Poetic Terms A small selection

 Alliteration—repetition 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  Assonance—repetition of vowel sounds without the repetition of consonants. i.e.: “… my words like silent raindrops fell...”

 Blank Verse—an unrhymed form of poetry which normally consists of ten syllables in which every other syllable is stressed. (iambic pentameter)  Canto—division of a long poem.  Caesura—pause or sudden break in a line of poetry.  Consonance—repetition 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.

 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 Verse—poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme.  Heroic Couplet—2 successive rhyming lines which contain complete thoughts  Lyric—a short verse intended to express emotions of the author; most often lyrics are set to music.

 Meter—repetition of stressed an unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.  Ode—lyric poem written to someone or something > serious and elevated tone.  Paradox—statement which at first seems contradictory but which turns out to have a profound meaning. i.e. : Bob Dylan’s lyric: “I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.”  Psalm—a sacred or religious song or lyric.  Quatrain – a four line stanza or poem, or a group of four lines unified by a rhyme scheme.

 Refrain—repetition of a line or a phrase of a poem at regular intervals, especially at the end of each stanza. Refrain of a song=chorus.  Repetition—repeating of a word or a phrase within a poem or a prose to create a sense of rhyme.  Rhyme—similarity 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 Verse—verse with end rhyme; it usually has a regular meter.

 Sonnet – 14 line poem, usually in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme following either Italian or English  Stanza—the 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 speaker’s attitude toward the subject; emotional coloring  Verse—Metrical language; the opposite of prose (Blank, Free, or Rhymed)

Sonnets  A fourteen line lyric poem usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme schemes.  Three types of sonnets: 1.Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet) 2.Shakespeaean Sonnet or English Sonnet 3.Spensarian Sonnet

Petrarchan Sonnet  Named after 14 th 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.

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.

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