Poetry and Elements of Style
Across
5. a poem that is meant to be sung, usually about love or betrayal.
9. an exaggeration or overstatement to emphasize a point or create a comic effect, such as “I’m
starving,” or “That’s gonna take a million years!”
10. what happens is different from what we expect to happen.
11. when two words rhyme within a line or with another word in the middle of the next line.
13. having 5 stressed and unstressed syllables in a line, 10 syllable total.
15. poetry with no set structure, sounding like someone is just speaking in conversation.
17. a poem written in tribute to something or someone.
23. someone says the opposite of what they mean, what is true, or what others expect.
27. when a comparison is continued to create a more vivid image, such as Whitman’s comparison of
Lincoln, the U.S., and the Civil War to a captain, a ship, and a dangerous voyage.
29. the repetition of consonant sounds to create a playful or poetic effect, such as “Harry the hungry
hobo hankered for a hunk of ham.”
Ballad
Elegy
Epic
Lyric Poem
Narrative Poem
Ode
Sonnet
Tall Tale
Freeverse
Iambic
Meter
Pentameter
Rhythm
Approximate Rhyme
Couplet
End Rhyme
Exact Rhyme
Internal Rhyme
Across (continued)
32. sounds in two different words that are exactly the same, like leopard and peppered.
35. a figure of speech comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as;” for example, “Let’s make like
balls and roll!”
37. this occurs when the reader or observer knows something that the character does not, as in the
Tell-Tale Heart.
38. any of many types of expressions with alternate meanings that should not be taken literally.
Alliteration
Assonance
Allusion
Dialect
Foreshadowing
Imagery
Onomatopoeia
Refrain
Symbolism
39. when the last word in one line rhymes with the last word in a following line.
Down
1. a way of speaking (or slang) characteristic of a particular place or people; may be an accent, word
phrases, or gestures; such as Billy Weaver saying, “That is a bit of all right!”
2. language that creates an image in your mind, appealing to the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste,
and sound.
3. the repeating of vowel sounds, for example, “Annie the ant eater actually accepts acting as an
anomaly for animals.”
4. a reference to features of a culture that people share, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s reference to
the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the song “My Country ‘tis of Thee.”
6. sounds that are similar but not exactly the same, like track and trick.
7. a figure of speech comparing one thing to another, point by point, to show how they are alike, most
often used in the sciences, such as comparing the Earth to a cell: both are a closed system, the
ecosystem functions with multiple parts like the organelles function together in the cell, etc.
8. a poem that tells a story, which has to have characters, setting and a plot.
12. the repeating of a word or phrase to create rhythm or emphasize a point, for example, “I have a
dream.”
14. a poem written in tribute to a dead person, like Oh Captain My Captain.
16. people, places, things, or events that have meaning beyond what they are, such as our flag.
18. a poem expressing strong feelings.
19. a poem or story that is too incredible to be true, like The Cremation of Sam McGee.
20. a figure of speech giving non-human things human characteristics, such as saying “The moon
winked at the sun.”
21. two lines that rhyme.
22. using words to represent sounds: buzz, barf, tinkle.
24. the beat of a poem.
25. using clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot, such as in The Land Lady,
where we know from the clues that Billy Weaver is going to be murdered and stuffed.
26. an expression that means something different than the literal use of the words, such as saying
“break a leg” to wish someone luck before a performance.
28. going from an unstressed syllable to a stressed syllable.
30. the opposite of what is expected.
31. a long narrative poem that tells the story of a heroic character, like Beowulf.
33. the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
34. a figure of speech directly comparing two unlike things; for example, “The world is a vampire.”
36. a 14 line poem that follows strict structure, using iambic pentameter and breaking the lines into
Italian style or Shakespearean style.
Irony
Dramatic Irony
Situational Irony
Verbal Irony
Figure of Speech
Analogy
Extended Metaphor
Hyperbole
Idiom
Metaphor
Personification
Simile