Midterm Flashcards
vowels
are only voiced syllables, every accent is on a vowel
scansion
art of recognizing and marking accented and unaccented syllables
prosody
the study of peotic meter
compound words
made of two independent nouns that are usually accentually ambiguous (ex: barnyard)
two syllable words
usually have one accent (ex: tangle, direct)
three syllable words
have either two or one accent (ex: navigate, terrible)
four syllable words
have alternating accents (ex: intangible, invidious)
foot
each element of a line of poetry
iambic pentameter
series of two-syllable feet with an accent in the second syllable of each foot
anapestic meter
series of three syllable feet with accent in the third syllable of each foot
trochaic meter
series of two syllable feet with the accent on the first syllable of each foot
dactylic meter
series of three syllable feet with accent on the first syllable of each foot
rising meter
move up to the accent so iambic and anapestic
falling meter
begin with the accent and fall away so trochaic and dactylic
lines with two feet
dimeter
lines with three feet
trimester
lines with four feet
tetrameter
lines with five feet
pentameter
lines with six iambic feet
alexandrine
lines with six dactylic feet
hexameters
lines with seven feet
fourteeners
lines with eight feet
octameter
inversion
any foot (except rhyming foot) may be inverted
spondee
any iambic or trochaic foot may be replaced by two accented feet; might be spondaic substitution of one accented syllable for two unaccented syllables in anapestic and dactylic verse
headless foot
opening syllable (especially in iambic pentameter) is often dropped
catalectic line
last syllable of line is often dropped
hyper-metrical line
extra short syllable is often added to line of poetry
quantity
each vowel has certain length when pronouncedd
diphthongs
double vowels have greatest quantity
caesura
occurs in poetry when punctuation is placed in middle of foot; causes tensions between metrical continuity and grammatical continuity of poem
elison
dropping vowel sound to accelerate or maintain meter of line
masculine rhyme
single syllable rhymes