Medium
Poetry
Figures of Speech in Verse
Enjambment, caesura, volta and the rest of the toolkit poets reach for by name.
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A simile differs from a metaphor in which way?
About this topic
Most poetic terminology names something readers already notice, which makes the vocabulary far less forbidding once it is explained. This quiz covers the major forms and their rules, the basics of metre and sound, and poets from several traditions whose work crossed languages. It includes both strict forms and free verse. The explanations define each term concretely rather than abstractly, which is generally enough for it to stick.
Questions & answers
Forms & Metre: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1A sonnet traditionally consists of how many lines?
- A 10
- B 16
- C 12
- D 14 Correct
Answer: D. 14
Why: Both Italian and English sonnets run to fourteen lines, differing in rhyme scheme. The English form ends in a rhyming couplet.
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2The haiku form originates from which country?
- A China
- B Vietnam
- C Korea
- D Japan Correct
Answer: D. Japan
Why: Traditional haiku use a 17-sound structure and usually reference a season. English versions approximate this with syllables, which is not quite equivalent.
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3In poetry, metre refers to what?
- A The pattern of rhythm in a line Correct
- B The subject matter
- C The rhyme scheme
- D The number of stanzas
Answer: A. The pattern of rhythm in a line
Why: Metre describes the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhyme is a separate feature and many metrical poems do not rhyme.
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4Shakespeare wrote much of his verse in which metre?
- A Trochaic tetrameter
- B Anapaestic trimeter
- C Dactylic hexameter
- D Iambic pentameter Correct
Answer: D. Iambic pentameter
Why: Iambic pentameter has five pairs of syllables, each an unstressed followed by a stressed. It is often said to sit close to natural English speech rhythm.
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5Free verse is characterised by what?
- A Strict syllable counts
- B A fixed line count
- C The absence of regular metre and rhyme Correct
- D Mandatory couplets
Answer: C. The absence of regular metre and rhyme
Why: Free verse abandons regular pattern while still using line breaks and rhythm deliberately. Walt Whitman is among its most influential practitioners.
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6An epic poem is best described as what?
- A A long narrative poem, often heroic in subject Correct
- B A poem of exactly fifty lines
- C A short humorous verse
- D A poem written to be sung only
Answer: A. A long narrative poem, often heroic in subject
Why: Epics recount extended narratives, frequently centred on a heroic figure. The Iliad, the Mahabharata and Beowulf are standard examples.
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7Who wrote the poem "The Raven"?
- A Walt Whitman
- B Edgar Allan Poe Correct
- C Emily Dickinson
- D Robert Frost
Answer: B. Edgar Allan Poe
Why: Poe published it in 1845 and it made him widely known almost immediately. Its heavy internal rhyme and repetition are central to its effect.
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8A stanza is what?
- A A grouped set of lines within a poem Correct
- B The poem's title
- C A rhyming pair only
- D A single line
Answer: A. A grouped set of lines within a poem
Why: Stanzas separate a poem into units, much as paragraphs divide prose. A two-line stanza is a couplet and a four-line one a quatrain.
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9Alliteration refers to what?
- A Repetition of vowel sounds
- B Repetition of initial consonant sounds Correct
- C Rhyming at line ends
- D Reversing word order
Answer: B. Repetition of initial consonant sounds
Why: It repeats consonant sounds at the start of nearby words. The repetition of vowel sounds is assonance.
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10The poet Rumi wrote principally in which language?
- A Persian Correct
- B Arabic
- C Urdu
- D Turkish
Answer: A. Persian
Why: Rumi wrote in Persian in the thirteenth century. He remains among the most widely read poets in English translation.
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