Poetry Terminology (2) Flashcards
Meter
A poetic device that serve as a linguistic sound pattern for the verses as it gives poetry a rhythmical melodious sound.
The way to measure the rhythm of the poems
Measures stressed and unstressed syllables
Rhyme
Same ending sounds
(Noted by lowercase letters like “aaba”)
Stanza
The arrangement of a poem’s lines. Similar to paragraphs in a novel
(Must have at least two lines)
Epic
Very long & written in a formal style.
Narratives
Beowoulf, Iliad and Oddessey
Haiku
Popular form of Japanese poetry that has very specific form: 3 lines with syllabic paten of 5/7/5 for the lines.
They are meant to express a simple idea, image or feeling. Used by Ezra Pound (Father of Imagism) and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Sonnet
A standard poetic form. There are two main forms of sonnet:
Italian sonnet (aka Petrarchan sonnet)
English Sonnets (aka Shakespearean Sonnet)
Terza Rima
Consists of tercets linked together with chain rhyme
Chain Rhyme: When a rhyme is carried over from one stanza to the next
- No lit it to the number of stanzas, but rhyme pattern must be aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.
Villanelle
Form is 19 lines long, 5 tercets and 1 quatrain.
Repeats entire lines (represented by capital letter/number)
First line of 1st tercet becomes third line of 2nd, 4th and 6th stanzas
Rhyme scheme of tercets is aba
Rhyme scheme of quatrain is aaba
Dylan Thomas and James Joyce are known for using Villanelle
Rhyme Royal
Includes 7 lines, 10 syllables each in (in either)
1 quatrain + 1 tercet OR
1 tercets + 2 couplets
- Rhyme scheme: a/b/a/b/b/c/c
- Read a little bit of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer)
Sestina
39 Lines, 6 stanzas
- 6 Sestets + 1 Tercet
Uses same 6 words at the ends of the lines of every stanza (in a specific word pattern):
- 1. ABCDEF
- 2. FAEBDC
- 3. CFDABE
- 4. ECBFAD
- 5. DEACFB
- 6. BDFECA
- 7. (envoi) ECA or ACE
- [Capital letter, NO number is for a word, like “A,” “B”]
Blank Verse
Has a set meter, usually iambic pentameter, buts does not rhyme. Other than that, not much restriction.
Free Verse
No restrictions or qualification. It is typical of most modern poetry.
Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound
Heroic Couplets
Pairs of rhyming iambic pentameter lines
Ballad Meter
4 lines stanzas with rhyming pattern abcb
Iambic Tetrameter
Is used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry
Pastoral Elegy
A poem about death and idyllic rural life
Dramatic Monologue
Is a persona poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character
Irregular Ode
A poem with meter and rhyme…but no set pattern of meter or rhyme
Epic Catalogue
A long, detailed lists of objects, places, or people characteristic of epic poetry.
Allen Ginsberg’s howl
Alexandrine
A line of verse with 6 iambic feet
Sprung Rhythm
Is meter like speech, each foot equals 1 stressed syllable and many non stressed syllables.
Invented by George Manly Hopkins
Literary Ballad
A narrative poem imitating from ballads but more elaborate and complex
Elegiac Stanza
A quatrain written in iambic pentameter with alternate lines rhyming
Popular Ballad
An anonymous narrative poem focusing on the climax of a particularly dramatic event and employing frequent repetition, conventional figures of speech, and sometimes a refrain—altered and transmitted orally in a musical setting
