ELEMENTS OF POETRY
Speaker: poetic “narrator”; “voice” of poem.
Meter: number of syllables in a line of poetry—
similar to beat in music
Rhyme Scheme: plan or pattern of rhyming in a
Poem abab cdcd aabbccdd
Rhyme: repetition of SAME sounds at ends of
poetic lines: “food/mood” rude
Near Rhyme: repetition of SIMILAR sounds
(“Half Rhyme”)at ends of poetic lines: “food/wood”
team/queen
Stanza: a group of lines in a poem—similar
to a paragraph in prose.
Prose: writing in sentences & paragraphs
FOUR BASIC STANZAS
Couplet: two-line stanza
Heroic Couplet: ten syll./rhymed
Quatrain: four-line stanza; most popular
stanza in English poetry
Sestet: six-line stanza
Octet: eight-line stanza
TYPES OF POEMS
Haiku: Japanese-inspired; 5-7-5 meter
Narrative Poem: poem that tells a story
Lyric Poem: short poem that expresses feelings &
thoughts of speaker; in ancient times, played to
music of a lyre.
Free Verse: 1)usually unrhymed 2) no
consistent meter 3) relies heavily on cadences
and cataloguing. Verrrry non-traditional.
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis without
a net.” --Robert Frost
Ballad Stanza: a type of LYRIC POEM that
usually includes the following:
-Quatrain
-Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef
-Meter: 8-6-8-6
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,a
That saved a wretch like me;b
I once was lost, but now am found,a
Was blind but now I see!b
End-stopped Lines: pause/stop reading at end of
line, usually for punctuation
Enjambed Lines: do not stop reading, b/c the
thought continues onto the next line.
--“Enjambment”
THE SONNET
Italian Sonnet: invented by Petrarch (Renaissance
poet & scholar)
*14 lines
*1 Octet, 1 Sestet
*Rhyme Scheme: abbaabba cdcdcd
*Ten syllables per line
English Sonnet: a.k.a. “Shakespearean”
*14 lines
*3 Quatrains, 1 Couplet
*Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef gg
*Ten syllables per line