Elements of Poetry Test

2 Line stanza

Couplet

3 Line stanza

Tercet

4 Lines stanza

Quatrain

5 Line stanza

Cinquain

6 Line stanza

Sestet

7 Line stanza

Septet

8 Line Stanza

Octave

Couplet

Two lines of the same length which rhyme

Purpose of a stanza

Group ideas/images together

indicate a change in tone/idea/focus

breaks can be a pause for thought/create a brief silence (holds meaning)

Line length affects

Speed of reading

one shorter line among loner ones is emphasized

affects tone and meaning

End stop

break at the end of a line

deonted by comma, period, semicolon, etc

creates brief pause between lines

Enjambement

Continuation of a sentence/clause over a line break

Caesura

A strong pause or stop within a line

line location:

• medial - middle

• initial - beginning

• terminal - end

Metaphor

A figure of speech that implies he’s a comparison between two unlikely things

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words “like” or “as”

Personification

The giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or abstract idea

Hyperbole

An exaggerated statement used to emphasize an idea or make a point

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, or the whole for a part

Euphemism

A “softer” more inoffensive word or phrase, used as a substitute for one considered too harsh when referring to something unpleasant or embarrasing

Pun

A play on words; can be on different meanings of the same word or on the similar sense/sound of different words

Oxymoron

When incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side

Anaphora

The repetition of a word/phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, story or idea (often a biblical or mythological reference); it is left to the reader to make the connection

Rhyme

The correspondence of sounds between different words, or the ending of words

• Internal rhymes occur within a line

• End rhymes occur at the end of lines

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in adjacent or nearby words

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within words

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that create the sounds they describe

Repetition

The recurring use of a sound, a word, a phrase, or a line

Acrostic

The first letter of each line spells out a word or a message

Ballad

A narrative poem which tells a story

Old form of poetry usually set to music

European - 4 line stanzas

Free Verse

Does not have a rhyme or a regular rhythm

common form of poetry due to lack of rigid structure

Sonnet

Rigid structure of 14 lines w/ strict rhyming pattern

Shakespearean - twelve lines in 3 alternating rhymes, following by a rhyming couplet

Italian/Petrarchan - an octave and a sestet

Villanelle

Pastoral/lyrical poem of 19 lines (5 tercets and a final quatrain) with only two rhymes repeated throughout and some lines repeated

Haiku

Japanese poetry which consists of 3 lines w/ a strict syllable count

5-7-5 syllable pattern

Terza Rima

Strict rhyming structure of tercets following (aba,bcb, cdc, ded, etc)

Ode

Formal/ceremonious lyric poem that addresses/celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Stanza forms vary and have originally been sung

Blank Verse

Does not contain rhymes but lines are written in iambic pentameter (10 syllables alternating between unstressed and stressed)

Epic

A long, grand narrative poem which tells the heroic journey of a single person or group of people

can be long enough to fill a whole book

Limerick

Often silly and whimsical poem written in 5 lines

The first two lines rhyme with the last and lines 3 and 4 rhyme (also shorter)

Often tell a short, humorous story

Elegy

A mournful, melancholic, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead