Metrical Terms Flashcards
Assonance
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds
Alliteration
The repetition of similar or identical consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words
Ballad meter
A four-line stanza rhymed ABCB in which lines one and three have four feet and lines two and four have three feet
Blank verse
Unrhymed iambic parameter
Dactyl
A metrical foot of three syllables, including an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables
End-stopped
A line with a pause at the end
Free verse
Poetry that is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical
Heroic couplet
Two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed AA, BB, CC, usually containing a complete thought in the two-line unit
Hexameter
A line containing six feet
Iamb
A two-syllable foot with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable
Internal rhyme
Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end
