Poetry Terminology

Meter

the regular rhythmic pattern of syllables, stressed and unstressed, that can be heard "beneath" the formal poetic line

Foot

a unit within the poetic line comprised of one stressed and one or two unstressed syllables: The cur/few tolls/ the knell/ of part/ing day. (5 of term)

iambic

( X / ) - an unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable to form one foot.

trochaic

( / X ) - a stressed, followed by an unstressed syllable to form one foot, e.g.:

                    Twinkle, twinkle, little star

anapestic

( X X / ) - two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed, e.g.:

                    There was a young man from the Highlands

dactylic

( / X X ) - one stressed followed by two unstressed syllables, e.g.:

                    One, turning over, exposes a shoulder

spondaic

two consecutive stressed syllables which often slow and add "weight" to the line, e.g.:

                    Thy life a long dead calm of fixed repose;

pyrrhic

two consecutive unstressed syllables, e.g.:

                    An aged man is but a paltry thing.

double iamb

when two unstressed syllables are followed by two stressed syllables, e.g.:

                    by the still pool   OR   for the long haul

substitution

variation in the metrical pattern, where your ear anticipates one kind of poetic foot but the poet substitutes another

Pun

A figure of speech depending upon a similarity of sound and a disparity of meaning

Consonance

the inner repetition of inner and/or end consonant sounds

Assonance

the inner repetition of inner and/or end vowel sounds

Alliteration

close interval repetition of initial consonant sounds

Caesura

the pause, rest, or breath in a line of poetry, and if particularly emphatic, is signaled by a mark of punctuation, e.g.: “My God,” - - - > (THE COMMA)

Enjambment

the running over of one line of poetry into the next, or one stanza into the next, for the purpose of making grammatical sense

End-stopped line

A line which pauses at the end, indicated by punctuation, e.g.: A PERIOD

End-rhyme

rhyme that occurs at the end of lines, e.g.: A, B, A, B structure

Line break

The often significant point at which a line of poetry “turns” towards the next line (when the lines have indents that differentiate them)

Couplet

two successive lines, usually in the same meter and linked by rhyme, in formal poetry (like the end of a sonnet)

Near Rhyme / Slant Rhyme / Oblique Rhyme / Off Rhyme

Close, but inexact rhyming of words, for sound variation and sometimes for effect, e.g.: flesh vs flash, or love vs have, or pall vs thrill

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme which takes place within a line or which rhyme words within and at the end of lines (rhymes within the poem pretty much anywhere)

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs