Key Poetry Terms and Concepts from Chapters 18-20

Closed-form poetry

Is written in specific and traditional patterns of lines produced through line length, meter rhyme, and line groupings

Villanelle

A nineteen-line form containing six tercets, rhymed aba, and continued by four lines. The first and third lines of the first tercet are repeated alternately in subsequent tercet as a refrain, and they are also used in the concluding four lines

Open Form Poetry

Poetry written in specific and traditional patterns

Line

Basic unit length of a poem that can change based on the form of the poem

Blank verse

An unrhymed iambic pentameter, which represents the adaption and fusion of sentences to poetic forms

Stanza

Group of poetic lines; like a paragraph in prose

Ode

Is a more variable stanzaic form than the lyric, with varying line lengths and intricate rhyme schemes

Elegy

A poem, of lamentations, the topic is the death of a specific person

Pastoral

A poem describing rural lives and concerns

Couplet

Two lines that may be unified by rhyme or complementary ideas

Triple/Tercet

A three-line unit or stanza of poetry usually rhyming aaa/bbb

Sonnet

A poem of 14 lines in iambic pentameter

Symbol

A symbol has the meaning in and of itself, but it is also understood to represent something else

Symbolism

A literary device where characters, objects, actions, or ideas are ingrained or associated with a deeper meaning beyond the literal sense

Contextual Symbol

Contextual, private, or authorial symbols are symbols not widely recognized and are specific to individual works

Allusion

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly

Universal Symbol

A symbol that is widely recognized and understood across cultures

Motif

Recurring element (symbol, image, or idea) that reinforces a theme

Myth

Derived from the Greek word "muthos" or "mythos" meaning a story, narrative, or plot.

Mythology

Collectively to stories and beliefs; either of one particular society (Greek mythology) or a number of societies (mythology of Ancient Near East).

Mythopoeic

Humans live with myths and we habitually create them

Mythos

System of beliefs and religious or historical doctrine (Islamic or Buddhist mythos)

Universal/Public

Systems of mythology that are part of a vast common heritage

Archetypes

Diverse cultures had similar images, characters, and events; the theory of collective consciousness

Oral Mythologies

Mythologies that have already existed for a long time before being written down or documented (like oral tradition)