English Poem Terms

Different terms on poems

meter

A poem’s rhythm or pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Scansion

A process of marking patterns in a poem to determine meter

iambic

unstressed, stressed

troche

stressed, unstressed

spondee

stressed, stressed

anapest

unstressed, unstressed, stressed

Dactyl

Stressed, unstressed, unstressed

monometer

one foot

dimeter

two feet

trimeter

three feet

tetrameter

four feet

pentameter

five feet

hexameter

six feet

heptameter

seven feet

octometer

eight feet

catalexis

A term in poetry referring to the absence of a syllable at the end of a line.

Couplet

Two lines in a stanza

Tercet

Three lines in a stanza

Quatrain

Four lines in a stanza

Cinquian

Five lines in a stanza

Sestet

Six lines in a stanza

Septet

Seven lines in a stanza

Octave

Eight lines in a stanza

Caesura

a pause in the meter or rhythm of a line

Enjabment

A run on line

End-stopped line

Opposite of an enjabment

Assonance

repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a line

Consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds in a line

Alliteration

Repition of 2 or more initial sounds in a line

Onomatopeia

Word whose sound suggests meaning

Euphony

Harmonious, compatible sounds for effect

Cacophony

Inharmonious sounds for effect

end rhyme

rhyme at the end of a line

internal rhyme

rhyme inside a line

rhyme scheme

pattern of rhymes within a unit of verse

Masculine rhyme

when only the last syllable of a rhyming word rhymes

Feminine Rhyme

Rhyme in which two consecutive syllables of rhyming words rhyme

Half Rhyme

Approximate rhyme

Free Verse

Poetry without specific rhythm or rhyme scheme

Blank Verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Lyric poetry

Subjective, reflective poetry with regular rhyme scheme and meter which reveals the poet's thoughts and feelings.

Ode

elaborate lyric verse which deals seriously with a dignified theme, often in tribute or praise.

Elegy

a poem of lament, a meditation on someone’s death.

Epigram

A short satirical or witty statement in verse.

Redonilla

Spanish verse form:

• quatrains

• trochaic tetameter

• abab or abba rhyme scheme

Decima

Spanish verse form with

• 10 line stanzas

• regular rhyme (sometimes ABBAACCDDC)

• octosyllabic (iambic or trochaic tetrameter)

Ballad

•simple, narrative verse usually written in  

• Ballad stanzas: 

  • quatrains 

  • abcb rhyme scheme 

  • iambic tetrameter 

    • usually with the second and fourth line dropping the last foot

Sonnet

14 lines of iambic pentameter with a regular rhyme scheme.

• English or Shakespearean sonnets:

  • 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet

• Italian or Petrarchan sonnets:

  • octave and a sestet

marked by a volta or turn in the 9th line