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