Methods/Analysis - Poetry AO2

Question 1

What are 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 lines called?

Answer 1

2 lines = couplet
3 lines = tercets
4 lines = quatrain
5 lines =
6 lines = sestets 
8 lines = octaves

Question 2

What’s a Petrarchan?

Answer 2

A sonnet - contains 14 lines

Question 3

What’s iambic pentameter?

Answer 3

pentameter: meter is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a verse, or line, of a poem.
pentameter - 5 stressed syllables in a line
stressed - syllable emphasised (stands out, long vowel sound), e.g. ME-ter, com-PU-ter
unstressed - syllable doesn’t have emphasis

Iambs: metrical foot in poetry (metrical foot is combination of stressed and unstressed syllables that repeats itself throughout a verse, stanza, or poem)
- An iamb is a very specific type of metrical foot that has one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

• Iambic pentameter has 10 syllables
• each line of the poem has to have five iambs

Question 4

What does a Sonnet consist of?

Answer 4

• 14 lines
• Iambic Pentameter -> 10 syllables per line
• A lyric poem dealing with love & emotions - traditionally love & praise of a lover (Shakespeare changed this, introduced jealousy, morality, joy…)
• The Petrarchan Sonnet - 14 lines divided into 2 parts: 8-line section is called an octave & a 6-line is called a sestet. A volta is where the poet’s argument changes & there’s a resolution (usually at line 9)
• The Shakespearean form - 14 lines divided into 3 quatrains & a rhyming couplet (abab cdcd efef gg)

Question 5

What’s enjambment?

Answer 5

• the end of a phrase extends past the end of a line
  E.g:
  April is the cruelest month, breeding
  Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
  Memory and desire, stirring
  Dull roots with spring rain.
  Effect:
• builds a more complex narrative within a poem by fleshing out a thought instead of confining it to one line.
• the end of the first line isn’t the end of a thought but rather a cliffhanger, forcing the reader to keep moving forward to find out what happens next. It delivers a resolution in the second line, or the third line, depending on the length of enjambment
• gives poem flow & energy
• placing emphasis on things
• allows a character to flow with a thought instead of clunky, end-stopped lines that can disrupt the momentum of the performance (often in Shakespeare’s plays)

Question 6

Antithesis

Answer 6

• Contrasting ideas/words balanced against each other

- “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”

Question 7

Assonance

Answer 7

• Repetition of similar vowel sounds

- “I like ike”

Question 8

euphemism

Answer 8

Expressing unpleasant idea in a more pleasant way

Question 9

Figurative language

Answer 9

Lang that’s symbolic/metaphorical & not meant to be taken literally

Question 10

Free verse

Answer 10

Verse without any fixed structure

Question 11

Internal Rhyme

Answer 11

Rhyme words in the middle of the sentences, not at the end

Question 12

Irony

Answer 12

Saying or writing one thing while meaning another; word/phrase has one surface meaning but another contradictory, possible opposite, meaning is implied

Question 13

Imagery

Answer 13

Use of words to create a picture/image in the mind of the reader

Question 14

Juxtapose

Answer 14

The positioning of two things close together to emphasise their contrast

Question 15

What is a Metre & the types of metres?

Answer 15

The regular use of stressed & unstressed syllables in poetry.
Iamb/Iambic:
- first syllable is unstressed, the second stressed (da DUH).
- “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”

Trochee/Trochaic:

• first syllable is stressed, the second unstressed (Duh da)
• “Fair is foul and foul is fair”

Dactyl/Dactylic:

• first syllable stressed, followed by two unstressed (DUH da da)
• “Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them”

Spondee/Spondaic:

• two stressed syllables (DUH DUH)
• “Slow, slow fresh fount”

Question 16

Motif

Answer 16

A dominant theme, subject or idea which runs through a piece of literature

Question 17

Pun

Answer 17

A play on words which have similar sounds but different meanings

Question 18

Refrain

Answer 18

Repetition throughout a poem of a phrase, line or series of lines, similar to a ‘chorus’ of a song

Question 19

Sibilance

Answer 19

Repeated S sounds

Question 20

Satire

Answer 20

Highlighting/exposing human failings or foolishness within a society through ridiculing them

Question 21

Rhyme couplet

Answer 21

Two line of the same length that rhyme

Question 22

Envelope verse

Answer 22

Any stanza/poem that begins & ends with the same line

Question 23

Syllabic meter

Answer 23

largely ignores stresses, and instead develops a rhythm by counting the number of syllables in each line

Question 24

Quotidian

Answer 24

everyday life

Question 25

Transcendental movement

Answer 25

19th century movement -> supernatural, beyond the human experience
- it’s filled with striking sensory imagery that often blurs the line between the speaker and nature

Question 26

Alternate rhyme

Answer 26

The first and third lines rhyme at the end, and the second and fourth lines rhyme at the end following the pattern ABAB for each stanza

Question 27

Iambic tetrameter

Answer 27

It refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word “tetrameter” simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs

Question 28

Blank verse

Answer 28

Unrhymed but regularly metrical

Question 29

Ballad

Answer 29

A narrative poem that tells a story about love

Question 30

synecdoche

Answer 30

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in England lost by six wickets (meaning ‘the English cricket team’)

Question 31

sublime

Answer 31

use of lang & description that excites thoughts & emotions beyond ordinary experience. Though often associated with grandeur, the sublime may also refer to the grotesque or other extraordinary experiences that “take[s] us beyond ourselves”

Question 32

elision

Answer 32

the omission of a letter or syllable, marked with an apostrophe. Syncope - a type of elision in which a word is contracted by removing one or more letters or syllables from the middle, e.g. ne’er

Question 33

litotes

Answer 33

ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, e.g. “not bad!”

Question 34

intertextuality

Answer 34

the relationship between texts, esp literary ones

Question 35

allusion

Answer 35

a brief & indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers, e.g. “the writer makes an allusion to Shakespeare in his work”

Question 36

stream of consciousness

Answer 36

style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character’s extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax, and rough grammar.
- associated with the early 20th-century Modernist movement.