Poetry Vocab- FORM AND STRUCTURE
Aubade- poem about lover’s dawn
Ballad- short narative poem in stanzas
Blank Verse 849- unrhymed iambic
pentameter
Continuous form- poem with no formal
grouping
Couplet- Two lines, same meter, rhyming
English (Shakespearian) Sonnetrhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg, 3
quatrains and a couplet
Fixed form- in poetry, length and pattern
are prescribed, sonnet, haiku or villanelle
Folk Ballad- narrative poem from oral
tradition, designed to be sung
Form-pattern or shape of the poem,
described without referring to content
Free Verse- poetry with no meter, no
formal pattern
Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet- consists of
one octave with abbaabba rhyme
schemeand sestet with rhyme scheme
cdcdcd or cdecde.
Octave- an 8 line stanza
Prose- a narrative
Prose poem- a short composition written
in poetic style, but not form
Quatrain- a 4 line stanza
Refrain- a repeated word, phrase, line, or
group of lines in stanzaic poem
Rhetorical Poetry- poem with language
too formal for its occasionand unfaithful to
human experience
Sentimentality- contrived tenderness to
elicit tears through falsification of reality
Sentimental poetry- manipulates
reader’s emotions “tearjerker”
Sestet- 6 line stanza
Sonnet- fixed form, 14 lines, normally
iambic pentameter- Italian or English
Stanza- group of lines whose meter and
rhyme scheme (usually) is repeated
throughout the poem
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Stanzaic form- poem written in series of
units consisting of same metrical pattern
or rhyme scheme
Structure- Internal organization of
content
Syllabaic verse- poem measured in
syllables, Haiku
Tercet- 3 line stanza
Terza Rima- rhyme scheme with aba bcb
cdc pattern
Verse- Metrical language, the opposite of
prose
Villanelle- 19 line fixed form consists of 5
tercets rhymed aba and ending abaa,
lines 1 and 3 of first tercet serve as
refrains in alternating patternthrough line
15 and then repeated in lines 18 and 19.
Poetry Vocab- RHYTHM
Accent (Stress)- syllable given more
prominent pronunciation
Anapest- metrical foot w/two unaccented
then one accented syllable
(ex:understand)
Anapestic Meter-meter in which majority
of feet are anapests
Ceasura- A speech pause within a line
(Grammatical or Rhetorical)
Dactyl- metrical foot w/one accented
syllable followed by 2 unaccented
(ex:merrily)
Dactyllic Meter- meter where majority of
feet are dactyls
Dimeter-metrical line containing 2 feet
Duple Meter- a meter in which majority of
feet contain two syllables (ex:Iambic)
End-Stopped Line- line ends with
natural pause, punctuation
Expected Rhythm- the expectation set
up by basic meter of the poem
Extrametrical syllables- extra
unaccented syllables occuring as part of
or exceptions to the form.
Foot (Feet)- basic unit used in scansion
or measurement of the poem, a foot
contains two or three syllables with varied
accents or stress.
Gramatical pause (Caesura)- pause
introduced by a mark of punctuation,
usually a dash.
Heard Rhythm- rhythm of a poem as it is
read naturally
Hexameter- metrical line containing 6
feet
iamb- metrical foot containing one
unaccented syllable followed by one
accented syllable (ex:rehearse)
iambic meter- metter in whcih majority of
feet are iambs
Meter- patterns of accent in verse,
measurable in feet
Metrical Variations- Departures from teh
basic metrical pattern
Monometer- Metrical line containing 1
foot
Pentameter- a metrical line containing 5
feet
Rhetorical Pause (Caesura)- natural
pause unmarked by punctuation but
indicated by syntax or phrasing
Rhythm- wavelike recurrence of motion
or sound
Run-on line- a line with no natural pause
at its end allowing it to flow into the next
line (BEOWULF)
Scansion- The process of measuring
meter in verse, marking accented and
unaccented syllables, dividing lines into
feet, identifying pattern, and noting
significant variations from that pattern
Spondee-a metrical foot consisting of 2
syllables equally or almost equally
accented (ex:true blue)
Substitution- the replacement of an
expected metrical foot with a different one
Tetrameter-a metrical line containing 4
feet
Trimeter- A metrical line containing 3 feet
Triple Meter- meter where majority of
feet contain 3 syllables (ex:anapestic)
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Trochaic Meter-meter in which the
majority of feet are trochees
Trochee- metrical foot containing one
accented syllable followed by one
unaccented syllable (ex: barter)
Truncation - the omission of an
unaccented syllable at either end of a line
Poetry Vocab- RHYME AND SOUND
Alliteration- repetition of consonant
sounds
Anaphora- Repetition of an opening
word or phrase in a series of lines
Approximate Rhyme (imperfect, near,
slant, or oblique)- words in a rhyming
pattern which are close in sound but not
perfect
Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds
Cacophany- harsh, discordant,
unpleasant choice and arrangement of
sounds
Consonance- repetition of final
consonant sounds (ex: book-plaque)
Double Rhyme- rhyme where the last
two syllables rhyme (ex: rightly, politely,
sprightly)
End Rhyme- Rhymes that occur at the
ends of lines
Euphony- a smooth pleasant choice and
arrangement of sounds
Feminine Rhyme- rhyme in which
repeated accented vowel is in second or
third to last syllable (ex: hurrying,
scurrying)
Internal Rhyme- one or both of the
rhyming words occur within the line
Masculine (Single) Rhyme- A rhyme in
which the repeated accented vowel in the
final syllable (ex: dance-pants)
Onomatopoeia- words which mimic the
sound (buzz, plop)
Phonetic Intensive- a word whose
sound suggests its meaning but does not
directly mean the same as its sound
p863-4 Perrine’s
Rhyme (Perfect)- repetition of accented
vowel sounds and all succeeding sounds
in important or importantly positioned
words where the preceeding consonant is
different (ex:vain-reign)
Rhyme (Identical)- perfect rhyme where
preceeding consonants are also the
same (ex: aisle-isle, alter-altar, or hill-hill)
Rhyme Scheme- Any fixed pattern of
rhymes characterizing a poem or its
stanzas, indicated by assigning a letter
value to the sound (as in algebra)
Poetry Vocab- FIGURES OF SPEECH
Apostrophe- someone absent, dead, or
non-human is addressed as if it were
present, alive, and can answer back
Extended Figure- a figure of speech
(usually metaphor, personification)
sustained or developed through the
majority of the poem
Metaphor- implicit comparison between
two unlike things
4 forms:
1. Literal term and figurative term
are both named
2. Literal term named, figurative is
unnamed (implied)
3. Literal term is unnamed
(implied), figurative is named
4. Literal and figurative are both
unnamed (implied)
Metonomy- some significant detail is
used to represent the whole (Give us this
day our daily bread : bread=food)
Overstatement (also Hyperbole)exaggeration is used in service of truth
Oxymoron- verbal paradox containing
contradictory elements (military
intelligence)
Paradox- statement or situation
containing apparently incompatible
elements (celebration of fifth birthday for
20 year old born on Feb 29th)
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Personification- human attributes are
given to an animal, object, or concept
Poeticizing- writing that uses overly
heightened language to sway reader’s
feelings
Simile- explicit comparison using words
“like”, “as”, “than”, “similar to”,
“resembles”, or “seems”
Synesthesia- presntation of one sense in
terms usually assiciated with another (the
dark, chocolate, steel of his voice)
Understatement- saying less than one
means or sayin gwhat one means with
less force than the occassion warrants
Poetry Vocab- LITERARY ELEMENTS
Allegory- description that has a second
meaning corresponding to an abstract
idea or moral principle
Allusion- a reference, explicit or implicit,
to something in previous literature or
history
Artistic Unity- Successful literary workall its elements work together to achieve
its central purpose, nothing detracts from
this purpose and nothing is left out which
is needed to achieve it
Connotation- What a word suggests
beyond its literal meaning
Denotation- Word’s literal meaning
Didactic- teaching
Figurative Language- language which
cannot be taken only literally
Imagery- representation of sensual
experience through language
Paraphrase- restatement of content in a
poem designed to make prose meaning
clear
Prose Meaning- poem’s total meaning
that can be seperated and explained in
prose
Symbol - something that means more
than what it is
Theme- The central or universal idea
Implied or stated in a work
Tone- Speaker’s attitude toward his
subject, emotinal coloring or meaning
behind the words on the page, non-verbal
Total Meaning - Total experience
communicated by the poem, (sensuous,
emotional, imaginative, and intellectual)
and can only be communicated through
the words of the poem.
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