Poetry Terms

Structure: The structure of a poem is the way words and lines are arranged

Lines: Grouping of words in a poem, a line may not be a complete sentence. A poet may break, or end, a line to emphasize a word or an idea, or to create a pattern of rhythm or rhyme.

Stanzas: Grouping of lines in logical sections of ideas (think paragraphs in essay)

Couplet: 2-line stanza

Tercet: 3 lines stanza

Quatrain: 4 lines stanza

Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines. Each new rhyme is assigned a letter of the alphabet:

The path of least resistance, a

Is short, but it’s boring. b

Choose the tougher distance a

For soaring. b

Meter: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (how you say things and where in the word you put emphasis)

Foot: Each unit of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem

Internal Rhymes: rhyming words within lines and emphasizes the flowing nature of a poem.

End Rhymes: rhyming words at the end of lines

Poetic Forms: A poem’s form that is usually defined byits purpose and characteristics

Formal verse: follows fixed, traditional patterns that may include a specific rhyme scheme, meter, line length, or stanza structure

Free verse: uses poetic language, but does not follow a fixed pattern

3 main categories of poetry: lyric, narrative, and dramatic

Lyric Poetry: expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker (often with musical verse)

Forms of Lyric Poetry:

  • Sonnet: A sonnet is a 14 line poem of praise with specific rhyme scheme
  • Petrarchan Sonnet: often has a rhyme scheme of abba/abba, cde/cde
  • Shakespearean Sonnet has a rhyme scheme of abab/cdcd/efef/gg
  • Ode: A formal poem of honor or celebration (often have a regular meter and end rhyme, but the number and length of their lines and stanzas can vary)
  • Elegy: A formal poem reflecting on deathor another serious theme (structure, meter, and rhyme scheme of elegies can vary considerably)
  • Haiku: A short, unrhymed poem, often about nature, 3 lines that follow 5-7-5 syllabic pattern

Narrative poetry: tells a story

  • Ballads
  • Epic Poetry

Dramatic poetry: presents a drama in verse, the action is told through the words the characters speak

Imagery: vivid language that appeals to the five senses

Figurative Language: describes and compares things in ways that are not meant to be taken literally.

Simile: uses the word like or as to compare two things: The icy water hurt like a thousand bee stings.

Metaphor: compares by describing one thing as if it were another: The icy water was a thousand bee stings.

Extended Metaphor: carries a metaphor throughout part or all of a poem

Personification: assigns human qualities to a non-human subject: The clarinets sang merrily,

While the drums grumbled and complained.

Analogy: explains, clarifies, or illustrates by drawing comparisons:

Age betrayed her daily now

Memories gone, but where?

Somewhere inaccessible,

The way a computer file

Deleted accidentally,

Is there

But not there.

Allusions: are direct or implied references to people, places, events, literary works, or artworks:

In desperate times be brave and bold

Your Cinderella story is not yet told.

(Sound Devices)

Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds: He climbs the hill and huffs and heaves.

Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllables with different vowel sounds: Gulls gracefully pass across the sky.

Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that do not rhyme: Calling and squawking like crows, they fought.

Repetition: the repeated use of a word or phrase

Onomatopoeia: the use of words that imitate sounds: buzz, whoosh, boom

Connotations and Tone

Connotations: ideas associated with a word beyond its literal meaning (can be negative or positive)

Denotations: Literal (Dictionary) meaning

Tone: attitude the writer projects in poem