Poetry Terms/Questions

paraphrase
the literal meaning of the poem

simile
a comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words like or as

metaphor
a comparison without the use of like or as. The poet states one thing is the other

personification
a type of figurative language in which animals, inanimate objects, or ideas are given human qualities

allusion
a reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing

irony
saying one thing and meaning another; different from what is expected; a character’s words or actions have more meaning then he or she intended

imagery
appealing to the reader’s senses

alliteration
a repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words

assonance
a repetition of vowel sounds within words

consonance
a repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words

onomatopoeia
the use of that sound like what they refer to

rhyme
a repetition of final sounds in two or more words

rhyme scheme
the pattern of repeated sounds at the end of the lines

meter
sometimes considered the rhythm, this is the number of stresses in each line

stanza pattern
the number of stanzas and the number of lines in each stanza

free verse
poetry that does not follow strict formal patterns

speaker
the voice that talks directly to the reader in the poem; the speaker is not always the poet; every poem has a speaker!

tone
the attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character, or the reader; every poem has a tone!

shift
the change in the feelings of the speaker from the beginning to the end; every good poem has a shift!

symbols
person, place, thing, or event that stands bother for itself and for something beyond itself

connotations
all the associations and emotions attached to a word

symbolic meaning
the deeper layer of meaning or hidden meaning suggested by the symbols in the poem; not all poems have symbolic meaning

theme
the central idea or insight revealed by a work of literature; every poem has theme!

How should a paraphrase begin?
In the poem “poem title” by author,

How long should a paraphrase be?
It should have the same or fewer sentences than the number of stanzas in the poem.