Poetry
Poetry—concentrated language
consisting of rhythm and sound
Prose—everyday language
Metrical Writing
Meter—regular rhythm in language
Broken into Syllables:
U Unstressed
/ Stressed
Metrical Lines
1. A one-foot line is called monometer.
2. A two-foot line is called dimeter.
3. A three-foot line is called trimeter.
4. A four-foot line is called tetrameter.
5. A five-foot line is called pentameter.
6. A six-foot line is called hexameter. When it is a
pure iambic line, it may be called an alexandrine.
7. A seven-foot line is called heptameter.
8. A eight-foot line is called octameter.
Metrical Feet &
Symbols
1. iamb: a light stress followed by a heavy
stress. U /
2. trochee: a heavy stress followed by a light
stress. / U
3. dactyl: a heavy stress followed by two light
stresses. / U U
4. anapest: two light stresses followed by a
heavy stress. U U /
5. spondee: two equal stresses. - -
This above all to thine own self
be true.
U / U / U /
U
/
This above all to thine own self
U /
be true.
U / U / U /
U
/
This above all to thine own self
U /
be true.
Pentameter
Penta—5
Meter—regular rhythm in language
Pentameter—a regular rhythm reoccurring five
times in one line of poetry
Iambic Pentameter—A line of poetry consisting
of five iambs
Rhyme Scheme
The frequency or pattern where the last word in
a line of poetry rhymes with the last word in
other lines.
When the stars threw down their spears a
And water’d heaven with their tears, a
Did He smile His work to see? b
Did He who made the lamb make thee? b
(William Blake, The Tyger)
Blank Verse
Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter
The last
word of
each line
doesn’t
rhyme
a line of poetry consisting of
five iambs
Length, Breadth, & Rhyme
•
•
•
•
•
Couplet
aa bb cc dd, etc.
Tercet, ot Triplet
aaa bbb ccc ddd, etc.
Quatrain
abab cdcd, etc.
Terza Rima
aba bcb cdc ded, etc.
Spenserian Stanza
abab bcbc c
(the first eight lines are always iambic
pentameter; the final line is always an
alexandrine).
Sonnet
The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines;
traditionally it uses iambic pentameter.
• Italian sonnet
abba abba cdd cee
• English sonnet
abab cdcd efef gg
Sounds
• Alliteration—the repetition of the initial sound
of words in a line or lines of verse.
• Assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds
within words in a line or lines of verse.
• Onomatopoeia—the use of a word that,
through its sound as well as its sense,
represents what it defines.
Figurative Language
• The language of the poem is also the language
of one thing compared to another thing.
• In figurative language, a familiar thing is linked
to an unknown thing, as a key, to unlock the
mystery, or some part of the mystery, of the
thing that is unknown.
Figurative Language
• Simile—a comparison using “like” or “as”
• Metaphor—an implicit rather than an explicit
comparison.
• Personification—when one gives a physical
characteristic or innate quality of animation to
something that is inanimate, or to an abstraction.
• Allusion—a reference to something that belongs
properly to a world beyond the specific sphere of
the poem.
• Universal Images—images, characters, motifs, or
patterns that recur in the myths, dreams, oral
traditions, songs literature, and other texts of
peoples widely separated by time and place.