1. Literary Terms for Poetry
English II CP
Ms. C. Lee

2. Poetry Basics: Stanza Forms
stanza: a division in a poem, named for the number of lines it contains; distinguished from each other with line breaks
Couplet: a pair of rhyming lines
Tercet: a stanza containing three (3) lines
Quatrain: a stanza (or entire poem) containing four (4) lines
Cinquain: a stanza (or entire poem) containing five (5) lines
Sestet: a stanza containing six (6) lines
Septet: a stanza containing seven (7) lines
Octave: a stanza containing eight (8) lines

3. Poetry Basics: Figurative Language
Imagery: “word pictures” achieved through use of vivid and specific sensory details
Simile: comparison using “like” or “as”
Metaphor: direct comparison w/o “like” or “as”
Extended metaphor: when a metaphor is carried through an entire piece to compare
Personification: giving human traits to non- human things
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect

4. Poetry Basics: Rhyme & Meter
Rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem [ex: abab, aabb, abca, etc.]
Meter: the rhythmic pattern established by stresses or beats within each line of a poem.
iambic pentameter: five pairs of iambs; line of poetry will have 10 syllables [one “iamb” is a 2- syllable unit comprised of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable]
free verse: poetry with no set rhyme scheme or metrical pattern

5. Reading poetry: Speaker
Speaker: the voice of a poem, who is sharing his/her feelings or situation
Comparable to narrator of a story and therefore can be characterized like one
NOT to be confused with the POET, since s/he might be taking on an entirely different persona
Determining the Speaker: Examine…
Overall situation presented in the poem
Title can be a HUGE clue
Figurative or colloquial language
Any descriptive details

6. Reading Poetry: Enjambment
Enjambment: when a sentence, thought, or other grammatical division goes beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza and into the next
Read THROUGH the thought; do not automatically stop at the end of the line.
Reasons to Use Enjambment:
Assist with pacing or rhythm
Express multiple ideas; reinforce main idea
Reader thinks about the idea longer
Tricks reader; thought may go in different direction than expected

7. Types of Rhyme
end rhyme : when rhyming words appear at the ends of the lines of poetry
internal rhyme : rhymes that appear within lines vs. at the ends
slant rhyme: aka near rhyme, half-rhyme, or imperfect rhyme
uses words with similar, but not exact, end sounds, or
relies on consonance or assonance for rhymes
[Ex: gill and shell; understand and find]
A “staple” of rap music

8. Sound Devices
Alliteration: the repetition of INITIAL consonant sounds [Peter Piper picked…]
Assonance: repetition of internal vowel sounds [sad, glad, mad]
Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds within or at ends of words [There is no right time to imitate the teacher.]
Onomatopoeia: words that “sound” like sounds [woof, moo, bang, crash]

9. Special Forms of Poetry: Narrative Poetry
Tells a story
Has a plot, characters, setting, point of view
Makes use of story techniques like suspense and foreshadowing
Most common forms are epics and ballads

10. Characteristics of Ballads
Simple language
Contain dialogue
Objective narration (sometimes 1st person)
Heavily reliance on rhythm and rhyme
Repetition of a refrain
Some use incremental repetition
A phrase recurs, with minor differences, throughout the ballad

11. Lyric Poetry The most common type of poetry in modern literature
Expresses the thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and state of mind of a single speaker
Uses melodic language, imagery, rhythm, and sound devices to express emotions
Main forms include
Odes
Elegies: poems of loss that express praise for the dead
Sonnets
Haiku
Tanka

12. The Extended Metaphor
A metaphor developed over several lines of text, or at different points throughout a text
Often serve the basis for an entire poem
Different Methods:
Explicit comparison: writer makes a direct metaphor, then develops it by comparing characteristics of the two things
Implicit comparison: comparison of the traits of the two things are developed over several lines without saying straight out what the two things are
Example: Romeo and Juliet, I, iii
Example: “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost

13. Special Form of Poetry: SONNETS
All sonnets contain 14 lines
All sonnets use iambic pentameter (blank verse)
All sonnets pose a problem or question in the first part and attempts to answer it in second part/half
Two main types:
Petrarchan
Elizabethan (Shakespearean)

14. Petrachan Sonnet Created by Petrarch, an Italian poet
Its 14 lines are divided into two parts:
OCTAVE: poses a question or presents a problem that the speaker is seeking insight into
SESTET: attempts to answer the question, solve the problem, express enlightenment/an epiphany
The point at which the sonnet shifts in content is called the volta
Rhyme scheme:
Octave: abba/abba
Sestet: cdcdcd OR cddcdd OR cdecde, OR cdeced, OR cdcedc

15. Elizabethan Sonnet Aka English sonnet, aka Shakespearean sonnet
Also has 14 lines, but…
Breaks into 3 distinct quatrains and one ending couplet
Rhyme scheme of abab/cdcd/efef/gg. Always.
Each quatrain can expresses a thought, often building to the intensity of the couplet, or
The quatrains are parallel and use different metaphors to express the poet’s concern/problem
The volta can come at line 9 or, most often, at the ending couplet

16. Special Forms: Haiku & Tanka
Both are Japanese forms of poetry
Describe a scene from nature
Use imagery/sensory details to convey a single vivid emotion or impression
Haiku: 3 unrhymed lines, 5/7/5
Tanka: 5 unrhymed lines, 5/7/5/7/7