Western Humanities 201 05 How to Read a Poem

Question 1

Form/Structure

Answer 1

What is the shape or organizational mode of the poem. It could be a sonnet, haiku, an ode, free verse, etc.

Question 2

ABC poem

Answer 2

An ___ poem has 5 lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up of words, phrases or clauses - and the first word of each line is inalphabetical order from the first word. Line 5 is one sentence, beginning with any letter.

Question 3

Ballad

Answer 3

A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.

Question 4

Ballade

Answer 4

A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.

Question 5

Blank verse

Answer 5

Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. ______ ______ is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in _____ ______.

Question 6

Burlesque

Answer 6

__________ is a story, play, or essay, that treats a serious subject ridiculously, or is simply a trivial story

Question 7

Canzone

Answer 7

A medieval Italian lyric poem, with five or six stanzas and a shorter concluding stanza (or envoy). The poet Patriarch was a master of the _______.

Question 8

Carpe diem

Answer 8

A Latin expression that means “seize the day.” _____ ____ poems have the theme of living for today.

Question 9

Cinquain

Answer 9

A ________ has five lines.
Line 1 is one word (the title)
Line 2 is two words that describe the title.
Line 3 is three words that tell the action
Line 4 is four words that express the feeling
Line 5 is one word that recalls the title

Question 10

Classicism

Answer 10

The principles and ideals of beauty that are
characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature. Chracterized by formality, simplicity, and emotional restraint.

Question 11

Couplet

Answer 11

A _______ has rhyming stanzas each made up of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a _______.

Question 12

Elegy

Answer 12

A sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person.

Question 13

Epic

Answer 13

A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem of Hiawatha.

Question 14

Epigram

Answer 14

A very short, satirical and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain.

Question 15

Epitaph

Answer 15

An ________ is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise of a deceased person.

Question 16

Epithalamium (or Epithalamion)

Answer 16

A wedding poem written in honour of a bride and bridegroom.

Question 17

Free verse (also vers libre)

Answer 17

Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern or expectation.

Question 18

Haiku

Answer 18

A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. ______ reflects on some aspect of nature.

Question 19

Idyll, or Idyl

Answer 19

Either a short poem depicting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or a long poem that tells a story about heroes of a bye gone age.

Question 20

Lay

Answer 20

A ___ is a long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouvères.

Question 21

Limerick

Answer 21

A short sometimes bawdy, humorous poem of consisting of five anapaestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a _________ have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.

Question 22

Lyric

Answer 22

A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term ______ is now generally referred to as the words to a song.

Question 23

Name Poem

Answer 23

A ____ poem tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.

Question 24

Narrative Poetry

Answer 24

Ballads, epics, and lays are different kinds of _________ poems.

Question 25

Ode

Answer 25

John Keats’s “___ on a Grecian Urn” is probably the most famous example of this type of poem which is long and serious in nature written to a set structure.

Question 26

Pastoral

Answer 26

A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way for example of shepherds or country life.

Question 27

Quatrain

Answer 27

A stanza or poem of four lines.
Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme.
Lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme.
Rhyming lines should have a similar number of syllables.

Question 28

Rhyme

Answer 28

A ______ has the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words most often at the ends of lines. There are several derivatives of this term which include double _______, Triple ______, rising
______, falling _______, Perfect and imperfect _______.

Question 29

Rhyme royal

Answer 29

A type of poetry introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer consisting of stanzas of seven lines in iambic pentameter.

Question 30

Romanticism

Answer 30

Nature and love were a major themes of ____________ favoured by 18th and 19th century poets.

Question 31

Senryu

Answer 31

A short Japanese poem that is similar to a haiku in structure but treats human beings rather than nature, often in a humorous or satiric way.

Question 32

Tanka

Answer 32

A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven.

Question 33

Terza rima

Answer 33

A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line “tercets”. The poet Dante is credited with inventing _____ ____.

Question 34

Sonnet

Answer 34

English (or Shakespearean) _______ are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan) _______ are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.

Question 35

Verse

Answer 35

A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose).

Question 36

Diction (Word choice)

Answer 36

Is the language simple or complex? Formal or informal?

Question 37

Formal Poem

Answer 37

A ______ poem has propper wording and spoken to people of importance

Question 38

Informal Poem

Answer 38

An _______ poem is laid back form as if speaking to a friend.

Question 39

Conversational Poem

Answer 39

A _______________ Poem is is what you would say in ____________, and it can be informal or formal depending on who the speaker is speaking to.

Question 40

Complex Poem Form

Answer 40

Would a poem that has allot of rhymes, metaphores, or is written with power words.

Question 41

Sound

Answer 41

Do the words in the poem rhyme? Is there alliteration or assonance? If so, does it affect the tone?

Question 42

alliteration (al·lit·er·a·tion )

Answer 42

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Question 43

assonance (as·so·nance)

Answer 43

In poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables (e.g., penitence, reticence).

Question 44

Meaning

Answer 44

What do you think the poem _______? Is there a hidden _________ or symbolism in the poem? With the people? The setting? This is called allegory. (Very few poems are exclusively literal in _________.)

Question 45

Figurative Language

Answer 45

What sort of __________ language, such as metaphor, hyperbole, simile, personification, irony, does the author use?

Question 46

hyperbole (hy·per·bo·le )

Answer 46

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Question 47

metaphor (met·a·phor)

Answer 47

A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.

Question 48

simile

Answer 48

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, (e.g., as brave as a lion).
The use of such a method of comparison.

Question 49

personification (per·son·i·fi·ca·tion)

Answer 49

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in…

Question 50

irony (i·ro·ny)

Answer 50

The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Question 51

Imagery

Answer 51

What sort of ________ can you find in the poem? Is the _______ effective? Did the words conjure up _______ in your head?

Question 52

Theme

Answer 52

What is the subject matter of a poem? (The title of the poem might give you an idea of the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_.) 
Possible \_\_\_\_\_\_\_:
Love
Nature
Beauty
Humor
History
Reverence
Worship
Joy/Anger/Sadness
Valor

Question 53

Tone

Answer 53

Does the author create a particular mood in the poem? What is the predominant voice? Sadness? Happiness? Anger?