Poetry Terms

1
Poetry Terms

• Notecards

2
SONNET

• Sonnet - a lyric poem of 14 lines, usually in
  iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according
  to certain definite patterns. It usually
  expresses a single, complete thought, idea, or
  sentiment. There are three different forms
  Petrarchan (or Italian), English (or
  Shakespearean), and Miltonic.

3
Shakespearean sonnet

• an 18 line stanza written in iambic pentameter,
  that employs the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd,
  efef,gg, and can be divided into three quatrains
  and a couplet.

4
quATRAIN

• A four line stanza (in poetry)

5
couplet

• A two line stanza

6
Iambic pentameter

• lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric
  feet with alternately unstressed and stressed
  syllables.
• An iamb is a foot with one unstressed syllable
  followed by one stressed syllable as in the
  word deny or around

7
foot

• A foot is a unit of meter, to measure poetry,
  consisting of a combination of stressed and
  unstressed syllables
• It is important to remember that feet and words
  need not coincide. The feet in John Heath-Stubbs'
  line, "A caterpillar among those mulberry
  leaves", from 'The Mulberry Tree' appear thus
  a CAT er PILL ar a MONG those MUL berry
  LEAVES u / u / u u /
  u / u /

8
Petrarchan Sonnet

• Sonnet divided into an eight-line octave, rhyming
  abbaabba followed by a six-line sestet, rhyming
  cdecde
• Often the octave poses a problem that is answered
  in the sestet

9
Octave

• An eight line stanza

10
Sestet

• Six line stanza

11
Spenserian sonnet

• Rhymes abab bcbc cdcd ee

12
Sonnet sequence

• Sonnets linked by theme or person addressed

13
Aesthetic distance

• degree of emotional involvement in a work of art
• The most obvious example of aesthetic distance
  (also referred to simply as distance) occurs with
  paintings. Some paintings require us to stand
  back to see the design of the whole painting
  standing close, we see the technique of the
  painting, say the brush strokes, but not the
  whole. Other paintings require us to stand close
  to see the whole their design and any figures
  become less clear as we move back from the
  painting.
•        

14
AESTHETIC DISTANCE (continued)

• Similarly, fiction, drama, and poetry involve
  the reader emotionally to different degrees.
  Emotional distance, or the lack of it, can be
  seen with children watching a TV program or a
  movie it becomes real for them. Writers like
  Dickens, the Bront? sisters, or Faulkner pull the
  reader into their work the reader identifies
  closely with the characters and is fully involved
  with the happenings. Hemingway, on the other
  hand, maintains a greater emotional distance from
  the reader.

15
ALLITERATION

• the repetition of the same sound at the beginning
  of a word
• such as the repetition of b sounds in Keats's
  "beaded bubbles winking at the brim" ("Ode to a
  Nightingale") or Coleridge's "Five miles
  meandering in a mazy motion ("Kubla Khan"). A
  common use for alliteration is emphasis. It
  occurs in everyday speech in such phrases as
  "tittle-tattle," "bag and baggage," "bed and
  board," "primrose path," and "through thick and
  thin" and in sayings like "look before you
  leap."     

16
Alliteration (continued)

• Some literary critics call the repetition of any
  sounds alliteration. However, there are
  specialized terms for other sound-repetitions.
  Consonance repeats consonants, but not the
  vowels, as in horror-hearer. Assonance is the
  repetition of vowel sounds, please-niece-ski-tree.
  

17
ALLUSION

• allusion a brief reference to a person, event,
  place, or phrase.
• The writer assumes will recognize the reference.
  For instance, most of us would know the
  difference between a mechanic's being as reliable
  as George Washington or as reliable as Benedict
  Arnold. Allusions that are commonplace for
  readers in one era may require footnotes for
  readers in a later time.

18
Ballad

• Ballad a relatively short narrative poem,
  written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic
  action. Ballads tell of love, death, the
  supernatural, or a combination of these.
• Ballads often open abruptly, present brief
  descriptions, and use concise dialogue.

19
Ballad (continued)

• Two characteristics of the ballad are incremental
  repetition and the ballad stanza.
• Incremental repetition repeats one or more lines
  with small but significant variations that
  advance the action.
• The ballad stanza is four lines commonly, the
  first and third lines contain four feet or
  accents, the second and fourth lines contain
  three feet

20
Ballads - types

• folk ballad is usually anonymous and passed from
  generation to generation by word of mouth can
  be sung
• literary ballad is written to deliberately
  imitate the form and spirit of a folk ballad
  authors are known and the work is meant to be
  read rather than sung. The Romantic poets were
  attracted to this form, as Longfellow with "The
  Wreck of the Hesperus," Coleridge with the "Rime
  of the Ancient Mariner.