English convention better

Alliteration: Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. A somewhat looser definition is that it is the use of the same consonant in any part of adjacent words.

• Example: fast and furious

• Example: Clary closed her cluttered clothes closet.

** Obvious device and needs to be handled with great restraint,  except in specialty forms such as limerick, cinquain, and humorous verse.

Assonance: Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented.

• Example: He’s a bruisin’ loser

• Example: His tender heir might bear his memory

Consonance: Repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed near each other, usually on the

same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. This produces a pleasing kind of near-rhyme.

• Example: boats into the past

• Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers 

Cacophony: A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sounds helps to convey disorder. This is often furthered by the combined effect of the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation.

• Example: My stick fingers click with a snicker
  And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;

Light-footed, my steel feelers flicker

And pluck from these keys melodies.

—“Player Piano,” John Updike

• He grunted and in a gruff voice said, “Give me that trash and I'll throw it out!”

Euphony: A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony and beauty to the language.

• Example: Too silver for a seam—

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon

Leap, plashless as they swim.

— “A Bird Came Down the Walk,” Emily Dickenson (last stanza)

Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meanings; sounds should suit the tone – heavy sounds for weightiness, light for the delicate. 

• Example: boom, buzz, crackle, gurgle, hiss, pop, sizzle, snap, swoosh, whir, zip

Repetition: The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their unifying elements.

• Example: I was glad; so very, very glad.

• Example: Half a league, half a league,

   Half a league onward…

   … 

   Cannon to right of them,

   Cannon to left of them,

   Cannon in front of them

   Volley’d and thunder’d…

   — 

Rhyme: This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme.

• Example: time, slime, mime

** Double rhymes include the final two syllables. Example: revival, arrival, survival

** Triple rhymes include the final three syllables. Example: greenery, machinery, scenery

A variation which has been used effectively is called slant rhyme, or half rhyme. If only the final consonant sounds of the words are the same, but the initial consonants and the vowel sounds are different, then the rhyme is called a slant rhyme or half rhyme. When this appears in the middle of lines rather than at the end, it is called consonance.

• Example: soul, oil, foul; taut, sat, knit

Another variation which is occasionally used is called near rhyme. If the final vowel sounds are the same, but the final consonant sounds are slightly different, then the rhyme is called a near rhyme.

• Example: fine, rhyme; poem, goin’

Less effective but sometimes used are sight rhymes. Words which are spelled the same (as if they rhymed), but are pronounced differently are called sight rhymes or eye rhymes.

• Example: enough, cough, through, bough

Rhythm: Although the general public is seldom directly conscious of it, nearly everyone responds on some level to the organization of speech rhythms (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.

• Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUSsyCAT.

Such patterns are sometimes referred to as meter – Meter is the organization of voice patterns, in terms

of both the arrangement of stresses and their frequency of repetition per line of verse.

Poetry is organized by the division of each line into “feet,” metric units which each consist of a particular arrangement of strong and weak stresses. The most common metric unit is the iambic, in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one (as in the words reverse and compose).

Poetic feet – a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Poetic meter – the number of feet used in each line 

Scansion is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of

poetry.

Stressed syllables are labeled with an accent mark: / Unstressed syllables are labeled with a dash: – Metrical feet may be two or three syllables in length, and are divided by slashes: |

• There are five basic rhythms:

Meter is measured by the number of feet in a line. Feet are named by Greek prefix number words

attached to “meter”. A line with five feet is called pentameter; thus, a line of five iambs is known as “iambic pentameter” (the most common metrical form in English poetry, and the one favored by

Shakespeare).

• The most common line lengths are:

Naturally, there is a degree of variation from line to line, as a rigid adherence to the meter results in

unnatural or monotonous language. A skillful poet manipulates breaks in the prevailing rhythm of a poem for particular effects.

the MEANINGS of words

Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find

words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often, some of the more significant words may carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once. The ways in which the meanings of words are used can be identified.

Allegory: A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning. Sometimes it can be a single word or phrase, such as the name of a character or place. Often, it is a symbolic narrative that has not only a literal

meaning, but a larger one understood only after reading the entire story or poem.

Allusion: A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, or Biblical or mythological

situation or character.

• Example: Rose is a real Einstein.

Ambiguity: A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in its context. Poets often search out such words to add richness to their work. Often, one meaning seems quite readily apparent, but other, deeper and darker meanings, await those who contemplate the poem.

• Example: Robert Frost’s ‘The Subverted Flower’

Analogy: A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with something familiar; as to explain the one of the two further. 

• Example: The plumbing took a maze of turns where even water got lost.

• Example: Time is money so use it wisely.

Apostrophe: Speaking directly to a real or imagined listener or inanimate object (addressing that person or thing by name). A speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object,

• Example: O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done...

Cliché: Any figure of speech that was once clever and original but through overuse has become outdated. If you’ve heard more than two or three other people say it more than two or three times, chances are the phrase is too timeworn to be useful in your writing.

• Example: busy as a bee

Connotation: The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. Often, this is what distinguishes the precisely correct word from one that is merely acceptable.

Contrast: Closely arranged things with strikingly different characteristics.

• Example: He was dark, sinister, and cruel; she was radiant, pleasant, and kind.

Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations or connotations. Students must exercise caution when beginning to use a thesaurus, since often the words that are clustered together may share a denotative meaning, but not a connotative one, and the substitution of a word can sometimes destroy the mood, and even the meaning, of a poem.

Euphemism: An understatement, used to lessen the effect of a statement; substituting something innocuous for something that might be offensive or hurtful.

• Example: She is at rest. (meaning, she’s dead)

Hyperbole: An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.

• Example: He weighs a ton.

Irony: A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.

• Example: Wow, thanks for the expensive gift...let’s see: did it come with a Fun Meal or the Burger King equivalent?

• Example: Oh great! Now you have broken my new spectacles.

Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other.

• Example: He’s a zero. 

• Example: Her fingers danced across the keyboard.

Metonymy: A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely

associated with it.

• Example: The White House stated today that... 

• Example: The Crown reported today that...

Oxymoron: A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.

• Example: a pointless point of view; bittersweet

Paradox: A statement in which a seeming contradiction may reveal an unexpected truth.

• Example: The hurrier I go the behinder I get.

• Example: Less is more

Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.

• Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.

Pun: Word play in which words with totally different meanings have similar or identical sounds.

• Example: Like a firefly in the rain, I’m de-lighted.

• Example: Why are Teddy Bears never hungry? Because they are always stuffed

Simile: A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”

• Example: He’s as dumb as an ox.

• Example: Her eyes are like comets.

Symbol: An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation.

• Example: A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of Johnny’s death.

Synecdoche: Indicating a person, object, etc. by letting only a certain part represent the whole; A literary device in which a part of something is substituted for the whole – or vice versa

• Example: All hands on deck.

ARRANGING the words

Words follow each other in a sequence determined by the poet. In order to discuss the arrangements that result, certain terms have been applied to various aspects of that arrangement process. Although in some ways these sequences seem arbitrary and mechanical, in another sense they help to determine the nature of the poem. These various ways of organizing words have been identified.

Point of View: The author’s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or “teller” of the story or poem. This may be considered the poem’s “voice” — the pervasive presence behind the overall work. This is also sometimes referred to as the persona.

• 1st Person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses “I”).

• 3rd Person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters through the limited perceptions of one other person.

• 3rd Person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to “know” and describe what all characters are thinking.

Line: The line is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from

prose. Poetry is arranged into a series of units that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but

rather to a series of metrical feet. Generally, but not always, the line is printed as one single line on the

page. If it occupies more than one line, its remainder is usually indented to indicate that it is a continuation.

There is a natural tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but the careful reader will

follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur.

In traditional verse forms, the length of each line is determined by convention, but in modern poetry

the poet has more latitude for choice.

Verse: One single line of a poem arranged in a metrical pattern. Also, a piece of poetry or a particular form of poetry such as free verse, blank verse, etc., or the art or work of a poet.

The popular use of the word verse for a stanza or associated group of metrical lines is not in accor-

dance with the best usage. A stanza is a group of verses.

Stanza: A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem; a unit of poetic lines (a “paragraph” within the poem). The

stanzas within a poem are separated by blank lines.

Stanzas in modern poetry, such as free verse, often do not have lines that are all of the same length and

meter, nor even the same number of lines in each stanza. Stanzas created by such irregular line groupings are often dictated by meaning, as in paragraphs of prose.

Stanza Forms: The names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as: 

couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8). 

Some stanzas follow a set rhyme scheme and meter in addition to the number of lines and are given specific names to describe them, such as:

ballad meter, ottava rima, rhyme royal, terza rima, and Spenserian stanza.

Stanza forms are also a factor in the categorization of whole poems described as following a fixed form.

Rhetorical Question: A question solely for effect, which does not require an answer. By the implication the answer is obvious, it is a means of achieving an emphasis stronger than a direct statement.

• Example: Could I but guess the reason for that look?

• Example: O, Wind,

   If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Rhyme Scheme: The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally

described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as the ababbcc of the Rhyme Royal stanza form.

Capital letters in the alphabetic rhyme scheme are used for the repeating lines of a refrain; the letters

x and y indicate unrhymed lines.

In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme of abab is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme. The abba

scheme is called envelope rhyme, and another one frequently used is xaxa (This last pattern, when

working with students, is generally easier for them to understand when presented as abcb, as they

associate matched letters with rhymed words).

Enjambment: The continuation of the logical sense — and therefore the grammatical construction —

beyond the end of a line of poetry. This is sometimes done with the title, which in effect becomes the

first line of the poem.

• Example: At 4 A.M. I wake. Thinking
    of the man who

Form: The arrangement or method used to convey the content; in other words, the “way-it-is-said.” A variably interpreted term, however, it sometimes applies to details within the composition of a text, but is probably used most often in reference to the structural characteristics of a work as it compares to (or differs from) established modes of conventionalized arrangements.

• Open: poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and metrical form

• Closed: poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern

• Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter (much of the plays of Shakespeare are written in this form)

• Free Verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure — the poet determines all the variables as seems appropriate for each poem

• Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhymed; this is the shortest stanza

• Heroic Couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter (traditional heroic epic form)

Quatrain: a four-line stanza, or a grouping of four lines of verse