Features and conventions of poetry

  • Line length  

The length of the line is determined by the poet, the way the line ends is always significant.    

  • Regular line length 

Regular line lengths result from a fixed number of syllables per line; the number of stressed syllables is usually consistent, too.  

Lines of equal length generate a sense of order, regularity predictability and coherence.  

  • Irregular line length 

Irregular line lengths result from a number of syllables in each line varying according to the poet’s creative choices.  

When line length very, the poet has much greater freedom in deciding how to end each line.  

  • Stanza 

A stanza is a group of lines that share an idea or set of images, stanzas are separated by a space. Stanzas in poetry are equivalent to paragraphs  

The most common stanza lengths are:  

  • Couplet – a two-line stanza  

  • Tercet – three-line stanza  

  • Quatrain – four-line stanza  

  • Rhyme  

Rhyme is produced when the last syllables of two words have matching sounds. Lines are said to rhyme when matching syllables occur at the ends of lines. 

Rhyming lines are usually successive or separated by one or two other lines.   

  • Half or internal rhyme 

Internal rhyme – when the rhyme takes place within a line rather than at the line ends  

Half rhyme – when the sounds are similar but not exactly matched (also known as off rhyme or slant rhyme)  

  • Assonance  

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds – this can produce a soothing effect if the vowel sounds are long.  

  • Alliteration  

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds- this can produce an edgy brittle effect with consonants like ‘t’ and ‘p’  

  • Assonance and alliteration are repeated sounds that can occur anywhere within a line of a poem to be most effective, they should occur in a word very close together.  

  • Rhythm 

Rhythm is an extremely important feature of poetry. A regular rhythm generates a sense of forward movement in the poem: it also creates a pleasing, reassuring quality, since the beat or pulse of the poem falls in a regular, predictable place. An irregular rhythm produces an uneven, jerky feel, perhaps to convey a sense of unease to invoke the rhythms of ordinary speech.  

  • Meter 

Metre is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line. Because of this regular pattern, each line can be seen as a comprising a number of rhythmic units, each of which consists of (usually) two or more syllables.  

  • Each unit is known as a foot.  

  • Iambic pentameter 

Iambic pentameter is the most widely used of all metres  

Iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line, unstressed followed by stressed syllables.  

  • Caesura 

A caesura is a pause or break in a line of poetry, it is often indicted by a comma although it can be also result from the natural rhythm of words.  

A caesura can signal a hesitation or brief rest, perhaps reflecting the meaning of the phrase or simply regulating the pace and flow of the poem.  

  • Enjambment 

Enjambment is the running on of lines. This disrupts the conventional expectations of a pause at the end of each line and breaks down a too rigid adherence to a strict poetic form.  

  • Poetic diction 

Poetic diction is the vocabulary used in a poem, including similes and metaphors.  

  • Speaker/persona 

The speaker to persona is the individual who seems to be adressing the reader or listener; the voice of a poem is the sound and tone with which that person seems to be speaking.  

  • Tone 

Tone refers to the emotion conveyed by the speaker; happy, sad, angry, reflective, mocking, passionate and so on. The tome can shift dramatically over the course of a poem, showing fluctuations, different perspectives or simply evolving points of views.  

  • Style 

Style is the way in which words are used and combined. A poet could have an ornate style. Rich in adjectives, adverbs or a minimalist, pared back style .  

  • Register 

Register or range level of language is an important aspect of style: it can be formal, informal or colloquial 

  • Imagery 

visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. 

  • Simile 

A simile compares two different things using ‘like’ or ‘as’ 

The comparison draws the reader's attention to a particular quality of the first term.  

  • Metaphor 

metaphor describes one thing as if it is another. 

  • Metaphors are extremely effective in making us look at the world of familiar objects and experiences in unexpected, reveling and refreshing ways.  

  • Personification 

Personification occurs when a metaphor attributes human qualities to non-human objects or creatures in this way the poet breaks down familiar definitions suggesting surprising connections between objects and places and people  

  • Conceit  

An elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor. 

  • Symbol  

A person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself. 

  • Blank verse  

Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed (hance blank) iambic pentameter  

  • Free verse  

Free verse is poetry with no regular line length, rhyme or rhythm  

  • Heroic couplet  

Heroic couplets are rhyming couplets in lines of ten syllables (usually iambic pentameter  

  • Ballad  

A ballad tells a story, often with a strong dramatic element and drawing on the local folk culture, it is usually written in short stanzas.  

  • Lyric  

The lyrics are the most common poetic form. It was originally accompanied by music and the term retains this meaning (as in song lyric)  

  • Is relatively short  

  • Is in the voice of a single ‘character’ known as the speaker  

  • Uses a personal tone that conveys the speakers' private thoughts and feelings to the reader  

  • Often focuses on a moment, mood or image. 

  • Sonnet  

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem usually written in iambic pentameter in one of a few established rhyme schemes  

  • Ode  

The ode is another type of lyric poem, often written in the form of an address, it has a ceremonial, stately quality and a complex stanza form.  

  • Elegy  

An elegy is a poem that laments the death of a person or tragic event  

  • Haiku 

Haiku is Japanese form of poetry with three lines and a fixed number of syllables in each line: five syllables in first line, seven in the second line and five in the third line.  

  •  Dramatic monologue  

A dramatic monologue contrasts with a lyric, it is a longer poem in which the speaker is more strongly characterized and developed there is more of a storytelling aspect to a dramatic monologue then there is in lyric  

  • Epic 

Teh epic is the longest and most narrative driven form of poetry. It’s subject is usually on a grand scale. Encompassing events of a momentous nature and/or occurring over a number of years such as a war or dangerous quest.