J. Dorotte Poetry Handout CPGE Jean-Jaurès Poetry Handout Reminder—basic poetry vocabulary: Un vers = a line La poésie = verse Une strophe = a verse / a stanza Meter When studying English verse, we first look at the stresses rather than the syllables; English verse is based on an alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Lines are composed of feet; a foot contains two or three syllables, at least one of which is stressed. Most common types of metrical feet * IAMB __ ⁄ two-syllable foot that has one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable In doubt | to deem | himself | a god | or beast (Alexander Pope) * TROCHEE ⁄ __ Two-syllable foot with one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable Tyger, | tyger, | burning | bright. (William Blake) * SPONDEE ⁄ ⁄ Two-syllable foot with two stressed syllables Me miserable ! Which way shall I fly (John Milton) * PYRRHIC __ __ (rare) Two-syllable foot with two unstressed syllables these create a binary rhythm * ANAPAEST / ANAPEST __ __ ⁄ Three-syllable foot with two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable Like a child | from the womb, | like a ghost | from the tomb I arise | and unbuild | it again. (Shelley) * DACTYL ⁄ __ __ Three-syllable foot with one stressed syllable and two unstressed syllables these create ternary rhythm Lines Measured by the number of feet: - one foot = monometer - two feet = dimeter - three feet = trimeter - four feet = tetrameter - five feet = pentameter six feet = hexameter seven feet = heptameter eight feet = octameter Iambic pentameter is the basic English pattern, is particularly common in Shakespeare’s works for example. Pauses - lines are end-stopped when clause or sentence ends at the end of the line - there is an enjambment / a run-on line when the clause or sentences continues after the line ended : Me miserable ! Which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair ? (John Milton) Endings rising rhythm= lines ending with stressed syllables (iambs and anapaests) falling rhythm = lines ending with unstressed syllables (trochees and dactyls) masculine endings = iambic pentameters ending on stressed syllables feminine ending = when an extra unstressed syllable is added Upon | this hope | that you | shall give | me rea | sons. (Shakespeare) 1 J. Dorotte Poetry Handout CPGE Jean-Jaurès Other kinds of verse : Blank verse : No rhymes, makes it more flexible. Free verse : does not conform to any regular metrical pattern, although it may rhyme. Walt Whitman and T.S. Eliot use free verse. Syllabic verse: based on the number of syllables in one line, common in French, Japanese poetry and in some authors like Sylvia Plath Stanzas * a stanza with two lines = a couplet * a stanza with three lines = a tercet * a stanza with four lines = a quatrain * a stanza with five lines = a quintain * a stanza with six lines = a sestet * a stanza with seven lines = a septet * a stanza with eight lines = an octave Rhymes a rhyme = phonemic parallelism between two syllables an alliteration = when initial consonants are the same (fish and fowl) a consonance = when final consonants are the same (pick a fork) an assonance = when vowel sounds are the same (Jane says it rained) Types of rhymes : - True rhyme: most common type of rhyme in English verse. Vowel + consonant are the same in two different syllables (tries / eyes ; flight / light) - Identical rhyme (rare): when same word repeated - Rime riche : when the two rhyming words have same sound but different meaning (rite / right) Imperfect rhymes : - Half-rhyme : only end consonant is repeated, is just consonance (rot / put, rose / buzz) - Slant-rhyme : initial and final consonants both repeated (trod / tried ; let / lit) - Alliteration : only initial consonant repeated (spick and span) - Assonance : only vocalic sound repeated (beat / feel) - Eye-rhyme / sight-rhyme : when two syllables look the same way but are pronounced differently (hush / bush) Rhyme schemes Position: Rhyme can occur at the end (end rhyme, most common); or within the line (internal rhyme: until the end we’ll go my friend) Rhyme scheme : - Couplet rhymes : AABBCC Alternate rhymes : ABAB Enclosing rhymes : ABBA - Terza rima : ABA, BCB, CDC Ottava rima : ABABACC Shakespearian sonnet : ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Refrain= when one or more lines repeated at the end of each stanza Common metre (also called short metre, hymn stanza or ballad stanza): a four-line stanza (=quatrain), with iambic tetrameters in the first and third lines, and iambic trimeters in the second and fourth line, it is often used in hymns and ballads (although there might be variations: not only iambs for instance) rhyming ABCB or ABAB. 2
