Sounds, Patterns, and Forms: More Poetic Devices
Meter Prosody: the study of poetic sounds and rhythms (meter, versification) Scansion: marking the accented and unaccented syllables in a poem to determine meter
Metrical Feet Two-syllable: the iamb, the trochee Three-syllable: the anapest, the dactyl Marking feet: stresses and virgules (p. 768)
Other Rhythmic Devices caesura (p. 772) enjambment VS end-stopped lines (p. 772) Punctuation matters
The SOUNDS of poetry Assonance and alliteration onomatopoeia Euphony and cacophony (all on p. 775)
Rhyme Exact rhyme VS slant rhyme Where does the rhyme occur? (p. 776-777) How does rhyme affect tone? meaning?
FORM Closed-form poetry – clearly recognizable shapes or forms Open-form poetry – more free and spontaneous
Begin with the Verse: Blank verse The couplet The Tercet or Triplet The Quatrain
Special Tercet Forms: Terza-rima: a tercet form with interlocking stanzas (p. 813) Villanelle: a complex tercet form (p. 813)
Common Closed-Form Types The sonnet The ballad The ode The haiku Epigrams and epitaphs The Limerick The Clerihew (ALL p. 814-817)
About Sonnets: Two Major Kinds: The English (Shakespearean) Sonnet ababcdcdefefgg (the final couplet) The Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet abbaabbacdecde (an octave and a sestet) All sonnets contain a “turn” (shift from the problem to the solution).
Open-Form Poetry Free Verse Not to imply “disorganized” or “chaotic” (See p. 820-821)
Ultimately: Poetry is distinguished from prose by sound and form. Sound and form are created through patterns (or the lack thereof). Sound and form are connected to a poem’s meaning and/or purpose.