An Introduction to Poetry -- The Meanings of Words

Tone – an expression of the attitude or emotion of the poem, based primarily on word choice and phrasing

Denotation – the dictionary definition of a word

Connotation – the associated meanings that have built up around a word

Diction – the language that a writer has chosen to use in a poem

Poetic Diction – historically, a special kind of language used exclusively for poetry; “refined” language

Syntax – the order of the words in writing of any kind, not only poetry

Image – in poetry, a concrete description of something

Imagery – all of the images within a poem

Visual Images – things we see

Aural Images – things we hear

Tactile Images – things we touch

Gustatory Images – things we taste

Olfactory Images – things we smell

Abstractions – a word that has no concrete reality (e.g. truth and beauty)

Apostrophe – a figure of speech in which a poet “speaks” to something that is inanimate

Simile – a direct comparison which uses the words like, as, as if, or as though

Metaphor – an indirect comparison

Figurative Language – the use of simile, metaphor, or other figures of speech

Literal Language – words being used in their denotative sense

Symbol – “a word becomes a symbol when it has so much meaning attached to it that we cannot hear it spoken without immediately thinking about something else at the same time”

Other Figures of Speech

Personification – giving human characteristics to something inanimate, animal, or abstract

Apostrophe – addressing something inanimate, intangible, or someone not commonly spoken to

Metonymy – similar to metaphor – the writer uses the name of one thing in place of the name of something closely related to it – e.g. “the crown” is a king; “sweat” is hard labor; “bread” is money

Synecdoche – similar to metaphor – the writer uses the part of something to stand for the whole thing – e.g. “threads” for clothes; “wheels” for car; “hands” for those who perform manual labor

Paradox – a statement that on the surface seems that it cannot possibly be true but is true after all

Oxymoron – a statement that contradicts itself

Hyperbole – exaggerated statements that are not intended to be taken for the truth

Understatement – the opposite of hyperbole – something is deliberately described in terms that suggest it is much smaller or less important than we know it really is

(Taken from Chapter 9 – “The Elements of Poetry: A Poet’s Meanings” – in Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama – by Ann Charters and Samuel Charters, Compact 2^nd edition, Boston: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2001, pp. 627-647)