Literature poetry terms Flashcards
Fixed (closed) poetry forms
poems that follow patterns of lines, meter, rhymes, and stanzas (follows specific rules)
Open poetry forms
poetry that does not follow a regular, predictable pattern of rhyme, rhythm/meter, or line length (relies on natural speech rhythms)
Fixed Form examples
Terza Rima, sonnet, sestina, villanelle, ballad, limerick
Sonnet
normally a fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem
Italian (petrarchan) sonnet
eight-rhyme-linked lines (octave) plus six rhyme-linked lines (sestet) with either ABBAABBA CDECDE or ABBACDDC DEFDEF
Shakespearean (english)
three quatrains (four-line units) and a couplet ADAD CDCD EFEF GG
Speserian
lines are grouped into three interlocked quatrains and a couplet ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
Sestina
written in blank verse of six stanzas of six lines each followed by three-line stanza (final words of each line in first stanza appear in variable order in the next five stanza and repeated in the middle and at the end of te three lines in final stanza)
Blank verse
poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter
Villanelle
19 lines divided into 6 stanzas - 5 tercets three line stanza) and 1 quatrain (4 line stanza). First and third lines of the first tercet rhyme with each other and this rhme is repeated through each of the next 4 tercets and last two lines of concluding quatrain (also known for its repetition of select lines)
Ballad
originally meant to be sung, repetition of often by a refrain (recurrent phrase or series of phrases)
Limerick
light of humorous verse, mainly anapestic lines - first, econd, and fifth lines are thre feet; thirs and fourth lines are two feet; ABBA (usually irrelevant and funny)
- 5 lines
Free verse
no set meter but may or may not be rhyme
Alexandrine
line of verse of 12 syllables of 6 iambs with a caesura after the third iamb
Caesura
short pause within a line of poetry; often but not always sigaled by punctuation
Alliteration
occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. ( ‘tasty tacos’ is considered an alliteration, but ‘thirty typist’ is not, because ‘th’ and ‘ty’ don’t sound the same.)
- The repetition of a beginning consonant sound, usually in a line or verse or in a sentence.
Allusion
brief reference to something outside the text
Anadiplosis
word or group of words located at the end of one clause/line is repeated at or near the beginning of the following clause/line
- this place to find some ease / ease to the body
Apostrophe
someone who is usually absent or nonexistent is directly addressed as though they are present
Assonance
repetition of idetical or similar vowel sounds with dissimilar consonant sounds
Consonance
repetition of similar consonant sounds (opposite of assonance)
- consonant will repeat
Ekphrasis
vivid description of a painting
Epistrophe
repetition of a word or phrase at end of successive clauses (can be internal)
Anphora
repetition of eginning words in consecutive lines (opp of epistrophe)
Feminine Rhyme
rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed (double rhyme)
- stocking / shocking
Masculine Rhyme
rhyme of final stressed syllables
- confess / redress
Rhyme Royal
seven-line stanza of 10 syllables iambic pentameter ABABBCC
Auditor
imaginary listener within a work as opposed to a reader or audience outside the work
conceit
elaborate and fanciful metaphor or analogy, or a witty and ingenious comparison between two things which do not naturally belong to each other
Elegy
(1) formal lament on death of particular person but focusing mainly on speaker’s efforts to come to terms with their grief (2) more broadly any lyric in a sorrowful mood and takes death as its primary subject
End-Stopped
line with a pause at the end
- lines that end in period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, question mark
Enjambment
running over from one line to the next without stopping
Extended metaphot
implied analogy that is carried throughout a stanza or entire poem
Lyric Poem
short poems that present a single speaker who expressed thoughts and feelings
- about love, religion, reading
- sonnets and odes
Meter
repetition of regular rhythmic unit in the line of poetry
Scansion
scanning a poem for meter by identifying number and types of feet per line
Narrative Poem
NON-dramatic poem that tells a story
- can be long. short, complex, noncomplex
Ode
lyric poem about a serious topic and formal tone without prescribed formal pattern
Refrain
group of words forming a phrase and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem
End rhyme
occurs when last words of poem rhyme
Slant/near rhyme
rhyme that is slightly off bc final consonant sound correspond but not the vowels
internal rhyme
word within a line rhymes with another word in same or adjacent lines
eye rhyme
sight rhyme bc they look like they do but they don’t actually rhyme
Rhyme Scheme
pattern of end rhymes in a poem
Rhyme
modulation of weak and strong (stressed and unstressed) syllables often expressed in meter
Terza Rima
3 line stanza rhymed ABA BCB CDC
Anaphora
word or group of words is repeated at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or sentences.
