8th Grade ELA: Unit 1 Poetry Terms Review

Which of the following terms is defined as:

language that creates a mental picture by appealing to the senses

• imagery

• metaphor

• meter

• voice

Answer explanation

IMAGERY makes readers see, hear, smell, taste, or feel things in their imagination; for example, "the coal-black night," "the stinging cold," "the rapping and tapping of rain on the roof"

Which of the following terms is defined as:

a figure of speech that suggests or states a comparison between two unlike things, without using such words as like or as

• imagery

• metaphor

• meter

• voice

Answer explanation

METAPHOR is correct. Here's an example: "The cat´s eyes were emeralds shining in the night."

Which of the following terms is defined as:

-the way a piece of writing sounds

• imagery

• metaphor

• meter

• voice

Answer explanation

VOICE is correct. For example, the "voice" of a piece of writing might sound tense, humorous, spooky, upbeat, etc.

Which of the following terms is defined as:

the arrangement of words in poetry based on rhythm, accents, and the number of syllables in a line

• imagery

• metaphor

• meter

• voice

Answer explanation

METER is correct. Remember our lesson about METER and how you can sometimes find it by CLAPPING out the "beat" of a poem

Which of the following terms is defined as:

the emotions or feelings that are conveyed in a literary work

• mood

• theme

• free verse

• sonnet

• irony

Answer explanation

MOOD is correct. Think about what kind of FEELINGS you have as a reader as you read a text. It might be scared, angry, happy, relaxed, etc.

Which of the following terms is defined as:

the main message that an author wants to communicate to a reader

• mood

• theme

• free verse

• sonnet

• irony

Answer explanation

THEME is correct. For example, a "theme" of the movie "Finding Nemo" is keep trying, even if things seem difficult/impossible

Which of the following terms is defined as:

poetry that has NO set rhyme, rhythm, or meter and may use irregular line length, punctuation, and capitalization.

• mood

• theme

• free verse

• sonnet

• irony

Answer explanation

FREE VERSE is correct. For example, Emily Dickinson capitalizes random words and doesn't use regular rhyme or meter/rhythm in her poetry.

Which of the following terms is defined as:

a 14-line poem that can be divided into two parts--the octave and sestet

• mood

• theme

• free verse

• sonnet

• irony

Answer explanation

SONNET is correct. For example, the poem "Ozymandias" (aka the poem about the "trunkless" busted up statue that is just some legs and a head lying around in the desert)

Which of the following terms is defined as:

the effect of language in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated; or the effect of a situation in which the opposite of what one would have thought is actually what occurs

• mood

• theme

• free verse

• sonnet

• irony

Answer explanation

IRONY is correct. For example, in the poem "War is Kind," it is ironic that the speaker calls the battle a "famous victory" when he does not know much about the battle at all! He only knows what "they say."

Which of the following contains a PUN?

• Broken pencils are pointless

• I have a dog named Kip.

• McDonalds fries are delicious.

• Our class loves ice cream.

Answer explanation

"Broken pencils are pointless" is the correct answer. REMEMBER: a pun is a play on words, where a word can have more than one meaning.