Terminology linked to poetry

Abstract and Concrete A word is abstract when it refers to a quality such as goodness or evil, and concrete when it refers to something that can be detected by the five senses. Literature needs both kinds of words. Ideas are abstract but they are made real by concrete examples. The opening of R. S. Thomas's 'Poetry for Supper' has an abstract word followed by concrete ones :

                                                Listen, now, verse should be as natural
                                                As the small tuber that feeds on muck…
The concrete words, 'tuber', and 'muck', give body to the abstract, 'natural', thus making it more effective. (See also Image and imagery.)

Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sound. Alliteration is usually both pleasing and memorable; pleasing because readers enjoy the pattern of sounds, and memorable because repeated sounds impress themselves upon the mind. There is no point in just mentioning that alliteration occurs, unless you can go on to discuss its effect. To help you describe the effect of alliteration you can ask whether or not it produces a distinctive tone, and whether or not it is regularly spaced. The former effect is the more important, because alliteration, whether or not it is regularly spaced, is always capable of contributing to the tone of a poem. For instance, the alliteration of the 'f' sound is regular in one line from Owen's 'Exposure', - 'With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew' - and irregular in another - 'Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces' - yet both create a furtive tone. The flakes may seem delicate but they are sinister in the way they bring a deathly cold to the exposed soldiers. (See also Assonance and Consonance.)

Allusion A reference to another book, event, person or place. The allusion is usually implied or hinted, so the reader is given the pleasure of seeing it and understanding the effect it creates. Sometimes the effect is to make what is being said more significant, more ambiguous or more amusing. In Pope's The Rape of the Lock, Belinda is shown to have bright and sparkling eyes:

Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazer strike, 
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.

It is a radiant picture but one qualified by the allusion to St Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus says that God sends the sun to shine on everybody. The presence of that allusion suggests that those fascinated by Belinda, and maybe Belinda herself, have a distorted sense of values in that they confuse the human with the divine.

Ambiguity The capacity of a word or words to mean two or more different things. In poetry this capacity is valued, because the meanings of poems are thereby enriched. When discussing ambiguity, you should show that the same words could have different meanings. For instance, in Blake's 'London' there are the lines: 
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry 
Every blackening Church appalls ... 
'Blackening' is ambiguous. Does it meant the soot from chimneys has blackened the Church, or is the Church actively blackening society? You will also probably need to discuss the tone of the poem, because a poet often makes it clear that a poem is deliberately ambiguous.

Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in adjoining words. The effect of assonance is similar to that of alliteration; that is to say, it helps to create tone. It is also worthwhile noting whether or not it is regularly spaced. Assonance is rarer than alliteration yet it can be very effective. In these four lines from Donne's 'Song', the repetition of the 'i' vowel creates a tone of lamentation and regret:

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st not wind, 
    But sigh'st my soul away, 
When thou weep'st, unkindly kind, 
    My life's blood doth decay. 
(See also Alliteration and Consonance.)

Cadence The rise and fall in pitch the voice makes when at the end of a line, a sentence or caesura. The emotional impact of poetry is often created by cadences. There is no technical language to describe their effect, though they are often said to be 'rising', 'falling' or 'steady'. When you write about cadences, you should try to characterise the emotional effect they create. For instance, the close of the passage about skating from Book I of Wordsworth's The Prelude is effective because the steady cadence enacts the peace of untroubled sleep:

   and I stood and watched 
Till all was tranquil as a dreamless sleep.

Caesura The break in a line of poetry. The convention for marking a caesura is ||. Caesuras are important because they mark changes in tone, in argument and emotion. They can also produce comic effects, particularly when what follows the caesura is very different from what preceded it. When writing about a caesura, you should never just point to its existence but try to describe the impact that it has. For instance, the caesura in the last line of Yeats's 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death' is effective because there is no break in the previous line (there are very few in the poem) and because it enacts the clear-sighted thoughtfulness of one who has come to a momentous decision:

A waste of breath the years behind 
In balance with this life,  || this death.

Complex     A line, sentence, image, scene or whole work which consists of several closely connected ideas or feelings. You can use the term when you are trying to stress that the meaning, emotion or construction of a work is rich and varied. It is important to understand that the term implies that though a work has many elements, it is still unified. Therefore, it is often used as a term of praise. You should not, however, assume that only complex literature is good. There is also a pleasure and a value in simplicity.

Compression       A term used when talking about poetry to indicate the way in which writers concentrate meaning by cutting down the number of words. The experience there- fore is of meaning concentrated in a few words. In many metaphors the whole figurative force is compressed into one word. Sometimes, as in these lines from Browning's ... "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"-, compressed writing is direct, concentrated and close to notes or shorthand.

                 grey plain all round: 
Nothing but plain to the horizon's bound. 
I might go on; nought else remained to do.

Conceit       A highly elaborate image that seems on first acquaintance far-fetched but yet which, with thought, is seen to be appropriate. It is strange but true. You should try to convey the sense of shock, the challenge to thought, and the pleasure of discovering that the image is apt. The most famous example is from Donne's 'Valediction: forbidding mourning', where he speaks of a husband and wife's souls as being a pair of compasses:

If they be two, they are two so 
As stiff twin compasses are two, 
Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show 
To move, but doth, if the other do.

The shock is that the insubstantial soul should be compared to 'stiff twin compasses'; the challenge to thought comes when the third and fourth lines are read, and the pleasure is of seeing that the image is delightfully logical - she is stable but will move as he moves, because they are really one.

Consonance    The repetition of the same consonant sounds in two or more words in which the vowel sounds are different. The effect is of interest when the words are related in meaning as well as in sound. In W. H. Auden's   ... "O where are you going?" said reader to rider' there is a line: 'Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly.' The consonance of 'swiftly' and 'softly' is interesting because both words are concerned with the stealthy and slightly sinister approach of the strange 'figure'. (See also Alliteration, Assonance and Half-rhyme.)

Consonants and Vowels    A consonant is a sound produced by stopping the breath, and a vowel by allowing the air to pass through the mouth without stoppage. Vowels are a, e, i, o, u and, in some cases, y; all other letters are consonants. The terms are useful when writing about the effects of sound in poetry. 
It is often important to note whether a vowel is long or short. For instance, the long vowels of Herbert's 'Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright' create a meditative and tranquil effect, whereas the short 'i's in the following lines from T. S. Eliot's 'The Love- Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' are nervous and slightly irritable.

Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' 
Let us go and make our visit.

Counterpoint    A word borrowed from music to indicate how some syllables in an otherwise regular line produce variations on the set rhythm. You should only use the term if you want to discuss the emotional or intellectual effect of the variation. The opening of Larkin's 'Church Going' is basically iambic until the last three emphatic words of the second line, which have the effect of enclosing the poet in the church, the poet's thoughts in his head, and the reader in the poem:

Onće Í am suŕe thĕre's nóthiňg góiňg oń
Ĭ stép iňsiďe, léttinģ thé doór thúd shuť. 
the counterpointing of the rhythm fixes poet and reader in one place and prepares them both for the serious and sensitive meditations that are to come. (See also Metre and Scansion.)

Denotations and Connotations    The denotations of a word are its standard range of meanings, the connotations its additional meanings that emerge through association, suggestion, and emotional undertones. Writers, particularly poets, often exploit a word's connotations, so you should look to see if their words work in this way. For instance, the denotations of the word 'flat' are a smooth, unbroken surface; its connotations are lifeless, dull and uninteresting.

Diction   The selection of words used in a work. The term is only useful if you can characterise the diction. For instance, an author may use words drawn from everyday life (John Betjeman often does this in his poetry), from religion, from politics or from another academic subject, such as a science. When you write about diction you should try to show the effect of selecting a particular range of words.

Enactment     This word stands for the way in which all aspects of words - their sounds, rhythms, and the shapes they make in lines and stanzas - contribute to the meaning of what is being said. You should use the word to avoid the idea that poetry is just made up of form and content. Enactment insists that words are not divisible into what they say and how they say it, and that how something is said shapes what is said, and vice versa. In Byron's 'So, we'll go no more a-roving', the repetition of the 'o' sound, the heavy stresses on 'go' and 'roving', the casual 'so' at the beginning of the line, and its repetition at the start of the second line enact the langour of one who is wearied by much experience:

So, we'll go no more a-roving 
So late into the night, 
Though the heart be still as loving, 
And the moon be still as bright.

End-stopped and Run-on Lines.    An end-stopped line is one in which the grammatical unit, be it clause or sentence, is coterminous with the line. Thus, there is the satisfaction of finding the line and the sense ending together. A run-on line (sometimes called an enjambedline) is where the grammar, and thus the sense, is left unfinished at the end of the line. Run-on lines create pleasurable feelings of expectation, as the reader has to look further for the full sense of what is being said.

Epigram    Either a brief, usually witty, statement or a short poem which makes a simple but often dramatic or humorous point. You will probably use the first meaning more than the second. Often it is useful to call a deft line or remark epigrammatic. By that you are saying it is punchy and memorable. T. S. Eliot's 'Whispers of Immortality' has a grimly epigrammatic thrust:

Webster was much possessed by death 
And saw the skull beneath the skin; 
And breastless creatures underground 
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Half-rhyme    The effect that is created when the consonants of two words in a rhyming position have the same sounds but the vowels do not. In effect, it is consonance function- ing in the place of rhyme. The effect of half-rhyme (or para-rhyme, as it is sometimes called) is to make the ear expect a rhyme which is denied. The result is that the words often sound strangely out of tune with each other. In Owen's 'Futility' the feeling that death has distorted the natural progress of life is enacted in the half-rhymes. He is speaking of the sun:

Think how it wakes the seeds, 
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. 
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides, 
Full-nerved - still warm - too hard to stir?

Whenever you write about half-rhyme, you should try to bring out how it leads you to expect a rhyme which you do not get. (See also Consonance and Rhyme.)

Image and Imagery   Any figurative or descriptive language that appeals to one of the five senses is called an image. Images could also be metaphors, similes, symbols and personification, as well as examples of non-figurative description. Images are impressive because they make ideas concrete. They also create atmosphere and can be used to establish a pattern within a poem. It is sometimes helpful to show how an image works in some detail. For instance, in Macbeth Macduff tries to put into words the horror of finding that Duncan, King of Scotland, has been murdered. He uses a very complex imagery to do this:

Confusion now hath made his masterpiece! 
Most sacrilegious Murther hath broke ope 
The Lord's anointed Temple, and stole thence 
The life o' th' building!

The death of Duncan is first seen in the image of 'Confusion' as an artist or craftsman, making his 'masterpiece'. Then 'Murther' (murder) is seen as a thief breaking into a religious building. (See also Abstract and concrete, Metaphor and simile, Personification and Symbol.)

Inversion     Inversion occurs when an author, usually a poet, changes the 'natural' or I standard' word order. For instance, Milton's line from Paradise Lost - 'Now came still evening on, and twilight grey' - inverts the normal order of words, so that the verb 'came' comes before the noun 'evening'. Inversion draws attention to the crafted nature of literature and also foregrounds certain words and ideas. For instance, in the line from Milton the inversion allows the interesting (and even paradoxical?) idea of a still evening moving by juxtaposing the words '...came still...'

Mental Landscape  The effect created when a landscape is portrayed in terms of the feel- ings of the author or character, who views it. The outer world thus reflects the inner world of thoughts and feelings. The effect is particularly prominent in late eighteenth-century and much of nineteenth-century literature. Mental landscapes are often strangely impressive. In Wordsworth's The Prelude there is a passage in which the poet descends from the Alps through a deep ravine; the vast and sublime landscape echoes the workings of his own imagination. Sometimes a mental landscape works by using words appropriate to both the external scene and the state of mind. In Tennyson's 'Locksley Hall' the protagonist speaks of the 'dreary, dreary moorland'; the word 'dreary' applies to what he can see and how he feels.

Metaphor and Simile The comparison of one thing in terms of another; in metaphor there is an implicit identity, whereas in simile the comparison is introduced by the words 'like' or 'as'. Metaphors are thus more compressed and economical than similes, though similes are closer to ordinary speech, and there is a distinct pleasure in following through the comparison from the object being presented to that in terms of which it is presented. If you wish to distinguish one from the other, the terms 'tenor' (the object presented) and 'vehicle' (that in terms of which it is presented) can be useful. Thus, in the metaphor for a church from Larkin's 'Church Going' - 'this special shell' - church is the tenor and shell the vehicle, or in Larkin's simile from 'Ambulances' - 'Closed like confessionals' - the tenor is ambulances and the vehicle confessionals.

Metre   The regular rhythms of poetic lines, created by a sequence of stressed or unstressed syllables. A recurring unit of stressed and unstressed syllables is called a foot. Special names are given to these recurring feet, and also to the number of feet in a line. Common English metres are the following:

iambic: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable 
anapaestic: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable 
trochaic: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable 
dactylic: a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

The names for the number of feet in a line are as follows:

monometer                  one foot                                   dimeter          two feet
trimeter                        three feet                             tetrameter         four feet
pentameter                  five feet                                 hexameter       six feet
heptameter                  seven feet                             octameter        eight feet
There is usually little point in merely labelling a metre. If you wish to discuss metre, you should try to characterise the effect it has by showing how it helps to enact the meaning of the poem. (See also Blank verse, counterpoint, Heroic couplets, Scansion andStanza.)

Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic   Words of one syllable such as 'did', 'good', 'said' and ,would' are monosyllabic. In poetry and verse drama they are effective in making the lines feel emphatic, forceful and strong. Consider the force of the opening of Donne's 'Hymn to God the Father':

Wilt thou forgive my sin where I began 
Which was my sin though it were done before. 
The monosyllables enact the dark, serious strength of the poet's plea. 
Words of more than one syllable are polysyllabic. When a number of polysyllabic words are used in a line the effect is likely to be flowing, lyrical and sometimes even majestic. Notice how the polysyllabic words in Hopkins's 'The Windhover' help to enact the flowing and majestic movements of the falcon in flight:

I caught this morning morning's minion, king- 
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon.

Onomatopoeia The effect that is created when the sounds of words mime or resemble the sounds of the object being described. Individual words such as 'crash' or 'buzz' are onomatopoeic, but the term is more generally used of an effect created by a number of words. Onomatopoeia is usually worth discussing when it creates atmosphere. In Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale' one stanza closes with this line: 'The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.' The onomatopoeic 'murmurous' combines with the long vowels and the alliteration on 'm' and 's' to produce an atmosphere of languid ease.

Overtones and Undertones   The associations of a word or words. Overtones are the clear and obvious associations, while undertones are those meanings which are hinted and implied. However, the two words are often used interchangeably to refer to words' wider meanings and emotional colouring. It is often very useful to point out the overtones and undertones of a word. You can do this by pointing to the number of ways in which a word is used in ordinary speech.

Pathetic Fallacy   The way in which a writer gives human feelings to an object that could not possibly have them. The effect it creates is very close to personification. Its origin is probably in the very common practice people have of transferring their own feelings about something to the thing itself. Therefore, pathetic fallacy is often an indication of what the writer or character is feeling. In Tennyson's 'Ulysses' the sea 'Moans round with many voices'. The word 'moans' indicates the state of mind of the protagonist. (See also Mental landscapeand Personification.)

Persona    A specially created voice or self in a poem, novel or short story. In most cases a persona speaks in the first person singular, though in some cases, particularly poems, this need not be so. Personas give works unity by showing the reader that everything in the work is the expression of a particular viewpoint. Because of this, it is wise to discuss personas in terms of tone and attitude. You should remember that a persona is not to be identified with the writer, and that a writer can adopt as many personas as he or she chooses.

Personification    The effect created when a non-human object or quality is written about as if it were a human being. Keats personifies the Grecian urn when he calls it a 'still unravished bride of quietness', and Gray personifies wealth and beauty when he writes of 'all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave'. You should always try to characterise the effect of personification. Often, it makes the object seem close to both author and reader, and, in some cases, it can make the object or quality personified seem more lively and engaging. (See also mental landscape and Pathetic fallacy.)

Reflexivity    The manner in which a book draws attention to its own status as a created work. Sometimes, reflexivity can suddenly distance a reader from the events, because he or she is reminded that the characters only exist in a book. On other occasions, reflexivity can awaken the reader to the fascinating topic of what an author does in creating a work of art. In this sense many works are implicitly reflexive; for instance, Keats in 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is writing about the poem he is writing about the Grecian urn.

Rhyme       The identity in two or more words of the final vowel and any consonants that follow it. When the rhyming words are monosyllabic, the rhyme is said to be masculine, as in 'bold' and 'old', and when they are polysyllabic, they are said to be feminine, as in 'ending' and 'bending'. (You will also note that in the feminine rhymes the last syllable is unstressed.) 
Whenever you write about rhyme, you should bring out the effect it creates. Rhyme creates harmony and also the pleasing effect of completing or resolving an idea. When words rhyme, they tend to be more noticeable and hence more important in the poem. When the words rhymed are important, the whole meaning of the poem can be focused. Rhymes, particularly feminine ones, can also be funny. (See also Half-rhyme.)

Scansion   The examination of metrical patterns in verse by noting the sequences of accented and unaccented syllables. If you wish to draw attention to a pattern, you should mark accented syllables with a ' and unaccented ones with a -. There is usually no point simply in labelling a line (see Metre) unless you can discuss any variations, or show that it effectively enacts the meaning of the line. (See also Blank verse, Counterpoint, Heroic couplets and Stanza.)

Setting    The context in which the events in a literary work take place. Settings are often significant because they reflect in a number of ways the characters and events. The nature of characters, the moods of characters, the plight of characters and the significance of what is going on are often evident in the locations and surroundings. The abrasively new buildings of Alec D'Urberville's home indicate his nouveau riche status; the wild and threatening marshes of Great Expectations echo the guilt of young Pip; the lonely moors of Jane Eyre reflect her abandonment, and the hollow in which Sergeant Troy demon- strates his sword play to Bathsheba evokes the sexual potential of their relationship.

Sonnet.     A poem of fourteen lines. A number of forms have been created, but the two most popular are the one constructed in an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines), and the one in three quatrains (four lines each) and a couplet (two lines). When you write about a sonnet, you should look for the tightness of the argument and the depth of the emotional range. It is worth noticing how they end: is the end artificial, or does it naturally arise out of the rest of the poem and satisfactorily conclude it?

Stanza    A group of lines in a poem that form its basic, structural unit. The shape of a stanza is formed by the number of lines and often by the rhyme scheme. If you choose to write about the stanza form of a poem, you should seek to show how it moulds the meaning of the poem. You can also ask whether the stanza is appropriate to the mood and meaning of the poem. 

Subjective and Objective   A thought is subjective when it is concerned with the personal reaction of somebody, and objective when it ignores what the individual feels about something but concentrates on the object itself. Writing about literature should always be a blend of both. You should write about the words of a poem, novel or play, and about your subjective reactions to these.

Symbol      An object that stands for, points to and shares in a significant reality over and beyond it. Blake's 'The Tyger' stands for and points to creative energy but it is also an instance of that creative energy. Some symbols are traditional, while other symbols are specially created by authors. 
You can learn about traditional symbols, but need to be alert to the resonances of words and their context to recognise ones that are newly made by a poet or novelist. For instance, when you read Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind', it is important to know that the wind is a symbol for inspiration. When, however, you read Ted Hughes's 'Hawk Roosting' you should try to see that the way the hawk is presented makes it a symbol of the terrible destructiveness that Hughes believes is at the heart of nature.

Syntax   The construction of sentences; that is, the order of words and their relation with each other. As the construction of a sentence controls the meaning and emotional impact of what is being said, it is always wise, particularly when thinking about poetry or verse drama, to study syntax. It is important to see whether the sentences are long or short, whether they have many or few clauses, and whether, as is usual in English, the subject comes before the object, or the other way round.

Theme    The subject, concerns, issues and preoccupations of a poem, novel or play. The word is usually spoken of as meaning the significance of events rather than the events themselves.

Tone    The emotional and intellectual attitude, manner, or poise of a piece of writing. A useful way of assessing the tone of a work is by asking how the author is speaking to you - the reader. In ordinary conversation you would pick up the tone from the way the words were delivered; when you are dealing with words on the page, you should allow their diction, rhythm and sounds to do this for you. Because tone is emotional, you must always try to characterise it. Thus, you may say the tone of a work is intimate, sly, innocent, hectoring, aggressive or fierce. You should remember that all literary works have a tone, and though it is sometimes difficult to detect, you can always try to discuss it.