english poetry flashcards

Meter

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry, organized into repeating units called feet.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things by stating one thing is another.

Allusion

An indirect reference to a well-known person, event, myth, or literary work the reader is expected to recognize.

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.

Symbol

A concrete object, image, or action that represents an abstract idea or deeper meaning.

Euphony

Pleasant, smooth sound created by soft consonants and long vowel sounds.

Alliteration

The repetition of beginning consonant sounds in nearby words.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words to create internal rhyme.

Cacophony

Harsh, jarring sound created by strong consonants for effect.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of end rhymes in a poem labeled with letters such as ABAB or AABB.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem traditionally written in iambic pentameter with a fixed rhyme scheme.

Sestina

A 39-line poem that repeats six end words in a strict rotating pattern across six stanzas and a final envoy.

Free Verse

Poetry that does not follow regular meter or rhyme but still uses rhythm and imagery.

Figurative Language

Language that goes beyond literal meaning to create imagery or deeper understanding.

Lyric Poem

A short poem expressing personal emotions, thoughts, or feelings.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter.

Limerick

A humorous five-line poem with an AABBA rhyme scheme and strong rhythm.

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (DUM-da).

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM).

Dactyl

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (DUM-da-da).

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (da-da-DUM).

Ballad

A narrative poem that tells a story, often written in quatrains with alternating rhyme.

Unmetered Rhyme

Poetry in which lines rhyme but do not follow a consistent rhythmic meter.

Scansion

The process of marking stressed and unstressed syllables to analyze meter.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate natural sounds such as buzz, crash, or hiss.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of nearby words.

Personification

Giving human traits, emotions, or actions to animals, objects, or ideas.

Shakespearean Sonnet

A 14-line sonnet with rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG ending in a rhyming couplet.

Petrarchan Sonnet

A sonnet divided into an octave (ABBAABBA) and a sestet that resolves the poem’s idea.

Villanelle

A 19-line poem with five tercets and a quatrain featuring repeated lines and a strict rhyme scheme.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and form a complete thought.

Tercet

A stanza consisting of three lines of poetry.

Quatrain

A stanza consisting of four lines of poetry.

Cinquain

A five-line poem with a fixed syllable pattern often 2-4-6-8-2.

Tanka

A Japanese poem with five lines following a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern.

Haiku

A three-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern usually about nature.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Theme?

Theme: Life is Precious

The poem's speaker offers insight into how to face death with dignity and ferocity rather than resignation, believing that people should “burn and rave” as they approach death.

Do not go into that good night: Poem Type?

Villanelles

• 19 lines long

• made up of 5 tercets (3 line stanzas) and a quatrain (4 line stanza)

• It follows an ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA rhyme scheme

Do not go into that good night: Figurative language?

Personification: He refers to ”Frail deeds” dancing as if they are human.

Alliteration and Assonance: He uses phrases such as "blind eyes could blaze" and "deeds might have danced," and he employs assonance in such lines as "words had forked.“

Metaphor:Light = life and Night = death

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” Poem Type?

Italian Sonnet or Petrarchan Sonnet

Fourteen lines long.

•They use iambic pentameter as their meter.

Two sections: an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE.

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” Theme?

Theme:  A city, before it awakens, can offer the same calm and serenity as a wholly natural scene.

Peace and tranquility can be found just as much or more in contemplating a cityscape as in contemplating a landscape in the country. To achieve this effect, the poet describes London in anthropomorphic terms, as if it were a human or even a godlike entity. Its clothing is the bright glittering beauty of the morning. For the moment, as Wordsworth observes, its "mighty heart is lying still."

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” Figurative language?

Hyperbole: “Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.”

Simile and Personification: “This City now doth, like a garment, wear/ The beauty of the morning.”

Metaphor: "The crowded streets turn into hopeless graves"

Shall I compare Thee To a Summer’s Day Poem Type?

-Elizabethan/ Shakespearean Sonnet

-Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer’s Day

-The Elizabethan Sonnet is traditionally divided into three 4-line stanzas and an ending couplet, and traditionally follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.

Shall I compare Thee To a Summer’s Day Analysis?

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, the beloved is elevated above nature’s fleeting beauty, arguing that their charm is more constant than a "summer’s day" and will achieve immortality through the poem's own enduring verses.

• Critique of Nature: The speaker notes that summer is imperfect, marked by "rough winds," excessive heat ("too hot the eye of heaven"), and a short duration.

• Beauty’s Inevitable Decline: The poem acknowledges that all natural, beautiful things fade or decline, either by chance or the changing course of nature.

• Immortalizing Verse: The "eternal summer" of the beloved is preserved not by reality, but by the poem itself, which acts as a permanent, immortalizing force.

• The Final Promise: The concluding couplet, "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee," guarantees that the beloved’s beauty survives as long as the poem is read.

Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer’s Day: Figurative Langauge?

Metaphor: In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare writes, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” This compares the beloved to summer without using “like” or “as” throughout the rest of the poem, suggesting warmth, beauty, and brightness. The metaphor also helps Shakespeare show that the beloved surpasses even the best parts of nature.

Personification: Shakespeare describes the sun as “the eye of heaven,” giving it a human characteristic by calling it an eye. This personification makes nature feel alive and emphasizes how even the powerful sun can become “dimmed” or imperfect over time.

Hyperbole: In the final couplet, Shakespeare claims that the beloved will live forever through the poem: “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” This is an exaggeration because poetry cannot literally make someone immortal, but it emphasizes the lasting power of art and memory

Sestina: Poem type?

•Consists of six, six-line stanzas followed by one three-line stanza.

•39 lines total.

•In the sestina form, instead of using rhyming verse, the poem makes use of repeating words. There are six lines in each stanza, each of which ends with a different word. Those six words are then reused at the end of each line in the subsequent stanzas, but the order of each word changes.

•Ex. Word Pattern

•Stanza I  ABCDEF

•Stanza II  FAEBDC

•Stanza III  CFDABE

•Stanza IV  ECBFAD

•Stanza V  DEACFB

•Stanza VI  BDFECA

Sestina: Theme?

Carpe Diem

Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Sestina" is a vibrant,carpe-diem poem that urges readers to embrace life's fleeting moments. Here are the key thematic and stylistic elements of the poem based on your analysis: [1, 2, 3]

• Tone of Urgency and Vitality: Swinburne adopts an energetic, encouraging, and motivational tone, encouraging readers to seize the day ("Carpe Diem").

• Focus on the Present: The poem serves as a reminder to live in the moment because days pass abruptly and life can be taken away unexpectedly.

• Earth Over Heaven: A central message is to focus on earthly existence rather than worrying about the afterlife. The poet urges that time should be spent enjoying the "wide sun's way" rather than dwelling on the hereafter.

• Rhetorical Inquiry: The rhetorical question in lines 23-24—"What place shall be for any starry light, / What part of heaven in all the wide sun's way"—functions as a, summary of the poem’s theme, challenging the reader to consider what they value more: the sun (life) or the stars (afterlife/unknown).

• Appreciation of All Life: The speaker argues that all moments—both night and day, both youth and near-death—are meant to be fully appreciated and lived.

• Speaker and Audience: The speaker is the poet himself, directly addressing the reader and those nearing the end of their lives, providing encouragement to find value in every moment. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Sestina: Figurative Language?

Simile: “I saw my soul at rest upon a day

As a bird sleeping in the nest of night.”

Imagery: "What place shall be for any starry light, / What part of heaven in all the wide sun's way."

Tanka?

•Traditional Japanese poems containing five lines.

•Each line has a set number of syllables, creating an overall syllabic pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. 

•Tanka are divided into an upper phrase, containing the first three lines, and the lower phrase, which contains the last two lines.

•Tanka were often accompanied with a gift related to the poem.

Tanka Example?

•Golden aspen leaves

•Shimmer in the gentle breeze

•Silently falling

•To the fading green grasses

•I can smell winter coming.  

• Kathy Keidel

The Lotos Eaters by Lord Tennyson structures and themes

• The Narrative: The first section sets the scene as Odysseus and his weary men arrive at a tranquil, dreamlike island where the inhabitants offer them the fruit of the lotus. After consuming it, the men fall into a languid, drug-like trance, yearning only to rest on the "hollow Lotus land" rather than face the hardships of the sea.

• The Choric Song: The second half is sung by the mariners as a collective voice. It is a profound meditation on the exhaustion of labor and the overwhelming temptation of complete surrender, idleness, and escape from worldly responsibilities.

The Lotos eaters symbolism and cultural impact

• Escapism & Addiction: Scholars often interpret the lotus flower as an allegory for escapism, addiction, or profound psychological trauma. The poem captures the Victorian anxiety between the pressure for ambition and productivity versus the overwhelming desire to rest and disconnect.

• Divine Indifference: The mariners eventually adopt the mindset of the gods—sitting apart "careless of mankind" while ignoring the toil, grief, and battles taking place in the outside world.