English Final Poetry Review Semester 1

This study guide is based off of the terms slideshow we made as a class at the beginning of the year, and two pages from a textbook

Satire

A literary work that uses techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, and/or parody to ridicule its subject. Done to make a criticism or a comment on the subject, which is often society.

Elements of Satire

Humor

Criticism

Some kind of moral voice, as simply mocking is not satire

Good natured or bitterly cynical

Becomes dated quickly

Reliant on audience knowing the original source

Main techniques of Satire

Burlesque

Exaggeration

Reversal

Parody

Irony

Burlesque

Imitation of another work or subject matter in which a reversal of seriousness takes place to mock the original

(For example, a serious issue is treated lightly and a light issue is treated seriously)

Parody is one type

Parody

Imitation of the style and/or techniques of a person, place, or thing in order to ridicule the original.

The reader needs to know the original in order for a parody to be successful

Exaggeration

To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.

Caricatures are one type

Caricature

Exaggeration of the weaknesses, frailties, or humorous aspects of a person or group (see political cartoons/SNL)

Reversal

To present the opposite of the normal order.

Examples: Dessert before the main course, a young child making the decisions for the whole family

Incongruity

To present things that are out of place or absurd in relation to its surroundings

Examples: Irony, metaphor, oxymoron (jumbo shrimp), computers in medieval times

Three types of sonnets

Italian (Petrarchan), Shakespearean (English), Spenserian

Italian sonnet

first 8 lines present a situation (the **octave**), the last 6 present the solution (the **sestet**), the switch from problem to resolution is called **the turn.**

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Rhyme Scheme of the octave: *abbaabba*

Rhyme Scheme of the sestet: *cdecde* or *cdcdcd*

Shakespearean sonnet

Divided into *three* **quatrains** (where the situation is) and *one* **couplet** (where the summary is)

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Rhyme Scheme is usually *abab cdcd efef gg*

Spenserian sonnet

Three quatrains and a couplet (in which a key point/comment is made)

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Rhyme Scheme: *abab bcbc cdcd ee*

Quatrain

groups of four lines each containing a unique rhyme scheme

Couplet

a group of two lines

Metaphor

figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable

“There were butterflies in my stomach as I waited.”

Simile

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another, using the words “as” or “like”

“It was as bright as the sun”

Personification

Giving human traits/characteristics to nonhuman things

“As I lie awake, the ceiling stares back at me.”

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Stanza

a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem or a verse

\
“I sat in front of my computer

studying English flashcards

In order to be as precise as a sharpshooter”

Types of Stanzas

Couplet: two line stanza

Triplet: three line stanza

Quatrain: four line stanza

Quintain: five line stanza

Rhyme Scheme

A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhymes at the end of each line

Allusion

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

\
“Hot weather is my Achilles Heel” (referencing the Greek myth)

Meter

The rhythm of a piece of poetry, determined by the number and length of feet (a pattern involving stress on spoken words) in a line.

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˘ = short stress

/ = long stress

\
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
To live, to die, to breathe, to think, to see;
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
This is the way life is supposed to be.

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*“My mediocre attempt at Iambic Pentameter” - Alex*

Foot

The simple repeated sequence of meter composed of two or more accented and or unaccented syllables.

Octave

8 line stanza

Sestet

last six lines of a sonnet

iamb

a type of metrical foot in poetry. Iambs stress the second, longer syllable of a word, while keeping the first, shorter syllable unstressed

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“beLIEVE”

Volta/Turn

a turn in thought during a poem that is often indicated by initial words such as But, Yet, or And yet.

Apostrophe

A poetic phrase or speech made by a character that is addressed to a subject that is not literally present in the literary work. The subject may be dead, absent, an inanimate object, or even an abstract idea.

\
“Oh father, why did you have to leave?” (In this context, the father is gone and the child is talking to himself)

Ode

A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.

“O wild West Wid, thou breath of
Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen present the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.”

*“Ode to the West Wind”*

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. 

\
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I

did, till we loved?

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(in this case, the full sentence was “…what thou and I did,”)

Assonance

repetition of the sound of a vowel in non-rhyming stressed syllables


He sl**o**wly m**o**wed the **o**vergr**o**wn lawn.

Juxtaposition

two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting/comparing effect.

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He calmly walked into the burning battlefield with not a care in sight.

Free verse

poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter

\
She calls me tofu
because I am so soft
easily falling apart

Blank verse

poem that utilizes iambic pentameters

Iambic pentameters

alternating lines of poetry, in which every other line will rhyme.

\
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s **day?**
Thou are more lovely and more temper*ate.*
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of **May;**
And summer’s lease hath all too short a d*ate*”

(This is a blank verse poem, b/c it uses iambic pentameters)

Scansion

the action of scanning a line of verse to determine its rhythm

Dramatic monologue

type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character

Exemplum

an example, story, or anecdote used to demonstrate a point.

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The Pardoner’s Tale in “Canterbury Tales” is used to exemplify the Pardoner’s message of selflessness (which is a bit ironic).

Elegy

a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead

Ballad

a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

Ballad Stanza

a four-line stanza in iambic meter in which the first and third unrhymed lines have four metrical feet and the second and fourth rhyming lines have three metrical feet.