Methods/Analysis - Poetry AO2 Flashcards
What are 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 lines called?
2 lines = couplet 3 lines = tercets 4 lines = quatrain 5 lines = 6 lines = sestets 8 lines = octaves
What’s a Petrarchan?
A sonnet - contains 14 lines
What’s iambic pentameter?
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
What does a Sonnet consist of?
- 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)
What’s enjambment?
- 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)
Antithesis
- Contrasting ideas/words balanced against each other
- “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”
Assonance
- Repetition of similar vowel sounds
- “I like ike”
euphemism
Expressing unpleasant idea in a more pleasant way
Figurative language
Lang that’s symbolic/metaphorical & not meant to be taken literally
Free verse
Verse without any fixed structure
Internal Rhyme
Rhyme words in the middle of the sentences, not at the end
Irony
Saying or writing one thing while meaning another; word/phrase has one surface meaning but another contradictory, possible opposite, meaning is implied
Imagery
Use of words to create a picture/image in the mind of the reader
Juxtapose
The positioning of two things close together to emphasise their contrast
What is a Metre & the types of metres?
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”
Motif
A dominant theme, subject or idea which runs through a piece of literature
Pun
A play on words which have similar sounds but different meanings
Refrain
Repetition throughout a poem of a phrase, line or series of lines, similar to a ‘chorus’ of a song
Sibilance
Repeated S sounds
Satire
Highlighting/exposing human failings or foolishness within a society through ridiculing them
Rhyme couplet
Two line of the same length that rhyme
Envelope verse
Any stanza/poem that begins & ends with the same line
Syllabic meter
largely ignores stresses, and instead develops a rhythm by counting the number of syllables in each line
Quotidian
everyday life
Transcendental movement
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
Alternate rhyme
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
Iambic tetrameter
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
Blank verse
Unrhymed but regularly metrical
Ballad
A narrative poem that tells a story about love
synecdoche
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’)
sublime
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”
elision
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
litotes
ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, e.g. “not bad!”
intertextuality
the relationship between texts, esp literary ones
allusion
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”
stream of consciousness
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.
