accent
a syllable given more prominence in pronunciation than its neighbors is said to be accented; stress
allegory
a narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one
alliteration
the repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words
ex. map-moon, kill-code, preach-approve
allusion
a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in literature or history
anapest
a metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable (u u /)
ex. understand, interrupt, comprehend
anapestic meter
a meter in which a majority of the feet are anapests
anaphora
repetition of an opening word or phrase in a series of lines
ex. “We shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills”
apostrophe
a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply
ex. “Oh my love, why did you have to die?”
approximate rhyme (slant, imperfect, near, oblique)
a term used for words in a rhyming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but are not perfect rhymes
assonance
the repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words
ex. vein-made, hat-ran-amber, “He’s a bruisin’ loser.”
aubade
a poem about dawn; a morning love song; or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn
ballad
a fairly short narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form
blank verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter
breve (u)
marks an unstressed syllable
cacophony
a harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
caesura
a speech pause occurring within a line
chiasmus
a rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures.
ex. 1. Each throat was parched, and glazed each eye.
2. He came in triumph and in defeat departs.
3. He went in, and out went she.
4. Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike
connotation
what a word suggests beyond its basic dictionary definition; a word's overtones of meaning
consonance
the repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words
ex. book-plaque-thicker, cool soul
continuous form
that form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of meaning
couplet
two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme
dactyl
a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables (/ u u)
ex. strawberry, carefully, buffalo
dactylic meter
a meter in which a majority of the feet are dactyls
denotation
the basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word
didactic poetry
poetry having as a primary purpose to teach or preach
dimeter
a metrical line containing two feet
dramatic framework
the situation, whether actual or fictional, realistic or fanciful, in which an author places his or her characters in order to express the theme
dramatic irony
a device by which the author implies a different meaning from that intended by the speaker (or by a speaker) in a literary work; when the reader understands events better than the character
duple meter
a meter in which a majority of the feet contain two syllables. ex. iambic, trochaic, spondaic
elegy
often a melancholy poem that laments its subject’s death but ends in consolation
end rhyme
rhymes that occur at the ends of the lines
end-stopped line
a line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation
English (Shakespearean) sonnet
a sonnet rhyming ababcdcdefefgg; its content or structure ideally parallels the rhyme scheme, falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet; but it is often structured, like the Italian sonnet, into octave and sestet, the principal break in thought (volta) coming at the end of the eighth line
enjambment
the continuation of the logical sense—and therefore the grammatical construction—beyond the end of a line of poetry; i.e. the sentence runs from one line of poetry to the next
epistrophe
repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc.
euphony
a smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
ex. Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, splashless as they swim.
expected rhythm
the rhythmic expectation set up by the basic meter of a poem
extended (sustained) figure
a figure of speech (usually metaphor, simile, personification, or apostrophe) sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem
extended metaphor (conceit) / extended simile
extended figure specifically for metaphor/simile
extrametrical syllables
in metrical verse, extra unaccented syllables added at the beginnings or endings of lines; these may be either a feature of the metrical form of a poem or occur as exceptions to the form
ex. iambic lines: occur at the end of the line
trochaic lines: occur at the beginning of the line
feminine rhyme
a rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or the third-last syllable of the words involved
ex. ceiling-appealing, hurrying-scurrying
figurative language
language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally
figure of speech
broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly, a way of saying one thing and meaning another
fixed form
any form of poem in which the length and pattern are prescribed by previous usage or tradition, such as sonnet, villanelle, etc
folk ballad
a narrative poem designed to be sung, composed by an anonymous author, and transmitted orally for years or generations before being written down; it has usually undergone modification through the process of oral transmission
foot
the basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of metrical verse; usually contains one accented syllable and one or two un-accented syllables (the spondaic foot is a modification of this principle)
form
the external pattern or shape of a poem, describable without reference to its content, as continuous form, stanzaic form, fixed form (and their varieties), free verse, and syllabic verse
free verse
nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms
grammatical pause (caesura)
a pause introduced into the reading of a line, usually by a mark of punctuation
haiku
a Japanese verse form most often composed, in English versions, of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables
heard rhythm
the actual rhythm of a metrical poem as we hear it when it is read naturally; mostly conforms to but sometimes departs from or modifies the expected rhythm
hexameter
a metrical line containing six feet
hyperbole
an exaggeration or overstatement used to get the reader’s attention
iamb
a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable (u /)
ex. behold, amuse, arise
iambic meter
a meter in which the majority of feet are iambs; the most common English meter
ictus (/)
marks a stressed syllable
imagery
the representation through language of sense experience
ex. visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory
internal rhyme
a rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme words occur(s) within the line
irony
a situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy
Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet
a sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba and of a sestet using any arrangement of two or three additional rhymes, such as cdcdcd or cdecde
limerick
a fixed form of five generally anapestic lines rhyming aabba; traditionally bawdy or irreverent.
ex. “There was an Old Man of Quebec,
A beetle ran over his neck;
But he cried, 'With a needle,
I'll slay you, O beetle!’
That angry Old Man of Quebec.”
masculine (single) rhyme
a rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel sound is in the final syllable of the words involved
ex. dance-pants, scald-recalled
metaphor
a figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike (1. that in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named 2. that in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied 3. that in which the literal term is implied and the figurative term named 4. that in which both the literal and the figurative terms are implied)
ex. “My love IS a bird.”
meter
the regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse; the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry
metonymy
a figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience; the use of something closely related for the thing actually meant
metrical variations
departures from the basic metrical pattern
monometer
a metrical line containing one foot
octave
an eight-line stanza; the first eight lines of a sonnet, especially one structured in the manner of an Italian sonnet
onomatopoeia
the use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound
ex. boom, click, plop
overstatement
a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth
oxymoron
a compact paradox in which two successive words seemingly contradict each other
ex. a pointless point of view; bittersweet
paradox
a statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements
paradoxical situation
a situation containing apparently but not actually incompatible elements
paradoxical statement (verbal paradox)
a figure of speech in which an apparently self-contradictory statement is nevertheless found to be true
paraphrase
a restatement of the content of a poem designed to make its prose meaning as clear as possible
pentameter
a metrical line containing five feet
personification
a figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept
phonetic intensive
a word whose sound, by an obscure process, to some degree suggests its meaning
ex. flicker, flame, flare, flash (moving light)
poet
the person who wrote the poem
prose meaning
that part of a poem's total meaning that can be separated out and expressed through paraphrase
prose poem
usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse
quatrain
a four-line stanza; four-line division of a sonnet marked off by its rhyme scheme
quintet
a five-line stanza
refrain
a repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form
rhetorical pause (caesura)
a natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntax
rhetorical poetry
poetry using artificially eloquent language; that is, language too high-flown for its occasion and unfaithful to the full complexity of human experience
rhetorical stress
in natural speech, as in prose and poetic writing, the stressing of words or syllables so as to emphasize meaning and sentence structure
rhyme
the repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in important or importantly positioned words
ex. perfect rhyme: old-cold, vane-reign, court-report
identical rhyme: hill-hill, aisle-isle, manse-romance
rhyme scheme
any fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas
rhythm
any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound
run-on line
a line that has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line
sarcasm
bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed
satire
a kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the ostensible purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice
scansion
the process of measuring metrical verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern
sentimental poetry
poetry that attempts to manipulate the reader's emotions in order to achieve a greater emotional response than the poem itself really warrants
ex. a “tearjerker”
septet
a seven-line stanza
sestet
a six-line stanza; last six lines of a sonnet structured on the Italian model
sestina
a complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a three-line envoy; end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoy contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the three lines
simile
a figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. The comparison is made explicit by the use of some such word or phrase as like, as, than, similar to, resembles, or seems
situational irony
a situation in which there is an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate, or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass