Vocabulary of Poetry and the Novel

(Mostly adapted from The IB Course Companion.)

Note: Italicized terms are common in both poetry and prose

Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of
words. For example, “Five miles meandering with a mazy motion” (Coleridge).
Allusion: An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it
explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. Ex “Your backyard is a Garden of Eden.”
(Biblical allusion)
Antagonist: A character who the protagonist has to struggle against in order to develop or
change. (definition adapted from www.mcgraw-hill.com)
Atmosphere: The prevailing mood created by a piece of writing, or the emotion
surrounding it.
Caesura: in modern poetry: a usually rhetorical break in the flow of sound (pause) in the
middle of a line of verse. The lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” contain many
caesurae, including the opening line: “Oh, say can you see || by the dawn’s early
light…”
Climax: The moment or scene of greatest tension in a work of fiction: it usually acts as a
turning point. (definition adapted from highered.mcgraw-hill.com)
Denouement: the ending of a play, novel, or drama where “all is revealed” and the plot is
unraveled.
Diction: the choice of words that a writer makes. Another term for “vocabulary”.
Enjambment: (in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of
a line, couplet, or stanza. Example:
The moon moved above
The clouds, suspended between
Night and dawn.

Figurative Language: Language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be

taken literally
Hyperbole: A figure of speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point or show
emphasis. Ex: I've told you to study your poetry vocabulary a million times!
Imagery: the use of words to create a picture or image in the mind of the reader. Imagery
can relate to any of the senses, not just sight, but also hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
Imagery is often used to refer to the use of descriptive language, particularly to the use of
metaphors and similes.
Irony: At its simplest level, irony means saying one thing while meaning another. It occurs
where a word, phrase or event has one surface meaning or emotion but another
contradictory, possibly opposite, meaning or emotion is implied. Irony is frequently
confused with sarcasm. Sarcasm is spoken, often relying on tone of voice, and is much more
blunt than irony.
Metaphor: A comparison of one thing to another in order to make a description more vivid.
The metaphor actually states that one thing is the other. For example, a simile would be:
“The huge knight stood like an impregnable tower in the ranks of the enemy”, whereas the
corresponding metaphor would be: “The huge knight was an impregnable tower in the
midst of the enemy.”
Motif: A dominant theme, subject or idea that runs through a piece of literature. Often a
motif can assume symbolic importance.
Narrative: A piece of writing that tells a story.
Narrator: The speaker or voice that tells the story.
Onomatopoeia: the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named
(e.g., cuckoo, sizzle).
Paradox: a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when
investigated, considered or explained more deeply, does illuminate a form of truth or
reality.
Parallel Structure: repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or
passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. Ex:

We Real Cool (by Gwendolyn Brooks)

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

The parallel structures in this short poem give it a little waltz and jingle feel. Each parallel
sentence follows a basic pattern, starting with pronouns and ending with nouns and
adverbs, except the first line, which ends with an adjective.

(Example and explanation from: https://literarydevices.net/parallel-structure/)

Personification: The attribution of human feelings, emotions, or sensations to an

inanimate object. Personification is a kind of metaphor where human qualities are given to
things or abstract ideas, and they are described as if they were a person.
Plot: The sequence of events in a poem, play, novel or short story that make up the main
storyline.
Prose: Any kind of writing that is not verse – usually divided into fiction and non-fiction.
[my addition: Novels are written in prose. Sections of Shakespearean writing are written in
prose and others are in verse. Your short stories were written in prose. Prose usually uses
paragraphs. Prose is not metered, and it involves no particular attention to where lines
break).
Protagonist: Main Character. The audience tends to follow his or her development through
the story
Refrain: Just like in songs, a refrain in poetry is a regularly recurring phrase or verse,
especially at the end of each stanza or division of a poem or song.
Repetition: Repeating the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and
more memorable. ... As a rhetorical device, it could be a word, a phrase, or a full sentence,
or a poetical line repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text.
Rhyme: Correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when
these are used at the ends of lines of poetry.
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern rhyme follows in a work. For example, in Emily Dickinson’s
“Hope is the thing with feathers”, the rhyme scheme of the first two stanzas is ABCB CDCD:
A “Hope” is the thing with feathers -
B That perches in the soul -
C And sings the tune without the words -
B And never stops - at all -

C And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

D And sore must be the storm -
C That could abash the little Bird
D That kept so many warm -

Setting: The time and place of the story, often including social and historical context as
well as physical and temporal surroundings.
Simile: A comparison of one thing to another in order to make description more vivid.
Similes use the words “like” or “as” in this comparison.
Symbol: A concrete object or character that represents one or more abstract concepts. For
example, a red rose often symbolizes love.
Synaesthesia: A figure of speech in which one sense is described using terms from another.
Ex: “loud colors,” “frozen silence,” “warm colors,” and “bitter cold.”
Syntax: The way in which sentences are structured. Sentences can be structured in
different ways to achieve different effects.
Theme: The central idea or ideas that the writer explores through a text.
Tone: emotion of the narrator or narrative voice of a story. The tone is created through the
combined effects of a number of features, such as diction, syntax, rhythm, etc. The tone is
the major factor in establishing the overall impression of the piece of writing.
Understatement: Employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem
less important than it really is. Often used to ironic or comedic effect. Ex:
“The blood was dribbling out of the corner of my mouth. ‘The
artery’s gone,’ I thought. I wondered how long you last when
your carotid artery is cut; not many minutes, presumably.
Everything was very blurry. There must have been about two
minutes during which I assumed that I was killed. And that too
was interesting.”

(From Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell)

George Orwell used understatement to somewhat ironic purpose. In this excerpt from his real
experiences during the Spanish Civil War, Orwell recounts the feeling of being shot. After all the
shocking moments of seeing his life flash before his eyes, Orwell refers to it as simply “interesting.”

(Example and explanation from: http://www.literarydevices.com/understatement/)

Plus: Elements of Story or Fiction:

http://homeofbob.com/literature/genre/fiction/ficElmnts.html