anapestic verses of which lines
one, two and five are of three feet and lines three and four are of two feet, with a
rhyme scheme of aabba.
 A flea and a fly in a flue

Were caught, so what could they do?

Said the fly, "Let us flee."

"Let us fly," said the flea.

So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Litotes

Occurs when something is understated by stating the negative of its opposite. A

figure of speech in which an assertion is made by the negation of its opposite.

"It little profits... an idle king"

"A fact of no small importance"

"She was not disappointed by the news" instead of, "She was thrilled by the
news."

"not unhappy" or "a poet of no small stature."

Lyric poetry

Poetry which focuses on a single, unified experience and expresses a powerful

emotion or sentiment.

Madrigal

A brief lyric, averaging eight or ten lines, suitable for part singing. Popular in
Elizabethan England. (ex. Fletcher's "Take, O, Take those Lips Away.")

Meiosis

A deliberate understatement, used for emphasis, or to create a humorous effect.

Understatement occurs when we say less than what we actually mean, or use
less force than the context requires or deserves.

The use of understatement to enhance the impression on the hearer.

"The lottery winner was just a little excited."

"The building of the pyramids took a little bit of effort."

Metaphor

An implied analogy, consisting of a comparison between two essentially unlike

elements. "Like" or "as" is not used.

Comparison between essentially unlike things without using words OR

application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally
applicable

"[Love] is an ever fixed mark, / that looks on tempests and is never shaken."

Metonymy

The use of a closely related term to represent an object with which it is

associated. It is often used interchangeably with synecdoche in which a part of
an object is used to refer to the whole object.

Referring to a concept by an attribute of it.

A closely related term substituted for an object or idea.

A figure of speech involving the substitution of one noun for another of which it
is an attribute or which is closely associated with it, e.g., "the kettle boils" or "he
drank the cup." Metonymy is very similar to synecdoche.

The crown referring to a monarch: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."

Metre

All language is naturally rhythmic. Poets will sometimes manipulate this random
rhythm by arranging their words in such a way so that the accented and
unaccented syllables of the words conform to a regular pattern. When this occurs
and the pattern is measurable, it is called a metre. Metre is described in terms of
the number and type of metrical "feet" in each line. A metrical foot is the basic
unit of rhythm. Measured pattern of rhythmic accents in a line of verse. (ex.
Iambic Pentameter, Trochaic Tetrameter, Iambic Tetrameter, Anapoestic
Tetrameter)

Narrative poetry

Poetry which tells a story, and can contain many of the same elements as
narrative prose.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word that closely resembles the sound to which it refers; the use of
words to imitate the sounds they describe

(ex. "crack" or "whir")

Oxymoron

A combination of two contradictory or conflicting words. It differs from a paradox

in that it compactly creates its effect through the combination of two successive
words. A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.

"bittersweet, cool fire, deafening silence, wise folly"

"Oh heavy lightness, serious vanity!"

"Led Zeppelin"

"Iron Butterfly"

Paradox

A statement that reads as being contradictory, but upon closer examination

reveals some truth. A situation or phrase that appears to be contradictory but
which contains a truth worth considering.

"In order to preserve peace, we must prepare for war."

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall
find it."

Personification

A special form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to

animals, inanimate objects, or ideas. The endowment of inanimate objects or
abstract concepts with animate or living qualities

"Time let me play / and be golden in the mercy of his means."

"And twilight silver footed creeps

Down the dimming paths"

Pun

Play on words OR a humorous use of a single word or sound with two or more
implied meanings.

"They're called lessons . . . because they lessen from day to day."

"Eve was nigh Adam

Adam was naive."

Refrain
A line or phrase of regular recurrence, appended typically to the several stanzas
of a stanzaic poem. Refrains may be the same throughout, or similar but with
progressive variations. They may also repeat the last line or phrase of each
successive stanza.

Rhyme

A repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by similar consonant sounds,

results in rhyme. To determine the kind of rhyme being used, count the number of
syllables that sound similar. If the last syllable is stressed and rhymes, it is a
masculine rhyme, otherwise known as a single rhyme. If two syllables rhyme and
the second syllable is unstressed, it is a feminine rhyme, otherwise known as
double rhyme. If three syllables rhyme, this is a triple rhyme. Correspondence of
terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse.

Simile

A direct comparison using the words "like" or "as" between two unlike things.
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"

Sonnet

A fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; its
subject is traditionally that of love.

Stanza

Unit of a poem often repeated in the same form throughout a poem; a unit of
poetic lines ("verse paragraph")

Symbol

The use of a concrete object as both a literal and a metaphorical representation of

something else. An object or action that stands for something beyond itself (ex.
white = innocence, purity, hope)

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole. Same

as metonymy. Referring to a concept by a part of it.

"Lend me a hand."

"All of the big names in the field were there.

Source: http://philippineliteraturenow.blogspot.com/2009/12/poetic-devices-and-
literary-terminology.html