Poetry Flashcards
Blank verse
unrhymed but has a strict rhythm; often used by Shakespeare
Caesura
complete pause in a line of poetry or music; can be in the form of a dropped syllable
Couplet
closed form of poetry; a 2-line stanza that usually has an end rhyme
Dactyl
a foot of 3 syllables in which the first is long or stressed and the next two are unstressed or short
Free verse
poetry form free from limitations of regular meter and rhythm and does not rhyme in fixed forms
Ex: Emily Dickinson
Quatrain
4-line stanza
Rhyme royal
7-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc, used by Chaucer and other medieval poets
Scansion
process of marking lines of poetry to show type of feet and number of feet they contain
Sestet
6-line unit of verse constituting stanza or section of a poem; last 6 lines of an Italian sonnet
Sprung rhythm
poetic rhythm designed to imitate rhythm of natural speech; constructed from feet in which first syllable is stressed and may be followed by variable number of unstressed syllables
Spenserian stanza
stanza used by Spenser in The Faerie Queene, consisting of 8 iambic pentameters and an alexandrine, with the rhyming scheme ababbcbcc
Terza rima
3-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc
Trochaic pentameter
pattern of stressed - unstressed (2 syllables) repeated 5 times
Strophe
first section of ancient Greek choral ode or of one division of it; structural division of poem containing stanzas of varying line-length, esp an ode or free verse poem
Cadence
natural rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken
End rhyme
rhyming words that fall at the ends of 2 or more lines
English sonnet
14-line lyric poem consisting of 3 quatrains and a couplet and written in iambic pentameter, usually rhymed abab cdcd efef gg
Enjambment
aka run-on line in poetry; occurs when one line ends and continues onto next to complete the meaning
Exact or true rhyme
words that end in both same vowel and same consonant
Foot
one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables; in a line, 8 are possible
Formal verse
poetry that follows fixed patterns
Heroic couplet
pair of lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter
Internal rhyme
rhyming words placed within a line
Italian sonnet
lines divided into group of 8 (octet) and group of 6 (sestet)
Refrain
repetition of line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals, particularly at end of each stanza
