Poetic Terms and Sound Devices
Verse— Metrical or rhymed writing that is different from prose in its form; poetry.
Free verse—poetry that does not contain a regular pattern of rhythm or rhyme
Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter
Form—the structure or organization of a work of writing, including the arrangement of words and
lines on the page.
Line—the core unit of a poem.
End-stopped line—a line that “breaks” or ends at the end of a sentence, clause, or phrase
Enjambed line--a line that ends in the middle of a grammatical unit so that the sense continues on
the next line.
Caesura—a pause in the middle of a line of poetry, created either by punctuation or natural sense of
phrasing
Stanza—one of several groups of lines in a poem that have the same line length, number of lines,
and metrical pattern
Strophe--a group of lines in a poem; strophes within a poem need not match each other in form
Quatrain—a group of four lines
Octet—a group of eight lines
Sestet—a group of six lines
Repetition—the appearance of an element (a sound, word, or phrase) more than once for emphasis,
unity, or rhythm
Rhythm—the pattern of stressed and unstressed (accented or unaccented) syllables in a line of
poetry
Stress/accent—emphasis placed on a syllable by pronouncing it louder, stronger, and/or longer as a
natural part of the language. Ex. In the word “label,” the first syllable (“la”) is accented or
stressed
Meter—The arrangement of words in poetry, measured in units of rhythmic pattern and the
number of syllables per line
Foot—one unit of a particular rhythmic pattern
Iamb—a two-syllable rhythmic foot in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second syllable
is stressed. Adjective form: iambic. Ex.: today (accent/stress in on the second syllable)
Pentameter—a rhythmic pattern which contains five feet per line
Tetrameter-- a rhythmic pattern which contains four feet per line
Iambic pentameter—one of the most common meters in English language literature and
Shakespeare’s meter of choice, consisting of five iambic feet per line.
Elision—the slurring together of syllables to force a line to fit the pattern of the required number of
syllables. Ex.: “But let your love even with my life decay” “Even” can be pronounced as
“e’en” to reduce the number of syllables in the line from eleven to ten, as required to fit the
pattern of the poem’s iambic pentameter
Couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines
Heroic couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines of iambic pentameter
Rhyme—the occurrence of similar or identical sounds at the end of two or more words
End rhyme—rhyming words used at the end of separate lines of poetry
Internal rhyme—words that rhyme within a line of poetry instead of at the end of separate
lines
Near/close rhyme—words that almost rhyme. Ex.: “dome” and “shone”
Visual rhyme—words at the end of lines that look like they should rhyme based on their
spellings rather than their pronunciation. Ex.: “does” and “foes”
Rhyming couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines
Rhyme scheme—the pattern of end rhymes in a poem, in which a lowercase letter of the alphabet is
assigned to represent each unique rhyming sound.
Alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Ex. Leaping lizards (repetition of “l” sound)
Assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds within non-rhyming words.
Ex. One last catch (repetition of short “a” sound)
Consonance— the repetition of consonant sounds within words.
Ex.: “bitter little bites” (repetition of the “t” sound)
Onomatopoeia—the use of words that sound like what they mean. Ex.: “crash” or “mumble”
Sonnet—a fourteen-line poem that has a regular rhythm and specific rhyme scheme (either abab
cdcd efef gg of abba abba cde cde). There is typically a shift in meaning or theme between
the third quatrain and the couplet or between the octet and the sestet, whichever pattern
applies. Ex.: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 71
Petrarchan or Italian sonnet-- a sonnet with an abba abba cde cde rhyme scheme and a structure of one
octet and sestet. Because so many words in Italian end in pure vowel sounds, the language can
easily support a rhyme scheme of only five sounds.
Shakespearean or English sonnet—a sonnet with an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme and a structure of
three quatrains and couplet. Because English words end in so many different vowel-consonant
combinations, the language cannot support a rhyme scheme of only a handful of sounds (like
the Italian sonnet), so the English sonnet provides for seven sounds to give the poet more
opportunities to find meaningful rhyming words.