Transcript Poetry Terms (part 2) - Mr. Furman's Web Pages

Poetry Terms
ENJAMBMENT
A line with no pause or end
punctuation that continues on to
the next line
“You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light”
REFRAIN
A line, or part of a line, or a group
of lines, which is repeated in the
course of a poem, sometimes
with slight changes, and usually
at the end of each stanza.
Example: “Nevermore” in Poe’s poem, “The
Raven”
STANZA
A grouping of the verse-lines in a
poem, often set off by a space in
the printed text
(think of it like poetry’s version of
a paragraph)
COUPLET
a pair of rhymed lines that are
equal in length
“Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.”
TERCET- a stanza of 3 lines,
usually with a single rhyme
QUATRAIN- a stanza of 4 lines
(most common in English poetry)
CINQUAIN- a stanza of 5 lines
SESTET- a stanza of 6 lines
HEPTASTITCH- a stanza of 7
lines
OCTAVE- a stanza of 8 lines
VERSE
a succession of metrical feet
written, printed, or orally
composed as one line
SPEAKER
the person speaking in the poem;
the person telling the story
BARD
a traveling story-teller; a
rhapsode
CAESURA
a pause that breaks up a line in a
poem
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and
height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
NARRATIVE
a story involving events,
characters, and what the
characters say and do
DRAMATIC (MONOLOGUE)
a poem representing itself as a
speech made by one person to a
silent listener, usually not the
reader
ALLUSION
a reference to a historical,
mythic, or literary person, place,
event, movement, etc.
DIALECT
The form of a language spoken by people in a
particular region or group
“To a Mouse”
By Robert Burns
EE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
ALLITERATION
the repetition of initial sounds in a
series of words; the first letter of
the words makes the same
sounds
“She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies”
ASSONANCE
similar vowel sounds within the
word as in “date” and “fade”
“She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies”
CONSONANCE
repeated consonant sounds, but
not vowel sounds
“All mammals named Sam are clammy”
RHYME
a word agreeing with another in
terminal (or ending) sound
bat and hat
funny and sunny
conjunction and function
SLANT RHYME
when two single-syllable words
share the opening and closing
consonants but not the
intervening vowel
tell and toll
INTERNAL RHYME
rhyming within a line
"In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud"
RHYTHM
• the recurrence of stressed and unstressed
sounds in poetry
• from “The Song of Hiawatha”
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
ONOMATOPOEIA
Greek for “name-making”;
an instance where the sound of a
word directly imitates its meaning
splash and choo-choo
REPETITION
repeated words or phrases;
stresses the importance of a
particular word or idea
DICTION
word choice
METAPHOR
a comparison of two unlike things
without using the words like or as
THING = DIFFERENT THING
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"
SIMILE
a comparison of two unlike things
using the words like or as
“Her eyes are like the sun”
PERSONIFICATION
giving human qualities to nonhuman things
“O Rose, thou art sick!”
SYMBOL
something that represents
something else
A red rose is a symbol for love.
A skull is a symbol of death.
BALLAD
a short narrative poem with
stanzas of two or four lines and
usually a refrain; a popular song,
often recited aloud, narrating a
story, and passed down orally
EPIC (POEM)
a long, narrative poem that
focuses on a hero
Remember the Odyssey???
HAIKU
a Japanese poem of three
unrhymed lines in 5, 7, and 5
syllables
I love English class
Smelling pages of old books
Heroes from the past
SONNET
Italian for “little song”;
a lyric poem consisting of a
single stanza of 14 iambic
pentameter lines linked by an
intricate rhyme scheme
PETRARCHAN/ ITALIAN
SONNET
a 14-line poem with 2 sections:
an octave (8-line stanza rhyming
abbaabba), which introduces a
conflict or problem, and a sestet
(6-line stanza rhyming cdecde),
which provides a resolution
SHAKESPEAREAN/ ENGLISH
SONNET
a 14-line poem with 2 sections:
3 quatrains and a concluding
couplet
(rhyming abab cdcd efef gg)
ODE
a poem intended to be sung;
an emotional poem that exalts
something or someone and is
typically of elaborate or irregular
metrical form
LYRIC
a short poem in which the
speaker expresses personal
feelings and often addresses the
reader; originally, a poem sung to
a lyre