Structure

Question 1

Sonnet

Answer 1

14 line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme, subject is typically love

Question 2

Shakespearean Sonnet

Answer 2

Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

Question 3

Petrarchan Sonnet

Answer 3

The first variation of the Sonnet, made popular by a poet called Petrarch. Contains: octet, volta, sestet in that order. Rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA, CDECDE/CDCDCD

Question 4

Spenserian Sonnet

Answer 4

Variation of the Shakespearean sonnet in which the quatrains are linked with a ‘chain’ or interlocked rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

Question 5

Sonnet sequence

Answer 5

Series of sonnets in which there is a discernible unifying theme, but every sonnet has its own structural independence. Example: ALL of Shakespeare’s sonnets are part of a sonnet sequence because they’re all structurally different but they’re all about love

Question 6

Triolet

Answer 6

Poem or stanza of eight lines in which the first line is repeated as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line as the eighth. Rhyme scheme: ABaAabAB where capital letters represent repetition of identical elements lines

Question 7

Form

Answer 7

The arrangement of the poem

Question 8

Open form

Answer 8

Poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as: rhyme, line, length, metrical form

Question 9

Closed form

Answer 9

Poetic form which is subject to a fixed structure and pattern

Question 10

Blank verse

Answer 10

Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Used in much of Shakespeare’s plays

Question 11

Free verse

Answer 11

Lines with no prescribed pattern or structure

Question 12

Couplet

Answer 12

A stanza which is only two lines long. Usually rhyming

Question 13

Heroic couplet

Answer 13

Pair of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter

Question 14

Quatrain

Answer 14

Four line stanza

Question 15

Ballad

Answer 15

Narrative poem written as a series of quatrains in which iambic tetrameter alternates from iambic trimeter

Question 16

Folk ballad

Answer 16

A ballad handed down by oral tradition

Question 17

Epitaph

Answer 17

A brief poem or statement in memory of someone who is deceased, suitable for a tombstone inscription

Question 18

Allegory

Answer 18

A poem with a moral or political (hidden) story/message

Question 19

Limerick

Answer 19

Light or humorous poem. Five (mostly anapestic) verses. AABBA

Question 20

Lyric

Answer 20

Originally designed to be sung. One of the three groups of poetry: lyric, narrative, dramatic

Question 21

Refrain

Answer 21

A repeated line throughout the poem. May include minor changes. Example: “Do not go gentle into that good night” or “Remember me” from Christina Rossetti’s ‘Remember’

Question 22

Envoi/Envoy

Answer 22

Can be spelt either way. Short stanza at the end of the poem which addresses an imagined listener to the poem, or to comment on the preceding poem. Provides finality, and closure

Question 23

Concrete poetry

Answer 23

Otherwise known as pattern poetry or shaped verse. Poems that are printed or typed to form a recognizable shape.

Question 24

Epigraph

Answer 24

A sometimes satiric, couplet or quatrain which comprises a single thought or event

Question 25

Tercet

Answer 25

A three lined stanza which contains a rhyme. Four types: haiku, triplet, enclosed tercet, Sicilian tercet

Question 26

Haiku

Answer 26

A tercet with syllables: 5,7,5. No rhyme

Question 27

Triplet

Answer 27

Rhyme scheme, AAA

Question 28

Enclosed tercet

Answer 28

Rhyme scheme ABA

Question 29

Sicilian tercet

Answer 29

ABA in iambic pentameter