Vocabulary and phrases for text interpretation   

Some basic phrases for discussing poems

1. Composition:

This poem is entitled XY... (has the title XY...)

The theme (or: subject / subject-matter) of the poem is...

The poem deals with (or: is concerned with / presents) ...

The poem is divided into XY stanzas (or: parts / sections / verse groups).

It is composed of XY stanzas.

Each stanza is composed of (or: consists of) XY lines (or: verses)

The poem has a rhythm (or: rhythmical pattern) that expresses XY.

It has a certain rhyme scheme:

i.e.:    - rhyme pairs  ( a a b b )

         - cross rhyme ( a b a b )

         - embracing rhyme ( a b b a )

2. Some stylistic devices:

alliteration              - repetition of the first sound in two or more words

                              [Example: "A cold coming..."]

onomatopoeia        - sounds imitating the thing they refer to

                              [Example: The name cuckoo imitates the sound this bird makes]

parallelism             - the structure of successive sentences or phrases is the same

anaphora              - obvious repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of

                               successive sentences

Imagery:      a) metaphor:          reduced comparison  ["the eye of heaven" for the sun]

                   b) simile:      explicit comparison    [ your eyes shine like the sun]

                   c) symbol:    concrete thing representing something abstract

                                      [the rose as a symbol of love; the cross as a symbol of