POETRY TERMINOLOGY -Traditional Poetry Forms.pdf

7/27/2019 POETRY TERMINOLOGY -Traditional Poetry Forms.pdf

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Rozi Khan GPGJC Swat, KPK 1

POETRY TERMINOLOGYTraditional Poetry Forms

BALLAD A story told in song, usually having a refrain or incremental repetition and often with four-linestanzas. A traditional or popular ballad is one that has been passed along in oral tradition for many

years, even centuries. Literary or art ballads are ballads composed by serious poets, in imitation of the

traditional form.

Ballads are usually written in four-line stanzas called quatrains. Often the first and the third lines have

four accented syllables; while the second and fourth have three. A refrain is common in ballads as is the

repetition of words, phrases, and lines. Many stock phrases, such as "lily-white hands," are used,

especially in traditional or folk ballads, and the events of the story are often suggested through dialogue

(mostly without "he said/she said" tags) rather than told explicitly.

Some characteristics of a ballad are:

A ballad tells a story, typically in third person narrative.

A ballad focuses on actions and dialogue rather than characteristics and narration. A ballad has a simple metrical structure and sentence structure.

A ballad is of oral tradition, passed down by word of mouth. Therefore, it undergoes changes and

is of anonymous authorship.

A ballad usually has a theme that is not directly spoken.

A ballad is often based on true stories.

Repetition and refrains are also used in many ballads. This is a strong resemblance to many forms of

traditional music. Many traditional ballads have themes related to the supernatural, and occasionally

ballads contain a moral dimension to them, usually expressed in a final verse. In music a ballad refers to

a simple, often sentimental, song, not usually a folk song.

Examples:John Keats's La Belle Dame sans Merci

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

The traditional ballad "Thomas Rymer" begins:

"True Thomas lay oer yond grassy bank,

And he beheld a ladie gay,

A ladie that was brisk and bold,

Come riding oer the fernie brae."

The literary ballad "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge begins:

"It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three.

'By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality


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BLANK VERSE unrhymed poetry with meter, it`s is any verse comprised of unrhymed lines allin the same meter, usually iambic pentameter. It was developed in Italy and became widely

used during the Renaissance because it resembled classical, unrhymed poetry. Blank verse

was embraced by Yeats, Pound, Frost, and Stevens.

Blank verse can be composed in any meter and with any amount of feet per line (any linelength), though the iamb is generally the predominant foot. Along with the iamb are 3 other

standard feet and a number of variations that can be employed in a blank verse poem. It is

difficult--almost impossible--to write a blank verse poem consisting of all iambs, and other

types of feet get used more often than one may think. These are:

Iamb- two syllables, unstressed-stressed, as in "today".

Trochee- two syllables, stressed-unstressed, as in "standard".

Anapest- three syllables, unstressed-unstressed-stressed, as in "disengage"

Dactyl- three syllables, stressed-unstressed-unstressed, as in "probably".

Variations include:

Headless Iamb or Tailless Trochee- one stressed syllable. Labeling the foot depends on

where it is located in the line.

Spondee- two stressed syllables, as in "hot dog"

Amphibrach- three syllables, unstressed-stressed-unstressed, as in "forgetful"

Double Iamb- four syllables, unstressed-unstressed-stressed-stressed, as in "will you eat

it?" A double iamb is counted as two feet.

The lines n blank verse are 10 syllables in length. Every other syllable, beginning with the

second syllable, is accented. (NOTE: Not every line will have exactly 10 syllables.)

Smething there s that desn't lve a wll.

EX: When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter, darker trees,

I like to think some boys been swinging them.


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CINQUAIN Cinquain, despite its French name, is an American poetry form that can be tracedback to Adelaide Crapsey. Influenced by Japanese haiku, he developed this poetic system and

used it to express brief thoughts and statements. Other poets who popularized the form were

Carl Sandburg and Louis Utermeyer. These poems are five lines in length. There are 2 types:

syllable and word cinquains.

WORD Cinquain EX: (by Chantaclair)

JoyElusive, Desired

Breathless, Encompassing, Anti-Climatic

Searching forever in vain.

Happiness

SYLLABLE Cinquain EX: Tucson Rain (by John Hewitt)

The smell

Everyone moves

To the window to lookWork stops and people start talking

Rain came

Syllable Cinquain Word CinquainLine 1: Title 2 syllables Line 1: Title 1 word

Line 2: Description of Title 4 syllables Line 2: Description of Title 2 words

Line 3: Action about the title 6 syllables Line 3: Action about the title 3 words

Line 4: Feeling about the title 8 syllables Line 4: Feeling about the title 4 words

Line 5: Synonym for title 2 syllables Line 5: Synonym for title 1 word


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CLERIHEW A Clerihew (or clerihew), invented by and named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley,is a very specific kind of humorous verse, typically with the following properties:

The first line consists solely (or almost solely) of a well-known person's name

The verse is humorous and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of

view. It has four lines. The first and second lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth

lines rhyme with each other.

The first line names a person, and the second line ends with something that rhymes with the

name of the person.

You don't have to worry about counting syllables or words, and you don't even have to worry

about the rhythm of the poem.

EX

What I like about Clive

Is that he is no longer alive.

There is much to be said

For being dead.

By Edmund Bentley

Sir Humphrey Davy

Abominated gravy.

He lived in the odium

Of having discovered sodium.

By Edmund Bentley

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Lived upon venison;

Not cheap, I fear,

Because venison's dear.

By Louis Untermeyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Clerihew_Bentleyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Clerihew_Bentley


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COUPLET 2 lines of verse that usually rhyme and state one complete idea; most coupletsrhyme (aa), but this is not a requirement

EX (from Trees by J. Kilmer):

I THINK that I shall never see a

A poem lovely as a tree. a

Poetry in rhyming couplets is one of the simplest rhyme schemes:

aa bb cc dd ee ff... etc.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest b

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast; b

Instead of writing regular two lined rhyming couplets, have students try their hand at writing

some according to the following formats:

Geographical Couplet example:To Indianapolis I was driving my car,

Reached Minneapolis, OOPS! Too far!

Antonym Couplet example:You used to be a small shrimp,

Now look at you, you're as big as a blimp!

Synonym Couplet example:The sparkling stars are such a sight,

They gleam with beauty all through the night.

Compound Word Couplet example:

The lighthouse's beam is shiny and bright,It guides the sailboats safely through the night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhymehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_schemehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_schemehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme


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DIAMENT unrhymed poetry with meter; historically, it consisted of an arrangement ofcarefully chosen words featuring either contrasting historic cultures, figures or events or two

conflicting sides of one historic figure, culture, or event. Each line has an exact number and kind

of words. It can be thought of as two cinquains, one flipped over and written under the other.

Because you must describe your culture or event in a limited number of words, you shouldchoose words that convey the meaning in a powerful, poetic way. More modern versions follow

the second pattern shown below.

HISTORIC Diament EX: MODERN Diament EX:

French Autumn

Corporation Brisk, Cool,

War-driven, Unsubmissive Raking, planting, hibernating,

Rebelling, Struggling, Winning Football weather, Flower power

Union, Warriors ~ Leaders, Traders Blooming, watering, growing,

Ruling, Ravaging, Losing Bright, warm,

Aggressive, Supported Spring

Land Dominators

English

Modern Pattern:

Line 1. Noun (beginning topic)

Line 2. Adjective, Adjective (about beginning topic)

Line 3. Gerund, Gerund, Gerund (ing words about beginning topic)

Line 4. Four nouns -OR- a short phrase (about both beginning and ending topics)

Line 5. Gerund, Gerund, Gerund (ing words about ending topic)

Line 6. Adjective, Adjective (about ending topic)

Line 7. Noun (ending topic)


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ELEGYa poem that states a poets sadness about the death of an important person. In thefamous elegy O Captain, My Captain, Walt Whitman writes about the death of Abraham

Lincoln.

EX.: O Captain! My Captain! (by Walt Whitman)

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting.

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here, Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells!

But I, with a mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.


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EPIC a long story poem that describes the adventures of a hero and his companions. Epicsare frequently set in a past thought to be greater and finer than the present, and they are

usually long and of a serious nature. They are poems about great deeds, and they often begin

with an invocation--of the Muses, for example. The narrative is often begun in the middle of the

action (in medias res). The Odyssey by Homer is a famous epic about the Greek hero

Odysseus.

EX:(

G

r

e

ek) Homer'sIliadand Odyssey

(Roman) Virgil'sAeneid

(Anglo-Saxon)Beowulf(the earliest known English poem)

John Milton'sParadise Lost

(From the beginning of The Odyssey): Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero whotravelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he

visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted;

moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his mensafely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through

their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented

them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove,

from whatsoever source you may know them.
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Rozi Khan GPGJC Swat, KPK

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FREE VERSE poetry with no regular rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, meter, etc. Thelines are irregular and may or may not rhyme. Instead of fitting content to form, the poet

allows content to shape the form, changing line length and meter to emphasize words and

sounds. Free verse develops its own rhythms, most often annotated by the use of the

line-break, and is capable of complex effects of rhythmical and syntactical ambiguity. The

greatest American writer of free verse is probably Walt Whitman. His great collection offree verse was titled Leaves of Grass and it was published in 1855.

Free verse is the most common verse form in modern poetry; this extract of a poem (1861)

by Walt Whitman, one of the pioneers of free verse, is an example of the way that verse

can be both free in rhythm and at the same time strongly rhythmical:

Beat! beat! drums! blow! bugles! blow!

Through the windows--through doors--burst like a ruthless force,

Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,

Into the school where the scholar is studying;

Leave not the bridegroom quiet--no happiness must he have now with his bride,

Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,

So fierce you whirr and pound you drums--so shrill you bugles blow.

EX: "Eating Poetry" (by Mark Strand)

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.

I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

Her eyes are sadand she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.

The light is dim.

The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

Their eyeballs roll,

their blond legs burn like brush.

The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand.

When I get on my knees and lick her hand,

she screams.

I am a new man.

I snarl at her and bark.

I romp with joy in the bookish dark.


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EX: Winter Poem (by Nikki Giovanni)

once a snowflake fell

on my brow and i lovedit so much and i kissed

it and it was happy and called its cousins

and brothers and a web

of snow engulfed me then

i reached to love them all

and i squeezed them and they became

a spring rain and i stood perfectly

still and was a flower


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HAIKU a type of Japanese poetry that presents a word picture of nature. A haiku isthree lines long. The 1st line is 5 syllables; the 2nd line is 7 syllables; and the 3rd line is 5

syllables. Haiku should describe daily situations in a way that gives the reader a brand new

experience. The first or the second line may end with a colon, long dash or ellipsis. Each

Haiku should contain a kigo, a season word, which indicate in which season the Haiku is

set. For example, cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow indicates winter, and mosquitoesindicate summer, but the season word isn't always that obvious.

EX: (by Japanese haiku master Basho)

An old pond! In the cicada's cry Poverty's child

A frog jumps in- No sign can foretell he starts to grind the rice,

The sound of water. How soon it must die. and gazes at the moon.


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LIMERICK - A limerick is a very structured poem that can be categorized as "short butsweet." They are usually humorous, and are composed of 5 lines, in an aacca rhyming

pattern. In addition, the first, second and fifth lines are usually 3 anapestic feet (uu/, 2

unstressed followed by 1 stressed) each. The third and fourth lines are usually 2 anapestic

feet. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme; Lines 3 and 4 rhyme.

EX: (by Edward Lear)There was an old man with a beard. a

Who said: It is just as I feared. a

Two Owls and a Hen, b

Four Larks and a Wren, b

Have all built their nest in my beard! a

EX: (by Richard Scrafton Sharpe)A Tailor who sailed from Quebec, a

In a storm ventur'd once upon deck, a

But the waves of the sea, b

Were as strong as could be, b

And he tumbled in up to his neck. a


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LYRIC a short poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses thoughtand feeling. Though it is sometimes used only for a brief poem about feeling (like the

sonnet), it is more often applied to a poem expressing the complex evolution of thoughts

and feeling, such as the elegy, the dramatic monologue, and the ode. The emotion is or

seems personal. In classical Greece, the lyric was a poem written to be sung, accompanied

by a lyre.

EX: "The Sky is Low" by Emily DickinsonThe Sky is low-the Clouds are mean

A Traveling Flake of Snow

Across a Barn or through a Rut

Debates if it will go-

A Narrow Wind complains all Day

How someone treated him.

Nature, like Us is sometimes caught

Without her Diadem1.

1 Diadem: n. crown


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NARRATIVE VERSE: A poem that tells a story. Ideally, a narrative poem should balancethe story with the poetry and not be merely a story in the form of a poem or a poem with

a loose thread of narrative to tie it together. Ballad and epic are two traditional forms of

narrative poetry. A narrative poem often ends before the action is resolved and may

present an unsolved mystery or situation. An example of this is found in Edgar Allen Poe's

fantastic rhyming poem The Raven.EX:The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

"Thomas the Rhymer" (traditional ballad)

The Illiad by Homer (traditional epic)

"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe

An anecdote written as narrative verse:

My Great Aunt and I

Walked through afternoon sun,

Across the apple orchard.

I ran on ahead,

Picking up apples

And stuffing them into my pockets.

Biting into crisp sweetness,

Throwing them high.

Till suddenly I heard

A scream

And turned to see her

Beating at her head

Where a swarm of beesBuzzed angrily . . .

A fable written as a narrative poem, with a

chorus:

The race began.

Hare was there

And then was not

Hot on the winds heels

Hare shot off

Arched back

Coiled like a spring

Legs kicking

Into space.

The race, the race -

At a furious pace.

Tortoise crept

Forwards,

Edging

Along,

Thinking that slow

And steady

Might win

Like an upturned tureenThe race, the race -

At a furious pace.

So, on Tortoise crept.

But Hare slept.

Confident of winning,

Took a nap -

Daft chap . . .
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ODE - a long lyric poem of a serious nature that commemorates or celebrates; a classicalform of poetry, typically of medium length with complex stanzas and effects. Ancient odes

were usually written to commemorate ceremonial occasions such as anniversaries or

funerals. The Romantic poets wrote odes in celebration of art, nature, or exalted states of

mind. A classic ode is structured in three parts - the strophe, the antistrophe and the

epode but different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode exist.

EX:Horaces Odes

John Keats Ode to a Nightingale

Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ode to the West Wind

Thomas Grays Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

William Wordsworths Ode: Intimations of Immortality

Samuel Taylor Coleridges Dejection: An Ode


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QUATRAIN a 4-line stanza or poem... Common rhyme schemes in quatrains are aabb,aaba, and abab. There is no set number of beats required for a quatrain. You just need to

make sure that you have a rhythmic pattern. You also need to come up with a title for

your quatrain.

EX: PARTING AT MORNING (by Robert Browning)Round the cape of a sudden came the sea, aAnd the sun looked over the mountain's rim: bAnd straight was a path of gold for him, bAnd the need of a world of men for me. a

EX: "The Tyger" (By William Blake)Tyger! Tyger! burning bright a

In the forests of the night, a

What immortal hand or eye b

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? b


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SESTINA - a highly structured form of poetry, dating back to the 12th century. It consistsof thirty-nine lines; six six-line stanzas ending with a triplet. There are no restrictions on

line length, although, in English, the sestina is most commonly written in iambic

pentameter or in decasyllabic meters.

In the five stanzas following the first one which sets it up; the same six words must endthe six lines, in a strictly prescribed variation of order. The variation is this: if we number

the six words that end the first stanza's lines as 123456, these same words will switch

places in the following sequences-- 615243, 364125, 532614, 451362, and 246531. The six

words are then included within the lines of the concluding triplet (also called the envoy or

tornada), again in a prescribed order: the first line containing 2 & 5, the second line

containing 4 & 3, and the final line containing 1 & 6. However, there seem to be more

variations on the order of the use of the key words in the final tercet.

Another way to understand the pattern of line ending words for a stanza, given the

previous stanza works like this:

If the words at the ends of the lines of the first stanza are A, B, C, D, E, and F

End the first line of the next stanza with the word from last line of the previous one,

i.e. F.

End the next line with the word from the first line ofthe previous stanza, i.e. A.

Next use the word from the last line not already used (E).

Next use the word from the first line not already used (B).

Next use the word from the last line not already used (D).

Next use the word from the first line not already used (C). This gives the final word

order: F A E B D C.

Then take this stanza as the model and perform the same transformation to get the

next stanza.

In writing a sestina it is often helpful to choose end-words which can be used in more than

one sense or in more than one grammatical form, e.g. as both a noun and a verb.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanzahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanzahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century


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EX: As an example of the way in which a sestina's end-words shift, below is a modern

translation of the first two stanzas of a sestina by Dante Alighieri.

I have come, alas, to the great circle of shadow, a

to the short day and to the whitening hills, bwhen the colour is all lost from the grass, cthough my desire will not lose its green, dso rooted is it in this hardest stone, e

that speaks and feels as though it were a woman. f

And likewise this heaven-born woman fstays frozen, like the snow in shadow, a

and is unmoved, or moved like a stone, e

by the sweet season that warms all the hills, band makes them alter from pure white to green, c

so as to clothe them with the flowers and grass. d


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SONNET - A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefullypatterned rhyme scheme. The sonnet has been used so successfully by many different

poets. The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374). In

this form, its fourteen lines break into an octave (or octet), which usually rhymes

abbaabba, but which may sometimes be abbacddc or even (rarely) abababab; and a

sestet, which may rhymexyzxyz orxyxyxy, or any of the multiple variations possible usingonly two or three rhyme-sounds. The English or Shakespearean sonnet was developed

first by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). It consists of three quatrains and a

couplet--that is, it rhymes abab cdcd efef gg.

For sonnets, form and its strictures make up part of what a poet wants to say. In other

words, the poet is using the structure of the poem as part of the language: we will find the

"meaning" not only in the words, but partly in their pattern as well.

Both forms break between lines eight and nine; the octave in the Italian frequently breaks

into two quatrains, like the English; and its sestet frequently ends in a final couplet.

Readers should pay close attention to line-end punctuation, especially at lines four, eight,

and twelve, and to connective words like and, or, but, as, so, if, then, when, or which at

the beginnings of lines (especially lines five, nine, and thirteen).

EX.of Petrarchan sonnet: Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever

octaveFarewell Love and all thy laws for ever, a

Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more; b

Senec and Plato call me from thy lore b

To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavour. a

In blind error when I did persever, aThy sharp repulse, that pricketh aye so sore, b

Hath taught me to set in trifles no store b

And scape forth, since liberty is lever. a

turn; sestetTherefore farewell; go trouble younger hearts c

And in me claim no more authority; d

With idle youth go use thy property d

And thereon spend thy many brittle darts. c

concluding coupletFor hitherto though I have lost all my time, e

Me lusteth no lenger rotten boughs to climb. e


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EX. of SHAKEPEAREAN SONNET: Sonnet 138

When my love swears that she is made of truth a

I do believe her, though I know she lies, b

That she might think me some untutor'd youth, a

Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. bFirst quatrain; note puns and the intellectual games: [I know she lies, so I believe her sothat she will believe me to be young and untutored]Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, cAlthough she knows my days are past the best, d

Simply I credit her false speaking tongue: c

On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd. d

Second quatrain: [Well of course I know that she doesn't really think I'm young, but Ihave to pretend to believe her so that she will pretend that I'm young]But wherefore says she not she is unjust? eAnd wherefore say not I that I am old? f

O, love's best habit is in seeming trust, e

And age in love loves not to have years told: f

Third quatrain: [so why don't we both fess up? because love depends upon trust andupon youth]}Therefore I lie with her and she with me, gAnd in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. g

Final couplet and resolution: [we lie to ourselves and to each other, so that we mayflatter ourselves that we are young, honest, and in love]. Note especially puns.


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TANKA - The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more syllablesand it uses simile, metaphor and personification. A Tanka poem should have thirty-one

syllables arranged in five lines (five, seven, five, seven, and seven).

Line one - 5 syllables Beautiful mountains

Line two - 7 syllables Rivers with cold, cold water.

Line three - 5 syllable White cold snow on rocks

Line four - 7 syllables Trees over the place with frost

Line five - 7 syllables White sparkly snow everywhere.

EX.PouncerStill as a statue Moon madness makes me

the cat awaits her breakfast Dance in delight under stars.

An innocent mouse I lift up my hands

carelessly crosses the grass And feel my arms grow longer

The cat explodes into life As they wrap around the moon.

-- Roger Stevens -- Margaret Cheasebro

Years on my ownI still stare after

A white-haired couple

The way his body

Shields her from the wind

Thelma Mariano


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VILLANELLE A villanelle (or occasionally villonelle) is a traditional poetic form thatentered English-language poetry in the late 1800s from the imitation of French models.

The relatively low number of rhyme words available makes the writing of villanelles more

difficult in English than it is in Romance languages.

It is 19 lines long, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes andtwo refrains. The 1st, then the 3rd lines alternate as the last lines of stanzas 2,3,and 4, and

then stanza 5 (the end) as a couplet. It is usually written in tetrameter (4 feet) or

pentameter. The first five stanzas are triplets, and the last stanza is a quatrain such that

the rhyme scheme is as follows: "aba aba aba aba aba abaa." The tricky part is that the 1st

and 3rd lines from the first stanza are alternately repeated such that the 1st line becomes

the last line in the second stanza, and the 3rd line becomes the last line in the third

stanza. The last two lines of the poem are lines 1 and 3 respectively, making a rhymed

couplet.

Line 1 a 1st refrainLine 2 b

Line 3 a 2nd refrain

Line 4 a

Line 5 b

Line 6 a 1st refrain (same as line 1)

Line 7 a

Line 8 b

Line 9 a 2nd refrain (same as line 2)

Line 10 a

Line 11 b


Line 13 a

Line 14 b


Line 16 a

Line 17 b


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry


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EX. Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night (by Dylan Thomas)

Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,


Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,


And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night,Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


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EX. Mad Girl's Love Song (by Sylvia Plath)

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;I lift my lids and all is born again.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,

And arbitrary darkness gallops in:

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed

And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.


God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:

Exit seraphim and Satan's men:

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said.

But I grow old and I forget your name.


I should have loved a thunderbird instead;

At least when spring comes they roar back again.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.(I think I made you up inside my head.)


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R i Kh GPGJC S t KPK

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EX: The House on the Hill (By Edward Arlington Robinson)

They are all gone away,The House is shut and still,

There is nothing more to say.

Through broken walls and gray

The winds blow bleak and shrill:

They are all gone away.

Nor is there one to-day

To speak them good or ill:


Why is it then we stray

Around that sunken sill?

They are all gone away,

And our poor fancy-play

For them is wasted skill:


There is ruin and decay

In the House on the Hill:

They are all gone away,


POETRY TERMINOLOGY -Traditional Poetry Forms.pdf

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