Traditional poems contain metre and rhyme scheme, modern poetry is often written in free
verse. A poem can have run-on lines (enjambement) or end-stopped lines. A stanza is a
group of lines that form a unit in a poem. Poets often use figurative language (like
metaphors or similes) and other stylistic devices (such as alliteration or anaphora). Poems
have a speaker.
metre and rhythm:
iambus / iambic

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, e.g. in
to be or not to be
trochee / trochaic

A stressed syllable followed by a stressed one, e.g. in
comrades, early
dactyl / dactylic

One stressed beat followed by two weak beats, e.g. in
happily
anapaest / anapaestic

Two weak beats followed by one stressed beat, e.g. in
intervene, underneath
rhyme scheme:
rhyming couplets (aabb)
alternate rhyme (abab(a))
enclosed rhyme (abba)
limerick (aabba)
My child
is mild
to cats
and rats.
My child
to many cats
is mild.
And so to rats –
(Wild!)
To cats
my dearest child
is mild.
But not to rats.
My dearest child
is very mild
to cats
and rats
alike. How wild!
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poetic licence:
The liberty a poet takes in forming words or sentences which, under different
circumstances, would be considered incorrect: “My child / to many / cats is mild.“ [This
is supposed to mean that my child is mild to many cats (which is correct English), or the
meaning of the sentence should be different, namely many cats think that my child is
mild.]
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;/ All mimsy were
the borogoves, /And the mome raths outgabe.“ (Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky“) [The
italicized words do not exist as such in the English language. (Maybe in some other…)]
metaphor ]:
A type of figurative language in which one thing is described in terms of another thing:
“Beauty is a flower.“ “The winter in your heart.“
simile :
A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things, using
either ‘like’ or ‘as’: “Beauty is like a flower.“ “Your tongue is as sharp as a razor.“
alliteration:
Repetition of the first letter in (several) words: “Slippery and slimy sludge.“
An extended definition will list any consonant sounds within words, too: “If
th’assassination / Could trammel up the consequence, and catch / With his
surcease success” [“s” and “k” sounds].
assonance ]:
Repetition of vowel-sounds in (several) words:
“Five times, my child,
Her words were heard.“
hyperbole []:
A type of figurative language characterized by exaggeration or overstatement: “She died
of embarrassment.“ “Waves as tall as trees.“ [This is also a simile!]
anaphora ]:
The repetition of words or word groups (often at the beginning of lines).
synaesthesia []:
The combination of two senses. Have you ever given thought to what the colour blue
smells like? The smell of a rose feels like? The feeling of joy looks like?
oxymoron ]:
An apparently self-contradictory phrase: “Happy sorrow.“ “Refreshing pain.“
onomatopoeia ]:
Painting with sounds: the sound of something is simulated by the sound of words.
A bee ‘buzzes,’ water will ‘trickle’ down a stream, and when you jump into a pool
you’ll make a huge ‘splash.’
hendiadys ]:
Greek for ‘one through two’ – expressing one idea through two words. “On this
bank and shoal of time.”
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