Literary Terms (Poetry)

*gulp*

Closed poetry

Closed forms of poetry include predictable patterns in the structure of lines, stanzas, meter, and rhyme, which develop relationships among ideas in the poem.

Open poetry

Open forms of poetry may not follow expected or predictable patterns in the structure of their lines or stanza, but they may still have structures that develop relationships between ideas in the poem.

Meter

A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Rhythm

The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern.

Anapest (anapestic)

Duh-duh-DUH, as in 'but of course!'

Dactyl (dactylic)

DUH-duh-duh, as in 'honestly.'

Iamb (iambic)

duh-DUH, as in 'above.'

Trochee (trochaic)

DUH-duh, as in 'pizza.'

Feet

The individual building blocks of meter.

Monometer

1 foot.

Dimeter

2 feet.

Trimeter

3 feet.

Tetrameter

4 feet.

Pentameter

5 feet.

Hexameter

6 feet.

Scansion

Distinguishing the line length and type of feet.

End rhyme

Rhyme occurring at the ends of lines.

Internal rhyme

Rhyme occurring within a line.

Eye rhyme

Rhymes only when spelled, not when pronounced.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of end rhymes, labeled with capital letters for the purpose of analysis.

Ballad

A popular narrative song passed down orally.

Complaint

A poem of lament, often directed at an ill-fated love.

Concrete Poetry

Verse that emphasizes nonlinguistic elements in its meaning.

Dramatic Monologue

A poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener.

Elegy or Lament

A melancholy poem that laments its subject's death but ends in consolation.

Epic

A long narrative poem in which a heroic protagonist engages in an action of great mythic or historical significance.

Epitaph

An inscription on a gravestone or a commemorative poem written as if it were for that purpose.

Haiku

A Japanese verse form composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables.

Hymn

A poem praising God or the divine, often sung.

Limerick

A humorous, rhyming five-line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme.

Lyric Poem

Verse that expresses the personal observations and feelings of a single speaker.

Narrative Poem

A poem that tells a story.

Ode

A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea.

Pastoral

Verse in the tradition of idealized accounts of shepherds and their loves living simple, virtuous lives.

Sonnet

A fourteen-line lyric poem usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

Blank Verse

Verse written in unrhymed, iambic pentameter.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

End Stopped Lines

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break.

Enjambment

The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next.

Free Verse

Nonmetrical, non-rhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech.

Refrain

A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated regularly in a poem.

Stanza

A grouping of lines separated from others in a poem.