Poetry Vocabulary Words Flashcards
What terms fall under INTERNAL FORM?
Parallelism Juxtaposition Narrative Logical Pattern Question-Answer Meditative Moments Lists and Litanies
What is PARALLELISM?
when phrases, sentences, or paragraphs are expressed in a similar grammatical order and structure. It can appear within a line or several lines.
Example of PARALLELISM
In “A Litany for Survival”, by Audre Lorde, more than one line began with “For those of us who”
What is JUXTAPOSITION?
the placement of things (often very different things) side by side or close together for comparison or contrast to create something new from the union, without necessarily making them grammatically parallel
Example of JUXTAPOSITION
In “Dinosaurs in the Hood”, by Danez Smith, the phrase ‘royal folk’ was juxtaposed to ‘children of slaves & immigrants & addicts & exiles’. He is trying to get the reader to understand that those terms should not go to a negative connotation.
What is a NARRATIVE?
a structure that recounts an event as a sequence of actions and details
Example of NARRATIVE
The poem, “Blink Your Eyes” by Sekou Sundiata, is a narrative poem because it recounts the things that happened when the speaker was pulled over by the police officer.
What is LOGICAL PATTERN?
when the material of the poem is arranged in a logical pattern of development for persuasion or explanation
Example of LOGICAL PATTERN
“Dinosaurs in the Hood” by Danez Smith is an example of logical pattern because the speaker is explaining to the reader ways a movie can be a black movie without being a ‘black movie’.
When does QUESTION-ANSWER occur?
when a poem raises a question (either implicitly or explicitly) and works toward the answer (which may be stated or implied)
Example of QUESTION-ANSWER
“A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde because the reader wonders the what to do in the scenarios the speaker states after saying “For those of us who” and by the end of the poem, there is an answer to the reader.
When do MEDITATIVE MOMENTS happen?
when a poem moves from a reflection on a physical place or object or scene to personal or spiritual perceptions
Example of a MEDITATIVE MOMENT
In “Blink Your Eyes” by Sekou Sundiata. He is reflecting on the incident that happened when he was on his way to go see his woman; getting pulled over. However, in every other stanza, he reminds the reader that it all depends on the color of your skin.
What do LISTS and LITANIES use?
a series of invocations and repeated responses
Example of LISTS and LITANIES
“A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde because it is like a prayer, it is wishing for something.
What terms fall under EXTERNAL FORM?
Form (External & Internal) Lines Stanza Invented Inherited English or Shakespearean Sonnet Quatrains Couplet Italian or Petrachan Sonnet Octave Sestet Sestina Villianelle Tercets Blank Verse Free Verse/Open Form
What two ways does FORM refer to?
External Structure
Internal Structure
What is EXTERNAL STRUCTURE?
the way the poem looks on a page
What is INTERNAL STRUCTURE?
the way the work arranges, organizes, or connects the various elements
What are LINES?
poems that have a beginning and end controlled by the poet
What does each LINE tend to have?
a rhythm
What is a STANZA?
a grouping of poetic lines into a section, each section having the same number of lines and a similar arrangement
What are the two ways STANZA SHAPES are formed?
Invented
Inherited
What does it mean when a stanza shape is INVENTED?
it is individually created and thus unique to a particular poem
What does it mean when a stanza shape is INHERITED?
is has a long standing tradition of the form so they may have the same number of lines, a specific rhyme scheme, perhaps even particular meter
Example of INVENTED stanza shape
“Home” by Warsan Shire
Example of INHERITED stanza shape
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks
What is the ENGLISH or SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET?
A sonnet with three quatrains and a couplet
What is a QUATRAIN?
a four line stanzas, typically rhyming abab cdcd efef
Example of QUATRAIN
“One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII” by Pablo Neruda
What is a COUPLET?
two rhyming lines
Example of COUPLET
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks
What is the ITALIAN or PETRACHAN SONNET?
A sonnet that has an octave and a sestet
What is an OCTAVE?
an eight line stanza, typically rhyming abbaabba
What is a SESTET?
a six line stanza, typically rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd
What is a SESTINA?
a lyric poem consisting of six six line stanzas and a three line concluding stanza. The six end words of the first stanza must be used as the end words of the other five stanzas
What is a VILLIANELLE?
a nineteen line lyric poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain, with specific rhyme scheme and with certain lines repeated in a set pattern
What is a TERCET?
three line stanza
What is a BLANK VERSE?
a unrhymed iambic pentameter
What is FREE VERSE/OPEN FORM?
free of predetermined metrical and stanzaic patterns
does not rely on organized structural repetition to achieve form and coherence
relies on connected images and sounds, and parallelism in phrasing and in the handling of lines, spaces, rhythms, indentations, gaps, and timing
What poems have form?
EVERY POEM
What terms fall under RHYTHM and METER?
Enjambed End-stopped Caesura The Flow of a Line Stressed or Accented Unstressed or Unaccented Iambic Meter Iambs Tetrameter Pentameter
What is RHYTHM?
the patterned “movement” created by words and their arrangement
How is RHYTHM determined?
by the poet’s choices in line length, phrases, line endings, pauses, spaces, and word combinations
What are the two types of LINE ENDINGS?
Enjambed
End-Stopped
What is ENJAMBED?
a line that runs into the line that follows it