Page 4 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

Connotation - a meaning of a word that carries a suggested meaning different from the actual
definition. Example: The word “fireplace” has a connotation of warmth, comfort, security,
and home. The actual definition, though, is a brick area in a home that contains a fire.

Consonance - repetition of an interior consonant sound within a short sentence. Example: The
kingfisher is splashing through the rushing water.

Couplet - Two successive rhyming lines of poetry, usually the same length. Example:

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
– Joyce Kilmer

Denotation – the primary understanding or meaning of a word. Example: The word “worm”
means a creature that lives in soil.

Dialect - a particular kind of speech used by members of one specific group because of its
geographical location or class. Example: Jim, in Huckleberry Finn says, “Shet de do.’’
[“Shut the door”.]

Dialogue - conversation between two or more characters.

Double Entendre - a type of pun in which a word or phrase has two or more different meanings,
one of which is usually sexual. Example: “Ay, the heads of the maids, or their
maidenheads; take it in what sense you will.”
–Romeo and Juliet

Elegy – a formal, stylized poem about the death of a famous person, a close friend; a poem on a
very solemn subject. Example: Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

Elision – the exclusion or blending of a syllable. Examples: gonna, wanna, ya’ll

End Rhyme – rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines. Example:
My mother always said,
“It’s time for good boys to go to bed.”

Epitaph – an inscription on a tombstone. Example: Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology
is written as a series of verse memories from dead citizens based on their epitaphs.

Foot - a standard of length in poetry, dependent on syllables. Examples: “To be/ or not/ to be/”
consists of three feet of two syllables each. “Amidst/ the mists/ he spied/ the girl/” is made
up of four feet, each with two syllables. “Comprehend/ the meaning/ of rhythm” uses three
feet of three syllables each.

Half Rhyme - a near-rhyme; one that is approximate, not exact. Also called slant rhyme.
Examples: keep/neat, friend/wind.

A-3