Poetry Unit Terms to Know

• Recognizing Figurative Language
o The opposite of literal language is figurative language. Figurative language is language that means more than what it says on the surface.
o It usually gives us a feeling about its subject.
o Poets use figurative language almost as frequently as literal language. When you read poetry, you must be conscious of the difference. Otherwise, a poem may make no sense at all.

• Literal language is language that means exactly what is said. Most of the time, we use literal language in our daily conversations.
• What is figurative language?
o Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language.

• Imagery
• Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of peopleor objects stated in terms of our senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell).

• Simile

o A figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words “like” or “as”.
Examples: The muscles on his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.
People are like music, all you have to do is listen.
• Metaphor
o A figure of speech which involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is not announced by “like” or “as”, but instead uses “is” or “are”
o Example: The road is a ribbon wrapping through the dessert.

• Alliteration
• Repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or withinwords.
Example: She was wide-eyed and wondering while she waited for Walter to waken.

• Personification
• A figure of speech which gives the qualities of a personto an animal, an object, or an idea.
Example: “The wind yells while blowing.”
***The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can yell.***

• Onomatopoeia
o The use of words that mimic sounds.
Example: The firecracker made a loud ka-boom!

• Hyperbole
o An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point.
Example: She’s explained it to me on several million occasions.

• Idioms
o An idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translatedword-for-word in another language.
o Example: "She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning "she is obsessed," cannot be literally translated into another language word for word.