Simple definitions for some Poetic Terms

Ballad: A narrative poem, sometimes of folk origin, very often anonymous, simple and direct, with historical, romantic, tragic or supernatural setting.

Alliteration: repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of stressed syllables.

Allusion:  referring to characters and events of mythology, story, literature, etc., in order to evoke a certain atmosphere.

Apostrophe: direct address or appeal to a person and (often, as part of personification) to an abstraction or inanimate object.  

Metonymy: the use of some object to stand for an abstraction or other idea with which it is associated. (very close to symbol).

Parody: a poem or prose writing imitating – closely in rhythm, tone, and theme – a serious writing.

Personification: a figure in which inanimate objects or abstractions are spoken of as human beings.

Irony: 1) saying or showing one thing but meaning another thing.

Paradox: an apparent contradiction, a surprising or seemingly absurd statement which on examination proves to contain a truth. (close to irony).

Synecdoche: use of a part to stand for the whole or vice versa. (close to metonymy).

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