Meter

The pattern of stressed (accented, long) and unstressed (unaccented, short) syllables in poetry.

Cadence

Rhythm that is not truly regular.

Scansion

The analysis of meter and its variations in poetry.

Foot

A unit of meter with two or three syllables, one of which is usually stressed:

Iambic foot: Two syllables, stress on the second (most common in English poetry).

Trochaic foot: Two syllables, stress on the first (e.g., "Double, double, toil and trouble").

Anapestic foot: Three syllables, stress on the third.

Dactylic foot: Three syllables, stress on the first.

Spondaic foot: Two stressed syllables.

Pyrrhic foot: Two unstressed syllables (rare).

Dipodic foot: Four syllables (unaccented, lightly accented, unaccented, heavily accented).

Other Terms

Anacrusis: Prefixing an unstressed syllable that forms no metrical part of the line.

Feminine ending: A final unstressed syllable in iambic or anapestic lines.

Catalexis: Dropping unaccented syllables at the end of a line.

Metrical lines: Classified by the number of feet (monometer, dimeter, trimeter, etc.).

Sprung rhythm: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s term for variable meter.

Stanza Types

Couplet: Two lines (aa).

Triplet: Three lines (aaa).

Quatrain: Four lines with rhyme schemes like abab, abba, etc.

Quintet: Five lines.

Sestet: Six lines.

Septet: Seven lines.

Octave: Eight lines.

Heroic Couplet: Two rhyming lines with a complete thought (usually iambic pentameter).

Terza Rima: Three-line stanzas with an interwoven rhyme scheme (aba, bcb, etc.).

Spenserian Stanza: Nine lines (8 iambic pentameter + 1 alexandrine).

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Rhyme and Sound

Types of Verse

Rhymed verse: Has end rhyme and regular meter.

Blank verse: Iambic pentameter without rhyme.

Free verse: No regular meter or rhyme.

Rhyme Types

End rhyme: At the end of lines.

Internal rhyme: Within a line.

Masculine rhyme: One syllable.

Feminine rhyme: Two syllables.

Leonine rhyme: Rhyme before and at the end of a caesura.

Other Sound Devices

Alliteration: Repetition of initial sounds.

Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds.

Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds.

Onomatopoeia: Words imitating sounds.

Repetition: Reiterating words or phrases.

Enjambment: Running one line into another.

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Ideas and Figures of Speech

Simile: Comparison using "like" or "as."

Metaphor: Implied comparison.

Personification: Human traits to nonhuman things.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration.

Litotes: Emphasis by understatement.

Oxymoron: Combining opposite ideas (e.g., "sweet sorrow").

Allusion: Reference to literature or history.

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Forms of Poetry

Acrostic

First letters form a word or phrase.

Ballad

Narrative poem suitable for singing.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter (e.g., Paradise Lost).

Cinquain

Five lines with a syllabic structure of 2-4-6-8-2.

Epic

Long narrative poem detailing heroic deeds.

Haiku

Three lines (5-7-5 syllables) focusing on nature.

Limerick

Humorous five-line poem with an aabba rhyme scheme.

Ode

Formal and elaborate, often in praise of something.

Sonnet

14 lines in iambic pentameter:

Petrarchan: Octave and sestet (abbaabba cdecde).

Shakespearean: Three quatrains and a couplet (abab cdcd efef gg).

Villanelle

19-line poem with repeated lines and an aba rhyme scheme.

Sestina

39 lines with a complex word-repetition structure.

Other Forms

Elegy: Mourning the dead.

Epistle: In letter format.

Spenserian Sonnet: Unique rhyme scheme (abab bcbc cdcd ee).