Poetry Terms - English Honors 10

Terms regarding various poetry styles, tools, and construction

Poetry

a type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form

Poet

the author of a poem

Speaker

the “narrator” of a poem

Form

the appearance of words on a page

Line

a group of words together on one line of a poem

Stanza

a group of lines arranged together

Couplet

2-line stanza

Triplet (Tercet)

3-line stanza

Quantrain

4-line stanza

Quintet

5-line stanza

Seset (Sextet)

6-line stanza

Septet

7-line stanza

Octave

8-line stanza

Rhythm

the beat created by the words of a poem; can be created by meter, rhyme, alliteration, and refrain

Meter

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables; occurs when stressed and unstressed syllables are arranged in a repeating pattern

Foot

unit of meter that can have 2 or 3 syllables; usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables

Iambic Foot

unstressed, stressed

Trochaic Foot

stressed, unstressed

Anapestic Foot

unstressed, unstressed, stressed

Dactylic Foot

stressed, unstressed, unstressed

Metrical lines

a line that follows a consistent pattern; the name of the line depends on how many feet are on the line; based on prefixes (ie. one foot on a line = monometer; cont. di, tri, tetra, penta, hexa, hepta, octo…)

Free Verse

does not have any repeating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables or rhyme and is very conventional; a more modern style of poetry

Blank Verse

written in lines of iambic pentameter but does not use end rhyme

Rhyme

words that sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds (ie. cat and bat)

End rhyme

a word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line

Internal rhyme

a word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line

Near rhyme

an imperfect, close rhyme; the words either share the same vowel or consonant sounds, but not both

Rhyme scheme

a pattern of rhyme; uses the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to “see” the pattern

Onomatopoeia

words that imitate the sound they are naming or sounds that imitate another sound

Alliteration

consonant sounds being repeated at the beginning of a word

Consonance

similar to alliteration, but repeated consonant sounds can be anywhere in the words

Assonance

repeated vowel sounds in a line or lines of poetry

Refrain

a repeated sound, word, or phrase regularly repeated in a poem

Lyric

a short poem, usually in 1st person POV; describes an emotion, idea, or scene; often musical and do not tell a story

Haiku

a Japanese 3 line poem with a pattern of 5 syllables in the 1st line, 7 in the 2nd, and 5 in the 3rd

Cinquain

a 5 line poem containing 22 syllables in the order of 2 syllables in the 1st, 4 in the 2nd, 6 in the 3rd, 8 in the 4th, and 2 in the 5th

Shakespearean Sonnet

a 14 line poem with a specific rhyme scheme; its written with 3 quatrains and ends w/ a couplet; the rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Narrative poems

a poem that tells a story , generally longer than lyric styles of poetry because the author needs to establish a character and plot

Concrete poem

words are arranged to create a picture that relates to the content of the poem

Simile

a comparison of things using like, as, than, or resembles

Metaphor

a direct comparison of two unlike things

Extended metaphor

a metaphor that goes through several lines or possibly the entire length of a poem

Implied Metaphor

a comparison that is hinted but not clearly stated

Hyperbole

exaggeration often used for emphasis

Litotes

understatement - the opposite of hyperbole; often ironic

Idiom

an expression where the literal meaning of the words is not the meaning of the expression; it means something other than what it says

Personification

an animal or object given human or object-like qualities

Symbolism

when a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for something else

Allusion

comes from the verb “allude” meaning to refer to and refers to something famous or well known

Imagery

language that appeals to the senses; most are visual but can appeal to sound, taste, touch, or smell