Poetic Terms

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Poetic Terms

• A small selection

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• Alliterationrepetition of initial consonant
  sounds in neighboring words.
• i.e. wet, wild, and wooly
• Allusion - a reference, implicit or explicit to
  something in literature or history
• Anaphora repetition of opening word or phrase
  in a series of lines
• Apostrophe someone who is dead/absent/non-human
  is addressed as if alive, present, and capable of
  reply
• Assonancerepetition of vowel sounds without the
  repetition of consonants . i.e. my words
  like silent raindrops fell...

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• Blank Versean unrhymed form of poetry which
  normally consists of ten syllables in which every
  other syllable is stressed. (iambic pentameter)
• Cantodivision of a long poem.
• Caesurapause or sudden break in a line of
  poetry.
• Consonancerepetition of consonant sounds
  especially in poetry.
• i.e. girls with smooth skin smile
• Couplet - two consecutive lines of poetry that
  rhyme. A couplet that presents a complete
  thought is called a closed couplet. Shakespeare
  used closed couplets to end his sonnets.

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• Euphony a smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and
  arrangement of sounds
• Figurative Language language that cannot be
  taken literally or only literally
• Foot basic unit in measurement of metrical
  verse
• Free Versepoetry that does not have a regular
  meter or rhyme scheme.
• Heroic Couplet2 successive rhyming lines which
  contain complete thoughts
• Lyrica short verse intended to express emotions
  of the author most often lyrics are set to
  music.

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• Meterrepetition of stressed an unstressed
  syllables in a line of poetry.
• Odelyric poem written to someone or something gt
  serious and elevated tone.
• Paradoxstatement which at first seems
  contradictory but which turns out to have a
  profound meaning.
• i.e. Bob Dylans lyric I was so much older
  then Im younger than that now.
• Psalma sacred or religious song or lyric.
• Quatrain a four line stanza or poem, or a group
  of four lines unified by a rhyme scheme.

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• Refrainrepetition of a line or a phrase of a
  poem at regular intervals, especially at the end
  of each stanza. Refrain of a songchorus.
• Repetitionrepeating of a word or a phrase within
  a poem or a prose to create a sense of rhyme.
• Rhymesimilarity or likeness of sound existing
  between two words.
• Rhyme Scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of
  rhyming lines in a poem or in lyrics for music.
  It is usually referred to by using letters to
  indicate which lines rhyme. A change from one
  rhyme scheme to another often signifies a change
  in subject matter
• Rhymed Verseverse with end rhyme it usually has
  a regular meter.

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• Sonnet 14 line poem, usually in iambic
  pentameter with a rhyme scheme following either
  Italian or English
• Stanzathe division of poetry named for the of
  lines it contains.
• Couplet 2 line stanza
• Triplet 3 line stanza
• Quatrain 4 line stanza
• Quintet 5 line stanza
• Sestet, Septet, Octave
• All others are called 9, 10, 11 line stanzas,
  etc.
• Tone the speakers attitude toward the subject
  emotional coloring
• VerseMetrical language the opposite of prose
• (Blank, Free, or Rhymed)

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Sonnets

• A fourteen line lyric poem usually written in
  iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme
  schemes.
• Three types of sonnets
• Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet)
• Shakespeaean Sonnet or English Sonnet
• Spensarian Sonnet

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Petrarchan Sonnet

• Named after 14th century Italian poet Francis
  Pretrarch.
• Divided into two parts.
• Octave (octet) the first eight lines of the
  poem. They usually represent a problem, pose a
  question, on express an idea.
• Rhyme scheme of the octave is abbaabba.
• Sestet (turn) the last six lines of the poem.
  They usually resolve the problem, answer the
  question, or drive home the point.
• Rhyme scheme of the sestet is cdcdcd or cdecde.

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Shakespearean Sonnet or English Sonnet

• Has three four-line units (quatrains) usually
  followed by a concluding two-line unit (couplet).
• The three quatrains often express related ideas
  or examples.
• The couplet sums up the poets conclusion or
  message.
• The rhyme scheme is most usually abab cdcd efef
  gg.

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Spensarian Sonnet

• Developed by Edmund Spenser
• Divided into three quatrains and a couplet
• The three quatrains develop three distinct but
  closely related ideas, with a different idea (or
  commentary) in the couplet.
• The rhyme scheme links the quatrains abab bcbc
  cdcd ee