Poetry - Part 2 (LITCRIT)

Scansion

A system for describing conventional rhythms by dividing lines into feet, indicating the locations of binomial accents, and counting the syllables

Poem

A cultural artifact of some sort; beyond that, however, there is little agreement. A __ may not be in words at all, and a __ can exist without being written down

Slant Rhyme

The substitution of consonance or assonance for true rhyme

End Rhyme

Rhyme at the ends of lines in a poem. The most common kind of rhyme

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs at some place before the last syllables in a line

Enjambment

The continuation of the sense and grammatical construction of a line on to the next verse or couplet

Run-on line

Continuation of grammatical structure

Stanza

A recurrent grouping of two or more verse lines in terms of length, metrical form, and, often rhyme scheme

Free Verse

A poem without consistent rhyme or meter

Sonnet

A poem of almost always 14 lines and following one of several set rhyme schemes

Shakespearean Sonnet

Sonnet comprised of three quatrains followed by a couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg, shift usually in line 13

Italian Sonnet

A sonnet divided into an octave rhyming abbaabba and a sestet rhyming cdecde

Miltonic Sonnet

A variation made on the Italian Sonnet, in which the rhyme scheme is kept, but the "turn" between the octave and the sestet is eliminated. Rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde

Anglo-Italian Sonnet

A sonnet combining the rhyme schemes of the English Sonnet and the italian sonnet most often with an Octave from the former and the sestet from the latter

Spenserian Sonnet

A sonnet of the English type in that it has three quatrains and a couplet but features quatrains joined by the use of linking rhymes: abab bcbc cdcd ee

Caudate Sonnet

An Italian form, rarely adopted into English, in which a standard fourteen line sonnet is augmented by the addition of other lines, including "tails"

Curtal Sonnet

This sonnet shortens the octave to a sestet while preserving the ratio of 8:6 to now, 6:4.5

Chaucerian Sonnet

A 7-lined iambic pentameter stanza rhyming ababbcc sometimes with an Alexandrine (hexameter) seventh line

Caesura

Pause or break in a line of verse. in Classical lit, the __ would divide a foot between two words, usually near the middle of a line

Volta

The turn in thought, from question to answer; problem to solution, that occurs that the beginning of the sestet in the Italian Sonnet

Temporal Volta

Volta relating to time

Logical Volta

Volta whose shift’s line begins with either “therefore” or “but” often concerning a turn into a conclusion

Comical Volta

Humorous Volta

Conditional Volta

Volta that depends on something else, meaning something must be satisfied first

Misplaced Volta

Volta that appears as if the poet misplaced it

Masculine Rhyme

Rhyme that falls on the stressed, concluding syllables of the words

Feminine Rhyme

A rhyme where the rhyming stressed syllables are followed by an undifferentiated identical unstressed syllable

Leonine Rhyme

The internal rhyming of the last stressed syllable before the caesura, with the last stressed syllable of the line

Eye Rhyme

Rhyme that appears correct from the spelling but is not so from the pronunciation

Broken Rhyme

The breaking of a word at the end of a line for the sake of a rhyme

Heteromerous Rhyme

A fairly rare species of multiple rhyme (also called mosaic) in which typically one word is forced into a rhyme with two or more words

Compound Rhyme

Rhyme between primary and secondary stressed syllables

Near Rhyme

When you almost rhyme; synonymous with slant rhyme

Consonance

The repetition in accented syllables of the final consonant sound without the correspondence of the preceding vowel sounds

Assonance

Complementarily, the repetition of vowel sound without exact correspondence of succeeding consonants amounts to near rhyme

Chain Rhyme

Uncommon in English, this device incorporates elements of echo and identical rhyme so that the sound of the last syllable of one line recurs as the sound of the 1st syllable of the next but with a change of meaning

Enclosed Rhyme

Term applied to the rhyme pattern of the In Memoriam stanza: abba

Beginning Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs in the first syllable or syllables of lines

Half Rhyme

Imperfect rhyme, usually the result of consonance

Crossed Rhyme

AKA interlaced rhyme. A term applied to couplets--usually hexameter or longer--in which the words preceding the caesura rhyme

Identical Rhyme (Rime Riche)

When you rhyme with homophones, not the same exact word; If you rhyme with the same word, it is just repetition

Triple Rhyme

Rhyme in which the rhyming stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed, undifferentiated syllables, as in “meticulous” and “ridiculous”

Monorhyme

A poem that uses only one rhyme

Nursery Rhyme

Brief verses--often anonymous and traditional--with percussive rhythm and frequent, heavy rhyme, written for young children

Analyzed Rhyme

Complex form of rhyme that involves breaking down or analyzing components. It is a mix of consonance and assonance in a given quatrain

Recessed Rhyme

A complex device whereby rhyme occurs between stressed syllables that are recessed one or two syllables from the end of a word, without qualifying as feminine rhyme

Riding Rhyme

The heroic couplet, sometimes with run-on lines but without caesuras

Foot

The unit of rhythm in verse, whether quantitative or accentual-syllabic

Accent

In prosody, the emphasis given to a syllable in articulation. It is considered a complex matter of fore, timbre, duration, loudness, pitch, and various combinations of these

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of on short (or unstressed) syllable followed by a long (or stressed) one

Trochee

A foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed one

Spondee

A metrical foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable

Dactyl

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two short unstressed syllables

Pyrrhic

Metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables

Paeon

A metrical foot consisting of one long/stressed syllable and 3 short/unstressed syllables (4 total)

Catalexis

Incompleteness of the last foot of a line; truncation by omission of one or two final syllables

Truncation

Omitting the first or last syllable of a poem

Anacrusis

A term denoting one or more extra unaccented syllables at the beginning of a verse before the regular rhythm of the line makes its appearance

Acatalectic

Metrically complete; applied to lines that carry out the basic metrical and rhythmic pattern of a poem

Hypercatalectic

A line with an extra syllable at the end

Ellipsis

The omission of one or more words that, while essential to a grammatical structure, are easily supplied

Prothesis

Addition of a syllable at the beginning of a word

Hypheresis

The omission of material in the body of a word, as when "grandmother" becomes "gammer" or "grandfather" becomes "gaffer"

Wrenched Accent

An alteration in the customary pronunciation of a word--that is, a shift in word accent to accommodate the demands of metrical accent

Hiatus

A pause or break between two vowel sounds not separated by a consonant. It is the opposite of elision

Feminine Ending

An extrametrical unstressed syllable added to the end of a line in iambic or anapestic rhythm

Iambic Pentameter

What Shakespeare used in his sonnets; will be found in any Shakespearean aka English Sonnet. A line of 5 iambs

Iambic Tetrameter

Not limited to this kind, but the most strict definition is a poem written with four iambs per line, meaning 8 syllables per line

Dactylic Hexameter

Oldest known form of Greek poetry, consisting of six dactyls per line, meaning 18 syllables per line

Syzygy

In classical prosody, a term for two coupled feet serving as a unit

Stitch

A word or stem meaning “line”

Distich: two lines, a couplet

Tristich: three lines

Pentastich: five

Hemistich: half a line

Homostrophic

Consisting of structurally identical strophes; hence, made up of stanzas of the same pattern

Heterostrophic

Having two different metrical systems within the same poem

Tercet

A stanza of three lines -- a triplet -- in which each lines ends with the same rhyme. The term is also used to denote either of the two three line-groups forming the Sestet of the Italian Sonnet

Common Meter

A stanza of four lines, with the first and third being iambic tetrameter and the second and fourth iambic trimeter

Closed Couplet

Two successive lines rhyming aa and containing a grammatically complete, independent statement

The Heroic Couplet

“The verse form–a favorite of Chaucer that did not come into its greatest popularity until John Dryden and later as a fixed form in poetic expression with Alexander Pope–that is comprised of iambic pentameter lines rhymed in pairs is known as the:”

Short Measure

A stanza widely used for hymns, consisting of four lines rhyming either abab or abcb. It usually has the first, second, and fourth lines in iambic trimeter and the third in iambic tetrameter

Heroic Quatrain

Four lines of iambic pentameter (or, more rarely, tetrameter) rhyming abab

Ballad Stanza

The stanza of the popular or folk ballad--usually consisting of four lines rhyming abcb with the first and third lines carrying four accents and the second and fourth carrying three

Closed Couplet

Two successive lines rhyming aa and containing a grammatically complete, independent statement

Heroic Couplet

“The verse form–a favorite of Chaucer that did not come into its greatest popularity until John Dryden and later as a fixed form in poetic expression with Alexander Pope–that is comprised of iambic pentameter lines rhymed in pairs is known as the”

Open Couplet

A couplet in which the second line is not complete but depends on succeeding material for completion (aka a couplet that ends on enjambment)

Short Couplet

An octosyllabic couplet: two rhyming lines of iambic or trochaic tetrameter

Envoi/Envoy

A conventionalized stanza appearing at the close of certain kinds of poems. Usually addressed to a prince, patron, or someone of importance, and repeats the refrain line used throughout the ballade (usually has 4 lines rhyming bcbc)

Ballad Stanza

The stanza of the popular or folk ballad--usually consisting of four lines rhyming abcb with the first and third lines carrying four accents and the second and fourth carrying three

Hymnal Stanza

Common measure synonym, common measure is just a synonym for common meter…Common Meter is A stanza of four lines, with the first and third being iambic tetrameter and the second and fourth iambic trimeter, rhymed abab or abcb

Yeats Stanza

An eight-lined stanza that WB Yeats employed in a few poems. The stanza rhymes aabbcddc; the rhythm is iambic; the meter is pentameter, except in lines 4, 6, and 7, which are shorter (either tetrameter or trimeter)

Octave

An 8-lined stanza. The chief use of the term, however, is to denote the first 8-lined division of the Italian Sonnet as separate from the last 6 lines (synonym for an octet)

Sestet

The second, 6-lined division of an Italian Sonnet

Quatrain

A stanza of 4 lines

Couplet

Two lines of verse with end rhymes

Octosyllabic Verse

Poetry in lines of eight syllables

Octet

A group of 8 lines of verse; an octastich. Sometimes used as a synonym for octave

Octastitch

A group of eight lines in a verse

Octavo

A book size designating a book whose signature results from sheets folded to 8 leaves or sixteen pages

Sestina

One of the most difficult and complex of verse forms. This term consists of six 6-lined stanzas and a 3-lined envoy

Sestet

The second, six lined division of an Italian Sonnet. Following the 8-lined division (Octave), the term usually makes specific a general statement that has been presented in the octave or indicates the personal emotion of the author in a situation that the octave has developed

Sextain

A stanza or strophe of six lines