poetry jargon

Iamb

unstressed, stressed; return

Trochee

stressed, unstressed; double

Dactyl

stressed, unstressed, unstressed; runaway

Anapest

unstressed, unstressed, stressed; contravene

Spondee

stressed, stressed; football

Pyrrhic

unstressed, unstressed; under

Choriambus

stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed; day after day

Paeon

stressed, unstressed, unstressed, unstressed; vegetable

Amphibrach

unstressed, stressed, unstressed; arrangement

Amphimacer

stressed, unstressed, stressed; altitude

Antibacchius

stressed, stressed, unstressed; high mountain

Bacchius

unstressed, stressed, stressed; above board

Acrostic

verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message

Alexandrine

a line of iambic hexameter

Aubade

A poem about dawn; a morning love song; or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn

Ballad

A poem/song that recounts an exciting tale

Blason

Ordered poem of praise or blame, proceeding detail by detail

Boasting Poem

A poem in which the characters boast of their exploits; frequently found in oral literatures and in works such as ballads and epics.

Canticle

a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, and a poem or song with clear parallels to religious poetry

Canto

You know what this is lol

Carol

A joyful song, especially a religious one related to Christmas

Chain Verse

Poetry in which stanzas are connected together via rhyme scheme, word choice, or another type of repetition

Chant Royal

One of the most complex French verse forms, calling for a dignified, heroic subject, and consisting of sixty lines arranged in five stanzas of eleven lines each and an envoy of five lines.

Envoy

a short stanza at the end of a poem such as ballad used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.

Cinquain

a five line stanza; originally from the middle ages

Companion Poems

Poems designed to complement each other

Complaint

A lyric poem that expresses disappointment and despair over some perceived injustice, especially over a rejected romantic advance

Confessional Poetry

Poetry with a very personal, often painful expression; it's subject matter is very intimate and private, and therefore there is no persona

Counting-out Rhyme

a formulaic chant that includes counting, typically a children's song

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of verse with end rhymes, typically with the two lines in the same or similar form. Shakespearean sonnets end in couplets

Closed couplet

Two lines that rhyme and contain a complete thought or idea. In English, they are usually in iambic pentameter.

Distich

Two successive lines with similar form

Elegiac couplet

a pair of lines consisting of a dactylic hexameter and a pentameter, especially in Greek and Latin verse. used especially to commemorate the dead. contrasts the rising action of the first verse with the falling quality of the second

Heroic couplet

a couplet written in iambic pentameter

Heroic quatrain/stanza

Four lines of iambic pentameter (abab). Part of the Shakespearean sonnet

Heroic line

A line in Iambic pentameter; in classical languages it is dactylic hexameter; in French it is iambic hexameter

Open couplet

a couplet in which the second line carries an incomplete thought and relies on the next line(s) to finish it.

Anceps

A position in a metrical pattern that can be filled by either a stressed or unstressed syllable

Doggerel

bad poetry; monotonous, badly expressed sentiment, unoriginal

Barbarism

Th incorrect use of language

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.

Synechode

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa

Litotes

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. "Not bad" etc.

Caesura

A pause within a line of poetry

Dissonance

Unpleasant or unharmonious sound, usually put in poetry to create a sense of awkwardness.

Dramatic Monologue

a poem in the form of a speech in a dramatic situation, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events; a soul in action

Echo Verse

Poetry in which the closing syllables of one line are repeated as by an echo, in the following line- and usually making up that line- with a different meaning and thus forming a reply or comment.

Elegy

a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet's serious meditations upon death or another solemn theme; ill-defined but always has a solemn or pessimistic tone

Enjambment

The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation

End-stopped Line

A line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation, in contrast to Enjambment, which is a run-on line

Englyn

venerable Welsh verse, usually a quatrain with complex rules governing alliteration and rhyme

Epic

lengthy, lofty narrative poem of high-profiled people and adventure; It has a central hero of stature, expansive setting, courageous deeds, usually involves the supernatural, elevated style, third person narrator, usually begins in media res, lots of epithets. Ex: Iliad, Odyssey

Epithalamion

a poem written in celebration of marriage

Flyting

a formal exchange of insults; example, that dick measuring contest towards the beginning of beowulf

Fourteener

line of verse with 14 syllables in iambs, usually in heptameter

Free Verse

Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

Blank Verse

Unrhymed but metrical (usually iambic pentameter) poetry

Haiku

A japanese form of poetry, consisting of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Concise and detailed picture that carries an insight or emotional appeal, focuses especially on nature

Senryu

A short Japanese style poem, similar to haiku in structure, but it's lighter; treats human beings rather than nature: Often in a humorous or satiric way.

Lament

a poem expressing intense grief, more emotional than a complaint.

Monody

lament that is expressed by a single mourner

Light Verse

A variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, but sometimes with a satirical thrust; can be a parody, limerick, cherihew, etc.

Limerick

Light verse in the following pattern: five anapestic lines, of which 1, 2, and 5 are in trimeter and rhyme with each other; and the other two lines are in dimeter and rhyme with each other

Lyric poem

a brief poem characterized by imagination, emotion, grace, and a single focused impression; does not have a story but rather expresses feelings. Includes hymns, sonnets, ballads, odes, elegies, and rondels.

Hymn

a song of worship or praise, especially a religious one

Rondeau

French Medieval and Renaissance fixed poetic form. Usually has 15 lines (quintent, quatrain, sestet), only has 2 rhymes, opening words used twice as an unrhyming refrain at the end of the second and third stanzas

Rondel

A french lyric poem, a variation of the rondeau, consisting of two quatrains followed by either a quintet or a sestet (13 or 14 lines total respectively).

Ode

Sustained, respectful lyric poem on a single subject (usually a person or an event); praising, imaginative, exalted, and admiring

Horatian Ode

An ode in which each written stanza has the same length, rhyme scheme, and meter. It is named after the Roman poet Horace, famous for this particular form.

Pindaric Ode

A form of ode with strophe, antistrophe, and epode; named after the Greek poet Pindar.

Irregular Ode

A rhymed ode with an irregular stanzaic structure and form

Meditative Poetry

Certain kinds of metaphysical poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries that combine religious meditation with Renaissance poetic techniques; usually deal with self-knowledge or union with the transcendent. Writers include Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughn.

Metaphysical Poetry

17th century verse by poets reacting against the conventions of Elizabethan love poetry, preferring instead psychological treatments of themes such as love and religion. They did not shy away from the shocking, and experimented with applying their techniques to the extreme. John Donne is regarded as the leader, but other poets are Crashaw, Cowley, Herbert, Vaughn, and Carew. They had a largely negative reputation in the 18th and 19th centuries, thought their reputation improved in the 20th. Characteristics include: Logical exploration and expression of life, form is often an argument; Intellectual, psychological, and bold; themes of death, love, and religion; language is simple and closer to common speech; imagery is drawn from the ordinary and remote.

Pastoral Poetry

poetry about an idealized rustic/rural life, usually featuring shepherds. In Greek tradition, there are three kinds: dialogue or singing match (Eclogue); monologue of a lovesick person; and elegy or lament to mourn the passing of a friend. Today, the term is broadly applied to include poetry in any rustic setting. Examples of this are Hesiod's Works and Days and Virgil's Eclogues.

Bucolic

Pastoral verse that is formal and fanciful; Theocritus and Virgil are most associated with this style; sometimes used to refer to any pastoral poetry

Eclogue

Comes from the Greek word for selection. A formal pastoral poem derived from the Idylls of Theocritus, including singing matches, rustic dialogue, lament for the dead shepherd, song of courtship, and eulogy; also came to mean a dramatic poem with little action or characterization but much sentiment

Refrain

A word, phrase or line(s) that are repeated in a poem at determinate intervals; though a refrain can appear anywhere in a poem

Repetend

Like a refrain, but it is erratic and the words can be changed slightly

Sestina

A complex and difficult French verse form, it has six 6-lined stanzas and a 3-lined envoy, all usually unrhymed. The structure has a specific pattern of end-words that are repeated and rearranged.

English/Shakespearean Sonnet

three quatrains and a couplet: abab cdcd efef gg

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

octave and sestet; abbaabba cdecde (or cdcdcd)

Spenserian Sonnet

three quatrains and a couplet; abab bcbc cdcd ee

Anglo-Italian Sonnet

Combines rhyme scheme of English and Italian sonnets, usually with an English octave and an Italian sestet

Miltonic Sonnet

Similar to the Italian sonnet (abbaabba cdecde) but does not divide its thought between the octave and the sestet; the sense or line of thinking runs straight from the eighth to the ninth line; the subject matter is usually about politics or morality.

Caudate

Primarily an Italian form that has lines (tails) added to the traditional 14. Fourteen lines of Iambic Pentameter, then another six lines (cfffgg) with lines 15 and 18 in trimeter and the others in pentameter

Curtal

a sonnet that has been shortened

Crown of Sonnets

A set of seven sonnets in which the last line of one sonnet is repeated in the first line of the next.

Sonnet Sequence

Connected group of sonnets, usually by a single poet

Ballad Stanza

A four-line stanza (abcb) common in ballads, with the first and third in tetrameter, and the other two in trimeter. Near rhyme, refrain, assonance, and consonance are common

Burns Stanza

Six-line stanza (aaabab) that uses tetrameter in the a-lines and dimeter or trimeter in the b-lines; named for Robert Burns

Elegiac Stanza

Iambic pentameter quatrain (abab). From Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

Hardy Stanza

Eight-line stanza (aaabcccb); tetrameter in lines 1, 3, 5-7; line 2 repeats the end of line 1 so you get dimeter; trimeter in lines 4 and 8. Named for Thomas Hardy

In Memoriam Stanza

quatrain in iambic pentameter, abba; nammed after Tennyson's In Memoriam.

Long Measure

Four-line stanza in iambic pentameter (abab or abcb)

Ottava Rima

Eight-line iambic pentameter stanza (abababcc)

Rime Royal

Seven-line iambic pentameter stanza (ababbcc)

Short Measure

Four-line stanza (abab or abcb), with lines 1, 2, and 4 in trimeter, and line 3 in tetrameter; often used in hymns

Spenserian Stanza

Nine-line, first eight in iambic pentameter, last in hexameter (ababbcbcc)

Yeats Stanza

Eight-line stanza iambic pentameter in all but lines 4, 6, and 7, which are shorter (aabbcddc).

Tristich

3-lined stanza