poetic terms sonnet terms and poems

Sonnet

A 14 line poem in iambic pentameter

Alliteration

-The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.

Assonance

-The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose.

Tone

The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work

Connotation

The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning.

Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem. Shakespeare's sonnets end in rhymed couplets.

Denotation

The dictionary meaning of a word.

Figurative language

A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words.

imagery

The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech involving exaggeration.

Symbol

An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself.

Metaphor

A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean or English sonnet is arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.

Simile

A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as

Onomatopoeia

The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe

Rhyme

The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words

Personification

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

Quatrain

A four-line stanza in a poem

Iambic pentameter is a rhythm and a meter that shakespeare uses

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It sounds like a heartbeat: dum dum , dum dum

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5 dum dums per line

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10 syllables per line

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5 stressed, 5 unstressed

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An 'iamb' is a "Dum dum

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Penta is greek for 5

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A syllable is a sound

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A sonnet is a poetic form. It has certain structure: 3 quatrains, 1 couplet, the scheme being: abab cdcd efef gg

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A quatrain is a group of 4 lines

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A couplet is 2 lines that rhyme

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A stanza is a group of lines

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In a sonnet there are 3 quatrains and 1 couplet

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer is far too short:
At times the sun is too hot,
Or often goes behind the clouds;
And everything beautiful sometime will lose

the eye of heaven

the sun.

every fair from fair sometime declines

every fair from fair sometime declines

nature's changing course

nature's changing course

temperate

evenly-tempered; not overcome by passion.

that fair thou ow'st

that beauty you possess.