Poetry Vocab 2200

Terms that Youngberg put in (most likely to be on test) are marked with ✩

Poem

literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.

Speaker

The voice of the poem

✩ line

a unit in poetry that consists of any words arranged in one row

stanza

number of lines in a poem grouped together

quatrain

a 4-line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed

couplet

a 2-line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed

tercet

a 3-line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed

refrain

a line (or set of lines) or phrase usually at the end of a stanza. Repeated at intervals throughout a poem.

symbol

an object, character, action, or another aspect of the story that represents something bigger/more significant than its denotation (face-value meaning)

theme

the author's purpose in writing the story--the main idea or message conveyed by the piece. Generally stated as a complete sentence.

mood

the atmosphere or emotional condition created by the story or setting

tone

a literary device that conveys the author's attitude toward the subject, speaker, or audience of a poem.

imagery

the mental picture that a piece creates; the language in a poem representing a sensory experience--including smell, sound, sight, touch, and taste (5 senses)

Juxtaposition

poetic and rhetorical device in which two opposing elements (ideas, words, phrases, etc.) are placed together for wit, contrast, or dramatic feeling. A form of contrast writers use to call attention to dissimilar ideas, images, or phrases.

oxymoron

two opposite words describing the other. A contradiction in words

Example: constant change

paradox

where a situation is created which cannot exist because they contradict each other

Example: the only constant in life is change

✩ pun

a play on words usually when one words accounts for two meanings humorously

allusion

a reference to a person, event, or literary work outside of the poem

Example: chocolate is my achilles heel

proverb

a simple truth from a short statement or phrase

Think: book in Old Testament shares simple truths through short verses (verses go with poems)

foot (beat)

a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of a poem; used to determine meter

or

a basic repeated sequence of meter composed of two or more accented or unaccented syllables

Includes: iamb

iamb

2 syllables: unstressed then stressed (u/)

Example: return, compare, the wrong kingDOM (Heikkila)

iambic pentameter

10 syllables in each line made up of 5 iambs (unstressed then stressed)

Example: Two households, both alike in dignity

Think: "pent" is like "pentagon" (5 sides). Now multiply by an iamb, which is 2 syllable words. 5x2=10

✩ enjambent

the continuation of a clause or sentence across line breaks

Example: enjam/bent

separate "JAM" from the peanut Butter

✩ anaphora

a technique in which successive phrases or lines begin with the same words, often resembling a litany.

Think: "Ana" always starts her sentences with "For uh..."/"phora"

✩ metonymy

a word or phrase that replaces the name of an object or concept that it is related to. Stands in for another word.

Example: Lend me your ears

Think: "eton" is a school in 1800s and you can replace that for the word "school"

simile

"like" or "as"

Example: you're like the sun

metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Example: you're the sun

personification

giving inanimate objects human characteristics

idiom

a phrase or saying particular to a certain language, people, place, culture, that conveys a figurative meaning without the literal meaning

Example: don't cry over spilled milk

Hyperbole

exaggeration for dramatic effect/emphasis

Example: this bag weighs a ton

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality

verbal irony

A statement in which the speaker or writer says the opposite of what is really meant.

Situational irony

When something happens that is very different to what was expected

Dramatic irony

Where the reader understands the implication and meaning of a situation and may foresee the oncoming disaster or triumph while the character does not.

cosmic irony

irony between what a character deserves and what they get at the hands of fate

✩ rhyme

the repetition of sounds at the end of words

rhyme scheme

the pattern of rhymes at the end of a poem's line

Think: ABBACDDC

slant rhyme

rhyme that fits with the consonants and vowel sounds or sound similar but not the same. Not identical rhymes

Think: Finding Serendipity

rhythm

the overall beat/paces of a poem. No measurement/time signatures

meter

the measured pattern of rhythmic accents in a line or verse of a poem

alliteration

the repetition of the same letters or sounds, usually at the beginnings of words

consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds

Example: she sells sea shells

Think: this term starts with a c (a cosonant)

assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

Example: the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plains

Think: "assonance" starts with an a

✩ onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sound they are talking about

Example: ding dong

repetition

repeating the same word or phrase for emphasis

✩ narrative

poem that tells a story usually using narrator, plot, characters, setting, etc.

lyrical

a poem with songlike qualities, intended to be put to music. No plot or storyline. Describes an opinion/attitude the speaker has toward someone or something. expresses emotions and feelings. Includes elegies, odes, sonnets

haiku

a Japanese form of poetry with seventeen syllables. Written in 5/7/5 lines

ballad

a narrative, plot-driven poem with one or more characters. Usually structured in quatrain stanzas. Meant to be sung.

Think: ballad of Lucy Gray (sings about the story of Lucy Gray and how she disappeared). Ballad of songbirds and snakes is

sonnet

14 line poem. usually has 10 syllables per line and iambic pentameter. called "little song"

Think: my son is 14

limerick

an often comical or nonsensical poem made up of five lines (rhyme scheme: AABBA). popular in children's literature.

Think: I know a funny/crazy guy named 'Rick. He always counts like this: "1,2,5,3,4" (lines 1,2,5 rhyme and 3 and 4 rhyme)

free verse

open form poetry that doesn't follow any consistent meter or rhyme scheme. Often influenced by the rhythm of speech

acrostic

a style of poetry in which certain letters--typically the first letter of each line--spell out names or words

concrete poem

a poem in which the meaning or effect is conveyed in the shape. The poem makes a shape/picture.

Think:

this

poem

shows

half of a tree

sorry, I tried but

yeah

with

the

bark

right

here

blank verse

poetry that doesn't rhyme but follows a consistent meter-- most commonly iambic pentameter

✩ blues poem

A poem that stems from African-American culture and the musical tradition of the blues, typically highlighting themes of struggle, pain, and despair

Think: if someone says they're feeling blue, they have struggle, pain, and despair

elegy

a sad or mournful poem, sometimes for the dead. The speaker or poet expresses grief, sadness, or loss.

Think: sounds like eulogy

ode

a lyric address--often praises--to an event, person, or thing not present

Think: a dedication poem

prose

A poem that is not broken up into verse lines. Does not have rhyming or meter. But still has symbols, metaphors, and other figures of speech common to poetry.

villanelle

19 line poem. Five tercets (3-line stanzas) followed by a quatrain (4-line stanza). The tercets follow an ABA rhyme scheme and the quatrain follows an ABAA rhyme scheme. The first and third line of the first tercet are alternate as repeating refrains for the next 4 tercets' final line; they are also the ending two lines for the quatrain.

Example (just look it up): Villanelle - Definition and Examples | LitCharts

Think: There’s a 19-year-old villain. He fights against 5 TERC-eenagers. After he stalks them, he gets onto a quaTRAIN. The terc-eenagers have three grades in school: ABA. The quatrain drops off Audrey, Becky, Adam, and Alex at their houses. The first terc-eenager likes to brag repeatedly about their A grades (1st and 3rd lines) to their other 4 terc-eenagers friends. Adam and Alex also have A’s (two ending lines/two ending houses on train)

✩ Rhythm

Harmony produced by the systematic and regular occurence of accented and unaccented syllables; comparable to the beat of music

✩ TROchaic

2 syllables: stressed, unstressed (/u)

Example: accent, Boston, the right KINGdom

✩ DACTylic

3 syllables: stressed, unstressed, unstressed (/uu)

Example: Michigan, hesitate

✩ AnaPESTic

3 syllables: unstressed, unstressed, stressed (uu/). Opposite of dactylic

Example: persevere, mountaineer

✩ monometer

1 foot per line

✩ dimeter

2 feet per line

✩ trimeter

3 feet per line

✩ tetrameter

4 feet per line

✩ Pentameter

5 feet per line

✩ hexameter

6 feet per line

✩ heptameter

7 feet per line

✩ octameter

8 feet per line

✩ quintain/cinquain/quintet

a 5-line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed

✩ sestet

a 6-line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed

✩ Shakespearean/English/Elizabethan

14 lines, three quatrains and one couplet (rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). These sonnets are usually in Q&A format. The "volta" (turning point) occurs right before the couplet. The three quatrains offer more space to ask questions and build tension. The couplet only offers two lines for the answer; more dramatic and ambiguous.

✩ Petrarchan/Italian

14 lines, dived into an octave and sestet (rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDCCDC or ABBA ABBA CDECDE). The octave makes a proposition which asks a question or describes a problem. The sestet proposes a resolution or solution. Line 9 - "volta" - shift from problem to solution. A mini-argument.

✩ Spenserian

same structure as the English (three quatrains and a couplet), more complicated rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE - to tell English and this one apart, look closely at the rhyme scheme

✩ Miltonic

same structure as the Petrarchan - 14 lines, dived into an octave and sestet. (Rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDCCDC or ABBA ABBA CDECDE.) However, this sonnet focuses on different themes beyond romantic love or nature. These sonnets focus on politics and moral issues, and use enjambment to tighten the structure.

Think: are you voting for the 14-year-old Milton? His friends Octavia and Sesta are campaigning for him.

✩ Modern

don't conform to one specific form or theme. Often called a "ghost imprint" of traditional sonnets. Sometimes 14 lines; sometimes not. They toy around with rhyme schemes and freer with themes.

Think: a modern show is Julie and the Phantoms (about ghosts). Julie's brother is 14, depending on his birthday.

✩ Terza Rima

an Italian term for a poetic verse form that uses an interlaced, or chain, rhyme pattern of ABA BCB CDC DED. It translates to "third rhyme" in English; each stanza is called a tercet since it contains three lines

✩ Curtal

invented by Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Sonnet form was shrunk proportionally - down to 11 lines total, three-quarters the traditional length, octave shrunk from 8 to 6 lines (making it a sestet), and the sestet shrunk from 6 to 4 lines (making it a quatrain). These sonnets include a "tail piece" at the end - the 11th and final line, and usually much shorter than the rest. The curtal sonnet rhyme scheme is ABCABC DBCDC or ABCABC DCBDC. Very rare.

✩ Sonnet sequence

collection of sonnets that address the same subject matter

✩ Crown of Sonnets (Sonnet Corona)

15 sonnets that use a repeated formal constrain to express the same theme in each poem. The last line of the first sonnet serves as first line of the next sonnet; the last sonnet's final line repeats the first line in the first sonnet - creating a giant loop.

Think: Queen Sonia's crown has 15 jewels, each one connected to the end of another.

✩ Sonnet Redouble (Heroic crown)

15 sonnets links like the Crown of Sonnets, but the last sonnet in the sequence is made up of all the first lines of the previous fourteen sonnets - in order. The 15th sonnet in a heroic crown is called a "master sonnet."

Think: The Prince of Sonnets, is heroic. He is just like his mother, Queen Sonia. He is the youngest, so he gets all of the hand-me-down clothes from his 14 older siblings. He wears all of them in the order that they gave it to him.

How to analyze poetry: step 1

1. read the poem without stopping

how to analyze poetry: step 2

Read the poem again and reflect on every line/stanza. Annotate!

- define words/concepts you don't understand

- make connections

- Ask questions (then find the answer)

A poem is an ______ form of literature that rarely is ______ on the first read

intricate; understood

The form of a poem is part of its ______. One should observe all ______ and ______ of a poem to effectively interpret a poem's meaning

meaning; features; techniques

Annotate: dramatic situation

What is the story? What is going on in the poem?

Annotate: structure

How many stanzas? What does it look like? Any shapes happening (sonnet)?

Annotate: grammar/punctuation/meaning

Note any unique examples used in the poem. How was it used?

Annotate: imagery

What sensory images are painted in the poem?

Annotate: MISL

what is the Most Important Single Line and why?

Annotate: tone

what feelings are suggested in the poem?

Annotate: literary devices

what are the similes/metaphors/personification/etc. in the poem?

Annotate: prosody

Do you see a rhyme scheme? What is it? What is the scansion (meter and foot)?

Annotate: theme

What is the underlying message? The big picture? The lesson to ponder?

How to analyze rhyme scheme

look to the last sound in each line. Label every new ending sound with a new capital letter.

structure of Shakespearan/english/elizabethan

14 lines. 3 quatrains and 1 couplet. ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

structure of Spensarian

14 lines. 3 quatrains and 1 couplet. ABAB BCBC CDCD EE