Poetry Flashcards
What are the goals of poetry?
explore / confront / rationalise / intelectualise feelings
convey emotion directly or indirectly
What are the three types of poetry?
lyric
narrative
dramatic
What is lyric poetry?
originally sung / chanted
highly personal
subjective & melodic reflections - ideas, people or
places
Ode - longer lyric for serious occasion
Elegy - for someone’s death
What is narrative poetry?
tell stories
epic = longest of narrative poems
ballad = highly rhythmic narrative poem
What are dramatic poems?
invented speaker / persona who speaks in dramatic monologue (normally a sililoquy in a play)
What must be kept in mind when considering poems in translation?
that the diction of the translator may govern the result o the poem
What are the differences between speaker and persona?
persona - “I” pronoun
effect : personal, immediate, engaging
speaker - “he” “she” “they” (similar to 3rd person)
effect : less personal, less intimate
What are key factors that must be considered when reading a poem?
Time & Place
be aware of allusions
What is diction?
refers to the specific vocabulary used by a writer to express their point of view
AKA word choice
consider CONNOTATIONS - implied meanings
effect : add emotion = impact / intensity
What is syntax?
the way words & phrases are arranged to form phrases / clauses / sentences
syntax choice = possible rhythmic patterns /metric / rhyme changes
effect: changes the sound of words & their suggested meaning
What is inversion?
reversing accepted syntactic patterns e.g. subject, verb & object
effect : emphasis / stress on a word
What is figurative language / figures of speech?
attempt to define something in terms of comparison to something else which is more familiar
effect: convey meaning & emotion + access senses
What are metaphors?
comparison of two essentially unlike things expressed DIRECTLY
NO COMPARATIVE WORDS
What are similes?
comparison of two essentially unlike things expressed INDIRECTLY
“like” & “as”
What is personification?
abstraction defined with human qualities
comparison of inanimate to animate
effect : abstract now concrete
How can sound be affected?
onomatopoeia
assonance
consonance
alliteration
effect : stress words, intensify / break rhythms
What is onomatopoeia?
word sounds like what it describes
e.g. splat , bubble , gurgle , murmur
What is assonance?
repeated vowel sounds within a line or several lines
effect : adds rhythm
What is consonance?
repetition of a consonant sound within a line
What is alliteration?
repetition of a beginning consonant sound in a series of 2 or more words
What are possible poem structures?
narrative
discursive
descriptive
reflective / meditative
When is a descriptive framework used?
to create a clear portrayal
rely on visual detail
When is a discursive framework used?
to present an argument
needs to be convincing
dramatisize events that will argue a point more subtly
When is a narrative framework used?
when events are in chronological order
When is a reflective / meditative framework used?
not much structure
What is a rhyme scheme?
is the pattern of rhyme established
based on the sounds at the end of each line
MUST DESCRIBE THE EFFECT THE RHYME SCHEME HAS & HOW IT CONTRIBUTES TO MEANING
What is metre?
mean to manipulate sound = added meaning & emotion
purposeful arrangement of stressed & unstressed syllables
effect : emphasis, tone, meaning, rhythm is created
What is scansion?
process of scanning poetry to determine the pattern of rhythm
What is a unit of a line called?
a foot
What does a foot consist of?
a stressed + an unstressed syllable
What are the categories a foot can fall under?
iamb
trochee
anapaest
dactyl
spondee
What is an iamb?
unstressed syllable followed by stressed
e.g. enough
What is a trochee?
stressed syllable followed by unstressed
e.g. dearly
What is an anapaest?
2 unstressed syllables followed by stressed
e.g. understand
What is a dactyl?
stressed followed by 2 unstressed syllables
e.g. desperate
What is a spondee?
2 stressed syllables
e.g. help me
How is a line measured?
by the number of feet in it
monometer - 1 dimeter - 2 trimeter - 3 tetrameter - 4 pentametre - 5 hexameter - 6 heptameter - 7 octameter - 8
What are the stanza forms?
terza rima
villanelle
sonnet - English / Shakespearean or Italian / Petrarchan
free verse
concrete poems
What is the terza rima stanza form?
series of 3 line stanzas (tercets)
rhyme scheme : aba bcb cdc ded …
What is the villanelle stanza form?
19 lines
iambic pentameter
5 triplets (3 lines) + a quatrain (4 lines)
line 1 repeated in line 6 ,12 ,18
line 3 repeated in line 9, 15, 19
rhyme scheme: aba aba aba aba …
What is the sonnet stanza form?
iambic pentameter
PERFECT FOR ARGUING A POINT
English / Shakespearean :
14 lines
3 units of 4 lines (3 qutrains) + final 2-line unit (couplet)
rhyme scheme : abab cdcd efef gg
Italian / Petrarchan :
14 lines
fundamental break btw first 8 lines (octave) & the last six (sestet)
rhyme scheme : abbaabba cdecde
What is the free verse stanza form?
avoid regular meter - therefore no perceivable rhythm
highly irregular line lengths
repetition of words / phrases
What is the concrete stanza form?
draw meaning from the physical arrangement / shape of poem on page
What is a caesura?
a stop in a line of poetry
often indicated by punctuation e.g. stops & semi-colons
What might obscure subject matter?
symbolism
irony
contradiction of title & poem content
Thing to keep in mind when assessing intention
ideas of the time
What is the importance of tone?
directly impacts meaning
linked to intention
glean of poet’s attitude to subject
can be sincere (tonal changes), ironic, irony of situation (variance exists btw what is said & what actually is)
What is theme?
a theme generalises what is specific in a poem
summarises author’s opinions
IS NOT A MESSAGE IR ADVICE
What determines the form choice?
poet’s intention
personal preference
the time
What is poetic license?
making up of words
strange combinations of words
What is a paradox?
a seemingly contradiction that turns out to express a truth
e.g. make haste slowly
What is a pun?
intentional confusion btw 2 words
e.g. “whether life is worth living or not depends on the liver”
What is a hyperbole?
gross exaggeration
e.g. “all the green seas will turn red with his blood”
