Poetry Terms

End-Stop

A break at the end of a line, denoted by a comma, period, semicolon, or other punctuation mark.

Mixed Metaphor

A combination of metaphors that produces a confused or contradictory image.

Simile

A comparison of two things through the use of "like" or "as."

Dactyl

A dactyl is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Caricature

A description or characterization that exaggeration or distorts a character's prominent features, usually to elicit mockery.

Wit

A form or wordplay that displays cleverness or ingenuity with language. Often, but not always, wit displays humor

Quatrain

A four lined stanza. The most common form of English verse, the quatrain has many variants. One of the most important is the heroic quatrain, written in iambic pentameter with an ABAB rhyme scheme.

Theme

A fundamental and universal idea explored in a literary work

Tercet

A grouping of three lines, often bearing a single rhyme.

Epic

A lengthy narrative that escribes the deeds of a heroic figure, often on national or cultural importance, in elevated language. Strictly, the term applies only to verse narratives, but it is used to describe prose, drama, or film words of similar scope.

Refrain

A phrase or group of lines that is repeated a significant moments within a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.

Pun

A play on words that exploits the similarity in sound between two words with distinctly different meanings.

Invocation

A prayer for inspiration to a god or muse, usually placed at the beginning of an epic.

Pyrrhic

A pyrrhic is two successive syllables with light stresses.

Motif

A recurring structure, contrast, or other device that develops or informs a work's major themes. A motif may relate to concrete objects, or may be a recurrent idea, phrase, or emotion.

Internal Rhyme

A rhyme between two or more words within a single line of verse.

End Rhyme

A rhyme that comes at the end of a line or verse. North rhyming poetry uses end rhymes.

Enjambment

A sentence or clause that runs onto the next line without a break. Enjambment creates a sense of suspense or excitement and give added emphasis to the word at the end of the line.

Lyric

A short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker. Most modern poetry is lyrical, employing such common forms as the ode and sonnet.

Sonnet

A single stanza lyric poem contain gin fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. In some formulations, the first eight lines pose a question or dilemma that is resolved in the final six lines. There are three predominant sonnet forms, Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, Shakespearean sonnet, or Spenserian sonnet.

Spondee

A spondee is two successive syllables with strong stresses

Archetype

A theme, motif, symbol, or stock character that holds a familiar and fixed place in a culture's consciousness.

Trochee

A trochee is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Types of Accentual-Syllabic Meter

Accentual-syllabic meter is determined by the number and type of feet in a line of verse

Shakespearean Sonnet

Also called the English sonnet or Elizabethan sonnet, the poetic form, which Shakespeare made famous, contains three quatrains and a final couplet, often called a volta. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Ballad

Alternating tetrameter and trimeter, usually iambic and rhyming. Ballad form, which is common in traditional folk poetry and song, enjoyed a revival in the Romantic period.

Epithet

An adjective or phrase that describes a prominent feature of a person or thing.

Anapest

An anapest is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

Foreshadowing

An author's deliberate use of hints or suggestions to give a preview of events or themes that do not develop until later in the narrative

Perfect Rhyme

An exact match of sounds in a rhyme.

Cliché

An expression such as "turn over a new leaf" that has been used so frequently it has lost its expressive power.

Iamb

An iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Slant Rhyme

An imperfect rhyme, also called oblique rhyme or off rhyme, in which sounds are similar but not exactly the same.

Allusion

An implicit reference within a literary work to a historical or literary person, place, or event. Authors use allusions to add symbolic weight because it makes subtle or implicit connections with other words and deepens the readers understanding of the plot, themes, or characters.

Colloquialism

An informal expression or slang, especially in the context of formal writing.

Symbol

An object character, figure, or color that is used to represent an abstract idea or concept. Unlike an emblem, a symbol may have different meanings in different contexts.

Accentual-syllabic Meter

Both the number of stressed syllables and the number of total syllables is fixed. Accentual-syllabic meter has been the most common kind of meter in English poetry since Chaucer in the late Middle Ages.

Iambic Pentameter

Each line of verse has five feet (pentameter) and of which consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (iamb). Iambic pentameter is one of the most popular schemes in English poetry.

Octameter

Eight feet

Figures of Speech

Figures of speech are expressions that stretch words beyond their literal meanings. By connecting or juxtaposing different sounds and thoughts, figures of speech increase the breadth and subtlety of expression.

Pentameter

Five feet

Tetrameter

Four feet

Pathos

From the Greek word for "feeling" the quality in a work of literature that evokes high emotion, mostly commonly sorrow, pity, or compassion.

Deus ex Machine

Greek for "God from a machine," this phrase originally referred to a technique in ancient tragedy in which a mechanical god was lowered onto the stage to intervene and solve the play's problems or bring the play to a satisfactory conclusion. Now, the term describes more generally a sudden or improbable plot twist that brings about the plot's resolution.

Imagery

Language that brings to mind sense-impressions, especially via figures of speech. Sometimes, certain imagery is characteristic of a particular writer or work.

Punctuation

Like syllable stresses and rhyme, punctuation marks influence the musicality of a line of poetry.

Thematic Meaning

Literature becomes universal when it draws connections between the particular and the general. Often, certain levels of a literary work's meaning are not immediately evident. The following terms relate to the relationship between the words on the page and the deeper significance those words may hold.

Meter

Meter is the rhythmic pattern created in a line of verse. There are four basic kinds of meter, accentual meter, syllabic meter, accentual-syllabic meter, quantitative meter

Types of Rhyme

One common way of creating a sense of musicality between lines of verse is to make them rhyme.

Monometer

One foot

Line and Stanza

Poetry generally is divided into lines of verse. A grouping of lines, equivalent to a paragraph in prose, is called a stanza. One the printed page, line breaks normally are used to separate stanzas from one another.

Poetry

Poetry is a literary form characterized by a strong sense of rhythm and meter an an emphasis on the interaction between sound and sense. The study of elements of poetry is called prosody.

Rhyme Schemes

Rhymes do not always occur between successive lines of verse. Most common rhyme schemes are couplets, quatrain, and tercet.

Rhythm and Meter

Rhythm and meter are the building blocks of poetry Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the crying length and emphasis given to different syllables. The rise and fall of spoken language is called its cadence.

Heptameter

Seven feet

Parallelism

Similarities between elements in a narrative. Parallelism can also occur on the level of sentences or phrases.

Hexameter

Six feet

Oxymoron

The association of two contrary terms

Pathetic Fallacy

The attribution of human feeling or motivation to a nonhuman object, especially an object fond in nature.

Cacophony

The clash of discordant or harsh sounds within a sentence or phrase within a sentence or phrase. Cacophony is a familiar feature or tongue twisters but can also be used to poetic effect.

Metaphor

The comparison of one thing to another that does not use the terms "like" or "as."

Quantitative Meter

The duration of sound of each syllable, rather than its stress, determines the meter. Quantitative meter is common in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and Arabic but not in English.

The Foot

The foot is the basic rhythmic unit into which a line of verse can be divided. When reciting verse, there usually is a slight pause between feet. When this pause is especially pronounced it is called a caesura. The process of analyzing the number and type of feet in a line is called scansion.

Tone

The general atmosphere created in a story, or the narrator's attitude toward the story or reader.

Accentual Meter

The number of stressed syllables in a line is fixed, but the number of total syllables is not.

Syllabic Meter

The number of total syllables in a line is fixed, but the number of stressed syllables is not. This kind of meter is rare in English poetry.

Alliteration

The repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants, at the beginning of words.

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sequence of nearby words.

Personification

The use of human characteristics to describe animals, things, or ideas.

Melodrama

The use of sentimentality, gushing emotion, or sensation action or plot twists to provoke audience or reader's response. Melodrama was popular in Victorian England, but critics now deride it as manipulative and hokey.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words such as "pop" that sound like the thing they refer to

Trimeter

Three feet

Dimeter

Two feet

Couplet

Two successive rhymed lines that are equal in length. A heroic couple is a pair of shimmying lines in iambic pentameter.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse bears a close resemblance to the rhythms of ordinary speech, giving poetry a natural feel. Shakespeare's plays are written primarily in blank verse.

Free Verse

Verse that does not conform to any fixed meter or rhyme scheme. Free verse is not, however, loose or unrestricted. Its rules of composition are as strict and difficult as traditional verse, for they rely on less evident rhythmic patterns to give the poem shape.

Literary Techniques

Whereas figures of speech work on the level of individual words or sentences, writers also use a variety of techniques to add clarity or intensity to a larger passage, advance the plot in a particular way, or suggest connections between elements in the plot.

Repetition

Words, sounds, phrases, lines, or elements of syntax may repeat within a poem. Sometimes, repetition can enhance an element of meaning, but at other times it can dilute or dissipate meaning.