Literary Terms

Assonance- repetition of the same vowel sound 

Metrical rhythm- metrical poetry imposes artificial rhythms on sentences by enclosing them within a pattern of stresses. A metre is a basis for the reading of the poem- it is up to the reader to decide where the metre should be strictly kept to and where the rhythm of speech should be allowed to override the metre.

Feet- units of stress within a line of a poem: Iamb- dee dum (demand, expect) Trochee- dum dee (soldier, weather) Anapaest- dee dee dum (intercept) Dactyl- dum dee dee (extrovert, internet)

Metre- the number of feet within a line of poetry: 2 feet- dimeter; 3 feet- trimeter; 4 feet- tetrameter; 5 feet- pentameter; 6 feet- hexameter; 7 feet- heptameter

Caesura- the half way point in a line of verse, which may correspond to a natural break

Simile- the direct comparison of two things (The sky is like a polished mirror)

Synecdoche- something is defined by one part or aspect (farm hands=people who help on farm, a new motor= a new car).

Oxymoron- a combination of incongruous and apparently contradictory ideas (O loving hate!)

Antithesis- opposition of nearby words or phrases (Your grace attended to their sugared words/But looked not on the poison of their hearts)

Tautology- redundant words or ideas (I myself personally…)

Anaphora- the repetition of the beginning of phrases (Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!)

Chiasmus- two phrases which are syntactically parallel, but reversed (The years to come seemed a waste of breath/ a waste of breath the years behind)

Classical Rhetoric:

Circumlocution or periphrasis-talking around your subject obliquely or evasively (It’s when you meet your maker, fall asleep for the final time, draw your last breath)

Expolitio- explaining an idea several times in different ways (attending school, going to your place of study, entering a learning environment…)

Sententiae- moral generalisation (Love is blind; virtue is always rewarded)

Diversio- digression (There was a lady in the room called Anne. She reminded me of someone I knew once before called Amy. Have I ever told you what happened with Amy?)

Rhetorical questions- questions which invite reflection but are not meant to be answered (Is this what the world has come to?)