poetry vocab set 2

Meter

the name for the organization of rhythms into regular and recurring patterns,

open line

a line of poetry that makes sense on its own but needs the following line to complete it.

pace

the speed at which a verse moves.

refrain

a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at

intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.

rhyme

the agreement in sound between words or syllables.

rhyme scheme

the method of indicating the rhyming sounds at the end of lines, usually indicated by lower case letters

(ababcdcdefefgg).

rhythm

the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables. The presence of rhythmic patterns lends both

pleasure and heightened emotional response to the listener or reader.

scansion

the analysis of poems into stanzas, lines and pauses.

sonnet

a 14-line poem with particular variations of rhyme, rhythm and structure.

stanza

the unit of structure within a poem; it may be regular or irregular.

synesthesia

describing one sense in terms usually used for another, for example tender is the night (tactile and

visual) or glowing comments (visual and auditory)

tricolon

a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses, which can be very persuasive in both speech and writing

verse

the regular unit of structure within a hymn, song or rhymed poem (also called a ‘stanza’). The word

‘verse’ can also be used to mean poetry in general.

volta

a change of idea or mood in a sonnet, usually at line 8 or line 10. (also a shift)

numbered lines

a. Couplet two line unit

i. A couplet with end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with a completed thought is

called a Heroic Couplet

b. Tercet a three-line stanza

c. Quatrain a four-line stanza

d. Quintet a five-line stanza

e. Sestet a six-line stanza

f. Septet a seven-line stanza

g. Octave eight-line stanza.

i. Most commonly, octave refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet