B Y M I S S W A L L I S

POETRY TERMS

ALLITERATION

• Definition: the repetition of consonant sounds at the

beginning of words

ASSONANCE & CONSONANCE

• Definitions:• Assonance: repetition of

vowel sounds in words near one another

Example: It seems I keep seeing memes!

• Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds at the end of words near one another

Example: The dove moved above the waves.

RHYME: END RHYME

• Definition: End rhyme is the most common form of

rhyme. The rhyming words end each line.

Example:

It runs through the reeds

And away it proceeds,

Through meadow and glade,

In sun and in shade.

RHYME: INTERNAL RHYME

• Definition: a rhyme involving a word in the middle of

a line and another at the end of the line or in the

middle of the next

Example: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “

(“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe)

ENJAMBMENT

• Definition: The continuation of a phrase/sentence beyond the end of a line of verse

Example:

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and asleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”

(“Endymion” by John Keats)

FOOT

• Definition: The metrical unit by

which a line of poetry is

measured.

• Iambic foot: the more popular foot

used in poetry. This is one unstressed

syllable followed by one stressed syllable such as in the word “away.”

• Trochaic foot: the less common foot

found in poetry. One stressed

syllable followed by one unstressed

foot such as in the word “lovely.”

METER

• Definition: When a rhythmic pattern of stresses

recurs in a poem

• Metrical patterns are determined by the type and

number of feet in a line of verse.

HYPERBOLE (NOT HYPER BOWL)

• Definition: an

exaggeration or

overstatement

IMAGERY

• Definition: an appeal to the senses (you can see it, hear it, feel it,

taste it, smell it)

Example: This is an excerpt from “Preludes,” an imagery poem by T. S. Eliot. You can

almost see and hear the horse steaming and stamping and smell the steaks:

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o'clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

METAPHOR

• Definition: Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of

speech that makes a comparison between two

unlike things, without using the word like or as.

SIMILE

• Definition: a figurative comparison using like or as

ONOMATOPOEIA

• Definition: the use of a word that resembles the

sound it denotes.

PERSONIFICATION

• Definition: giving

human qualities to

animals or

inanimate objects

STANZA

• Definition: In poetry, stanza refers to a grouping of

lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set

pattern of meter and rhyme. (A “paragraph” of

poetry)

• Two line stanza: couplet

• Three line stanza: tercet

• Four line stanza: quatrain

• Five line stanza: cinquain/quintain/quintet

• Six line stanza: sextet/sixain/hexastich/sestet

• Seven line stanza: septet

• Eight line stanza: octave/octet

KINDS OF POETRY: CONCRETE

• Concrete Poem: the poem looks like its subject

Example:

KINDS OF POETRY: DIAMANTE

• Definition: a single unrhymed and untitled stanza

with a visual structure shaped like a

diamond

KINDS OF POETRY

• Ballad: A form of narrative poetry(tells a story)

• Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter

• Epic: A long narrative poem, told in a formal, elevated style, that focuses on a serious subject and chronicles heroic deeds and events important to a culture or nation.

• Free Verse: poetry that is written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, and meter.

KINDS OF POETRY

• Lyric poetry: A type of brief poem that expresses the

personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker

(Other kinds of poetry can come in lyrical form. For

example, a lyrical haiku, a lyrical ode, a lyrical elegy,

etc…)

Elegy: A mournful, contemplative lyric poem written

to commemorate someone who is dead

Ode: A lyrical poem that addresses a particular

subject

KINDS OF POETRY: HAIKU

• Definition: A Japanese form of poetry written in

three lines with the syllables 5-7-5.

LIMERICK

• Definition: a humorous, frequently bawdy, verse of

three long and two short lines rhyming aabba

SONNET

• Definition: A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of

fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter.

• Italian Sonnet

• abba abba (the remaining six lines are flexible c,d,e)

• Shakespearean (or English) sonnet

• abab cdcd efef gg

TO CONCLUDE…

NOT ALL POETRY IS DIFFICULT!

…AND IT’S NOT ALL EMO EITHER!

IT CAN BE WITTY!

AND ENTERTAINING!

SO DON’T JUDGE!