Poetry terms

Rhyme and Meter Terms

End Rhyme vs. Internal Rhyme

End rhyme occurs at the end of lines, while internal rhyme occurs within a single line.

Example of end rhyme: "The cat sat on the mat."

Example of internal rhyme: "I drove myself to the lake and swam."

Slant Rhyme

Slant rhyme is a near rhyme where the sounds are similar but not identical.

Example: "Shape" and "keep."

Masculine Rhyme vs. Feminine Rhyme

Masculine rhyme ends on a stressed syllable, while feminine rhyme ends on an unstressed syllable.

Example of masculine rhyme: "Cat" and "hat."

Example of feminine rhyme: "Dancing" and "prancing."

Consonance

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity.

Example: "The lumpy, bumpy road."

Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.

Example: "Hear the mellow wedding bells."

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a series of words.

Example: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore."

Iambic Meter

Iambic meter consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Trochaic Meter

Trochaic meter consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Example: "Tyger Tyger, burning bright."

Anapestic Meter

Anapestic meter consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

Example: "Twas the night before Christmas."

Dactylic Meter

Dactylic meter consists of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Example: "This is the forest primeval."

Blank Verse

Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Example: Much of Shakespeare's plays are written in blank verse.

Free Verse

Free verse is poetry that does not adhere to a specific meter or rhyme scheme.

Example: Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

Anastrophe

Anastrophe is the inversion of the usual order of words.

Example: "In the night sky shimmered the stars."

Enjambment

Enjambment occurs when a line breaks before completing a thought, continuing into the next line.

Example:

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I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

Caesura

Caesura is a pause in a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation.

Example: "To err is human; to forgive, divine."

Ode

An ode is a formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea.

Example: John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale."

Elegy

An elegy is a mournful poem, often lamenting the loss of someone or something.

Example: "In Memoriam A.H.H." by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry expresses personal emotions or thoughts, typically in a musical style.

Example: "Sonnet 18" by Shakespeare.

Sonnet

A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme, often exploring themes of love.

Example: The Shakespearean sonnet.

Villanelle

A villanelle is a 19-line poem with a specific structure of five tercets followed by a quatrain, with a rhyme scheme of ABA.

Example: "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas.