POETIC TERMS
Terms asterisked could be on final exam.
1. Poetry* is a patterned form of verbal or written expression of ideas in concentrated imaginative, and rhythmical terms. Poetry usually contains rhyme and a specific meter by not necessarily.
2. Meter is the patterned of stressed and unstressed syllables established in a line of poetry. The stressed syllables is also called the accented or long syllable. The unstressed syllable is also called the unaccented or short syllable. In determining the meter, the importance of the word, the position in the metrical pattern and other linguistic factors should be considered.
3. Foot is a unit of meter. A metrical foot can have two or three syllables. A foot consists generally of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables. A line may have one foot, two feet, etc. Poetic lines are classified according to the number of feet in a line. Types of metrical feet are: iambic (u/), trochaic (/u) , anapestic (uu/) , dactylic (/uu), spondaic (//), pyrrhic (uu).
4. Alliteration* is the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line of verse.
5. Onomatopoeia* is the use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds.
6. Refrain* is a repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem usually at the end of a stanza.
7. Repetition is the reiterating of a word or phrase within a poem.
8. Figure of speech is an expression in which the words are used in a nonliteral sense to present a figure, picture, or image. Also called a trope.
9. Simile* is a direct or explicit comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating a likeness or similarity between some attribute found in both things.
10. Metaphor* is an implied comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating a likeness or analogy between attributes found in both things. A metaphor unlike the simile does not use like or as to indicate the comparison.
11. personification* is giving human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas, or animals.
12. Metonymy is the substitution of a word naming an object for another word closely associated with it.
13. Hyperbole* is an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis and is not to be taken literally.
14. Litotes is an understatement and is achieved by saying the opposite of what one means or by making an affirmation by stating the fact in the negative. It can be considered the opposite of hyperbole.
15. Antithesis is a balancing or contrasting of one term against the other.
16. Apostrophe is the addressing of someone or something usually not present as though present.
17. Symbol* is a word or image that signifies something other than what is literally represented.
18. The different kinds of metrical lines are:
monometer 1 line pentameter 5 lines
dimeter 2 lines hexameter 6 lines
trimeter 3 lines heptameter 7 lines
tetrameter 4 lines octometer 8 lines
19. Rhymed verse* consists of verse with end rhyme and usually with a regular meter.
20. Blank verse* consists of lines of iambic pentameter without end rhyme.
21. Free verse* consists of lines that do not have a regular meter and do not contain rhyme.
22. Rhyme is the similarity or likeness of sound existing between two words. A true rhyme should consist of identical sounding syllables that are stressed, and the letters preceding the vowel sounds should be different. Thus fun and run are true rhymes.
23. Position of rhyme may be end rhyme or internal rhyme.
24. Position of Rhyme—Rhyme may be end rhyme or internal rhyme.
25. Internal Rhyme—Internal rhyme consists of the similarity occurring between two or more words in the same line of verse.
From The Raven
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—
“’Tis some visitor,”” I muttered, “Tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more..."
26. End Rhyme—End rhyme consists of the similarity occurring at the end of two or more lines of verse.
I Wish
I wish that my room had a floor: a
I don’t so much care for a door a
But this walking around b
Without touching the ground b
Is getting to be quite a bore! A
27. Kinds of rhyme based on the number of syllables presenting a similarity of sound are: masculine rhyme, feminine or double rhyme and triple rhyme.
masculine rhyme occurs when one syllable of a word rhymes with another word.
feminine or double rhyme occurs when the last two syllables of a word rhyme with
another word (lawful and awful).
triple rhyme occurs when the last three syllables of a word or line rhymes (victorious and glorious.
28. Rhyme scheme* is the pattern of sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first sound is represented or designated as a, the second sound is b, and so on. When the first sound is repeated, it is designated as a also.
29. Stanza* is a division of a poem based on thought or form. Stanzas based on form are marked by their rhyme scheme. Stanzas are known by the number of lines they contain.
Kinds of stanzas:
couplet has two lines aa
triple has three lines aaa
quatrain has four lines abab, abba, aabb, abac
quintet has five lines
sestet has six lines
septet has seven lines
octave has eight lines
others are identified as nine, ten or eleven-line stanza
30. Heroic couplet consists of two successive rhyming verses that contain a complete thought within the two lines.
31. Terza rima is a three line stanza form with an interlaced or interwoven rhyme scheme, such as, aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.
32. Limerick* is a five line nonsense poem with an anapestic meter. The rhyme scheme is usually aabba. The first, second, and fifth lines have three stresses and the third and fourth have two stresses.
33. Sonnet* is a fourteen line stanza form consisting of iambic pentameter lines. The two major sonnet forms are the Italian or Petrarchan and the English or Shakespearean sonnet.
34. Italian is a fourteen line stanza form consisting of an octave and a sestet. The rhyme scheme is abbaabba for the octave and either cdecde or cdcdcd for the sestet. The octave makes a statement or states a problem and the sestet is a summary or gives a solution to the problem in the octave.
35. or Shakespearean is a fourteen line stanza form consisting of three quatrains abab cdcd efef and a couplet gg. . The rhyme scheme is quatrains state a problem or statement and the couplet is the turn it gives an epigrammatic ending for that problem or statement.
1. Meter—Meter is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables established in a line of poetry. The stressed (/) syllable is also called the accented or long syllable. The un stressed (U) syllable is also called the unaccented or the short syllable. In determining the meter, the importance of the word, the position in the metical pattern, and other linguistic factors should be considered. In identifying the meter of a line of verse, the type and the number of feet are considered.
2. Foot—A foot is a unit of meter. A metrical foot can have two or three syllables. A foot consists generally of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables. A line may have one foot, two feet, etc. Poetic lines are classified according to the number of feet in a line.
3. Types of Metrical Feet—The basic types of metrical feet determined by the arrangement of stressed an unstressed syllables are:
4. Iamb—the iambic foot is a two syllable foot with the stress on the second syllable. The iambic foot is the most common foot in English. Examples of words that are in themselves iambic feet are.
u / u / u /
be low de light a muse
u / | u / | u / | u / | u /
A book | of ver | ses un | der neath | the bough,
u / | u / | u / | u / | u /
A jug | of wine, | a loaf | of bread | --and thou.
5. Trochee—The trochaic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
/ u / u / u
ne ver, ga ther hap py
/ u | / u | / u | / u
Dou ble | dou ble, | toil and | trou ble,
/ u | / u | / u | / u
Fi re | burn and | caul dron | bub ble
6. Anapest—The anapestic foot consists of three syllable with the stress on the last syllable.
u u / u u /
Cav a lier in ter twine
u u / | u u / | u u / | u u /
With the sheep | in the fold | and the cows | in their stalls.
7. Dactyl—The dactylic foot contains three syllables with the stress on the first syllable.
/ u u / u u / u u
Hap pi ness mer ri ly mur mur ing
/ u u | / u u | / u u | / u u
Love a gain, | song a gain, | nest a gain | young a gain
8. Spondee-The spo0ndaic foot consists of two stressed syllables. Compound words are examples of spondees. Spondees are used for variation.
/ / / / / /
heartbreak childhood football
9. Pyrrhic—The pyrrhic foot consists of two unstressed syllables. This type of foot is rare and is found interspersed with other feet.
10. Kinds of Metrical Lines—The basic kinds of metrical lines are:
11. Monometer—Following is an example of iambic monometer from a poem by Robert Herrick.
Upon His Departure
u /
Thus I
Pass by
And die:
As one,
Unknown, And gone:
I’m made
A shade,
And laid
I’th’ grave:
There have
My Cave.
Where tell
I dwell
Farewell.
/ u | / u
Money
Workers earn it,
Spendthrifts burn it,
Bankers lend it,
Women spend it,
Forgers fake it,
Taxes take it,
Dying leave it,
Heirs receive it,
Thrifty save it,
Misers crave it,
Robbers seize it,
Rich increase it,
Gamblers lose it…
I could use it.
13. Trimeter—Following is an example of iambic trimester from a poem by Robert Bridges.
u / / | u / | u /
The Idle Life I Lead
The Idle Life I lead
The idle life I lead
Is like a pleasant sleep,
Wherein I rest and heed
The dreams that by me sweep.
And still of all my dreams
In turn so swiftly past,
Each in its fancy seems
A nobler than the last.
And every eve I say,
Noting my step in bliss,
That I have known no day
In all my life like this.
14. Tetrameter—Below is an example of iambic tetrameter by Henry Leigh
u / | u / | u / | u /
From Not Quite Fair
The hills, the meadows, and the lakes,
Enchant not for their own sweet sakes:
They cannot know, they cannot care
To know that they are thought so fair.
15. Pentameter—Some quotations from Alexander Pope illustrate iambic pentameter quite well.
u / | u / | u / | u / | u /
To err | is hu | man, to | for give | di vine.
True wit is Nature to advantage dress’d.
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d.
16. Hexameter—a line of six iambic feet (Iambic hexameter) is sometimes called an alexandrine. The ninth line of a Spenserian stanza (See #66) is iambic hexameter and is referred to as an alexandrine.
u / | u / | u / | u / | u / | u /
from Fifine at the Fair
If hunger, proverbs say, allures the wolf from wood,
Much more the bird must dare a dash at something good.
17. Heptamter—The iambic heptameter example is from a poem by Ernest Thayer.
u / | u / | u / | u / | u / | u / | u /
from Casey at the Bat
It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day,
The score stood four to six with but an inning left to play.
18. Octameter—Below is an example from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe to illustrate trochaic octameter.
/ u | / u | / u | / u | / u | / u | / u | / u |
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.
1. Verse Forms—The kinds of verse forms based on meter and rhyme are:
2. Rhymed Verse—Rhymed verse consists of verse with end rhyme and usually with a regular meter.
Horses
They head the list
Of bad to bet on,
But I insist
They’re worse to get on.
3. Blank Verse—Blank verse consists of lines of iambic pentameter without end rhyme.
From Julius Caesar
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
4. Free Verse—Free verse consists of lines that do not have a regular meter and do not contain rhyme.
Splinter
The voice of the last cricket
Across the first frost
Is one kind of good-by.
It is so thin a splinter of singing.
Carl Sandburg
Rhyme—Rhyme is the similarity or likeness of sound existing between two words. A true rhyme should consist of identical sounding syllables that are stressed and the letters preceding the vowel sounds should be different. Thus fun and run are true or perfect rhymes because the vowel sounds are identical preceded by different consonants.
.