Poetry Terms: Prosody and Verse Forms (Lecture Notes)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on poetry prosody, form, and verse.

Sibilance

Condition of having 's' sounds.

Scansion

Identifying the location of stresses in lines of poetry.

Prosody

Study of meter and form.

Iambic Pentameter

Five iambs in a line (unstressed–stressed pairs).

Alliteration

A series of words in near succession beginning with the same sound.

Consonance

Series of words in close proximity using the same or related consonant sounds.

Assonance

Repetition of the same vowel sounds in close proximity.

Foot

Repeatable pattern of stresses.

Iamb

Unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Trochee

Stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Spondee

Two stressed syllables in a row.

Anapest

Three syllables: two unstressed, then one stressed.

Dactyl

One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed.

Caesura

A break or pause within a line of text.

Kenning

Compound nouns describing something (whale-road for 'sea').

Free Verse

Poetry with no set meter or rules.

Diction

Word choice, phrasing, and use of figurative language.

End Rhyme

Rhyming words at line ends.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme within a line.

Feminine Rhyme

Rhyme of two or more syllables (bubble/trouble).

Slant Rhyme

“Almost” rhyme; sounds similar but not exact.

Terza Rima

Interlocking 3-line rhyme scheme (ABA BCB CDC…).

Blank Verse

Unrhymed verse (often in iambic pentameter).

Imagism

Movement focusing on stripped-down, precise imagery.

Haiku

3 lines: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.

Limerick

5-line poem, rhyme scheme AABBA.

Villanelle

19 lines; 1st and 3rd lines repeat throughout.

Sestina

36 lines; 6 stanzas of 6 lines each with rotating end words.

Envoi

Final 3-line stanza in a sestina.

Rondeau

15 lines, 3 stanzas, 2 rhymes, repeating opening phrase.

Rentrement

Repeated first phrase in a rondeau.

Triolet

8 lines; line 1 repeats in lines 4 & 7, line 2 repeats as the last line.

Elegy

A poem memorializing someone who died.

Ode

A formal, serious poem of praise.

Ekphrastic

Poem describing an object or scene.

Pastoral

Nostalgic poem about rural life.

Couplet

2-line stanza.

Tercet

3-line stanza.

Quatrain

4-line stanza.

Quintain

5-line stanza.

Sestet

6-line stanza.

Rime Royal

7-line stanza, ABABBCC.

Octave

8-line stanza, ABABABCC.

Spenserian Stanza

9 lines, ABABBCBCC; lines 3 & 9 in iambic hexameter.

Strophe

Irregular division of a poem.

Conceit

Extended metaphor or simile.

Defamiliarization

Making the familiar seem unfamiliar.

Surrealism

Dreamlike blending of reality and imagination.

Ottava Rima

8 lines, ABABABCC.

Poetics of Disjuncture

No context or exposition provided.