Introduction to Poetry: Elements, Styles, and Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the elements of poetry, rhythmic structures, imagery types, and various poetic forms discussed in the lecture.

Poem

A piece of writing that uses imaginative words to share ideas, emotions or a story with the reader.

Poetry

A way of writing that expresses thoughts, feelings, or stories in a creative and imaginative way where ideas, rhythm, and sound are packed into carefully chosen words.

Persona

A fictional voice or dramatic character adopted by a poet to narrate a poem, acting as a mask that is distinct from the poet's own identity.

Form

The physical structure, shape, and pattern of a poem, which is written in lines often divided into stanzas.

Short Line

A line of poetry often used to create emphasis, emotion, or a quick rhythm.

Long Line

A line that flows like a full sentence and is used to create a smooth, detailed, and continuous rhythm.

End-stopped line

A line break where the line ends with punctuation such as a period or comma, indicating the idea is complete.

Enjambment

A line break that occurs without punctuation, causing the thought to continue to the next line.

Caesura

A pause that happens in the middle of a poetic line.

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem, usually separated by a space from other groups of lines.

Couplet

A stanza made up of $2$ lines in a poem, where each stanza has its own idea.

Tercet

A stanza made up of $3$ lines that may or may not rhyme.

Quatrain

A stanza made up of $4$ lines that often uses rhyme.

Cinquain

A stanza made up of $5$ lines that describes one clear idea and can be rhyming or non-rhyming.

Sestet

A stanza made up of $6$ lines that expresses a complete idea or part of a poem.

Octave

A stanza made up of $8$ lines that usually introduces a main idea or problem and often uses a rhyme scheme.

Rhyme

The repetition of similar or identical sounds at the end of poetic lines.

End Rhyme

A type of rhyme where the rhyming words appear at the end of lines.

Internal Rhyme

A type of rhyme where the rhyming words appear within the same line.

Perfect Rhyme

Also called Full Rhyme, this occurs when words have the exact same ending sounds, such as Light and Night.

Slant Rhyme

Also called Near Rhyme, this occurs when words have similar but not exact sounds, such as Shape and Keep.

Eye Rhyme

Words that look like they rhyme because of their spelling but sound different, such as Love and Move.

Identical Rhyme

A type of rhyme where the same word is repeated for the rhyme effect.

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of the rhyme placed at the end of each line or stanza in a poem.

Free Verse

A style of poetry that does not follow a fixed rhyme scheme or regular meter.

Imagery

The use of language that appeals to the five senses: visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, and olfactory.

Visual imagery

Imagery that appeals to the sense of sight, including colors, shapes, and objects.

Auditory imagery

The use of words to create sounds in the reader's mind, appealing to the sense of hearing.

Olfactory imagery

The use of words to create smells in the reader's mind.

Gustatory imagery

The use of words to describe taste.

Tactile imagery

The use of words to describe touch or feeling.

Kinesthetic imagery

The use of words to describe movement or the sense of motion to help the reader feel action.

Organic imagery

A literary device that describes internal sensations, emotions, and physical states such as hunger, thirst, pain, or fear.

Sound patterns

Rhyme, rhythm, and other literary devices pertaining to sounds that repeat or follow a regular order.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate the sound of what they refer to, such as pop or splash.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial sounds or the same beginning sound in nearby words.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within neighboring words.

Rhythm

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem that creates a beat or musical flow.

Foot

The basic building block of poetry, usually consisting of one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables.

Iambic Rhythm

A rhythmic pattern consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable ($da-DUM$).

Trochaic Rhythm

A rhythmic pattern consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable ($DUM-da$).

Anapestic Rhythm

A rhythmic pattern consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable ($da-da-DUM$).

Dactylic Rhythm

A rhythmic pattern consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables ($DUM-da-da$).

Spondaic meter

A meter where all syllables have equal stress, often featuring two stressed syllables in a row.

Meter

The measurement of syllables in a line and the structured rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables establishing the tempo.

Monometer

A poetic meter consisting of one foot.

Pentameter

A poetic meter consisting of $5$ feet.

Figurative Language

Words or phrases put together to help readers picture ordinary things in new ways.

Metaphor

A figurative language device that directly compares two different things without using like or as.

Personification

A literary device that gives human actions or feelings to non-human things.

Simile

A figurative language device that compares two things using the words like or as.

Tone

The attitude or feeling that the poet expresses toward the subject, the reader, or the situation in the poem.

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere that the reader experiences while reading a poem.

Theme

The central idea of a poem, usually stated as a philosophical truth in life.

Narrative poetry

Poems that tell a story, including a plot, characters, and a setting, historically originating from oral traditions.

Lyric poetry

Poems supposedly sung with musical accompaniment that express the poet’s or persona’s personal feelings and emotions.

Sonnet

A rhyming poem consisting of $14$ lines.

Ode

A short lyric poem, typically consisting of $3$ to $5$ stanzas, that praises an individual, an idea, or an event.

Elegy

A poem of serious reflection, typically acting as a lament for the dead.

Dramatic poetry

Poetry written to be performed onstage, often telling a story or revealing inner thoughts through dialogue, monologues, or soliloquies.

Sarswela

A musical play form popular in the Philippines that mixes spoken dialogue with sung poetic lines, often tackling themes of love and national identity.

Balagtasan

A Philippine poetic debate where two poets represent opposing sides, often filled with dramatic tension.