E L E M E N T S O F P O E T R Y

SOUNDS

Rhyme: the exact repetition of the final vowel and consonants of a word

-- Direct (Exact) Rhyme: matching one word with its vowel- or consonant- identical;

(Example: Let us leave this place/but not forget her face)

-- Indirect Rhyme: words with identical final consonant sounds but different vowel

sounds (or different consonant sounds but the same vowel sounds);

(Example: Let us leave here/On the falling of a star; or, Let us leave/Lest we freeze)

-- Cliche Rhyme: obvious rhyme schemes, but not always signs of poor poetry

-- Original Rhyme: words that sound like other words, regardless of spelling,

parts of speech, word order, or number of syllables

Rhyme Scheme: a poem’s or stanza’s recurring sequence of end rhymes (aa bb cc dd)

Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose pronunciation suggests their meaning (buzz, hiss)

Alliteration: the repetition of identical consonant sounds in words

-- Consonance: the use of words whose consonant sounds are the same, but the

vowels are different (Example: I weave the love we live; Stop this chitter chatter)

Assonance: the repetition of identical vowel sounds in words

(Example: See the bee in the tree/It cries as it flies through the sky)

Refrain: where one or more identical or nearly identical lines is repeated throughout the

poem

Cacophonous: discordant language; difficult to hear

(Example: Crush, shape the fickled fighter’s spirit)

Euphonious: smooth language; pleasant to hear

(Example: Her soft, smooth voice/ lulled me to sleep)

RHYTHM AND METER

Rhythm: the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables

-- [ È]: placed above a soft, unstressed syllable

-- [ ’ ] : placed above a hard, stressed syllable

-- Caesuras: pauses in a line indicated by punctuation

Meter: a measure or count of stressed sounds (arranged by syllables), determined by the

the type and number of feet in a verse; poetry that has a steady beat, pulse

Foot: consists of one stressed and one or two unstressed syllables

-- [ ] : vertical line to separate one foot from another

Iambic meter: metrical pattern consisting of one unstressed syllable and followed by

one stressed syllable (I AM bic ME ter GOES like THIS)

-- a foot of this is called an iamb

Trochaic meter: one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (HAPP y)

-- a foot of this is called a trochee

Dactylic meter: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (CHANGE ab le)

-- a foot of this is called a dactyl

Anapestic meter: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (come a WAY)

-- a foot of this is called an anapest

Spondee: a foot that includes two stressed syllables (DA DA) with no unstressed syllables

Enjambment: when a line of poetry ends without a pause, continuing into the next line

End-stopped: a line of poetry that has a pause at the end (usually indicated by punctuation)

IMAGES

Realistic imagery: the use of words that appeal to one or more of the senses -- that make

the reader see, feel, hear, taste, or touch what is being referred to -- and relate

to universally experienced occurrences (the sun-red, sticky candied apple)

Nonrealistic imagery: the use of words -- appealing to the senses -- that make the reader

sense a common experience in a new or different way (devouring a book)

SPEAKER, TONE, IRONY

Persona: someone else’s voice used by the poet as the speaker for the poem (“I” in a poem

does not always refer to the poet)

Tone: the embodiment or expression of an attitude (toward the subject, toward the

listener, toward the speaker) in a word or poem;

(Example: She spat into the dirt/and kicked until it hurt)

Irony: a discrepancy between what is said/done and what is meant/intended

-- Verbal irony: what is said is the opposite of what is meant

-- Sarcasm: direct, harsh, and cutting verbal irony

-- Situational irony: when the outcome results in something very different than

what was expected or anticipated

Diction: words/phrases specifically chosen (by the writer) for effect on language or tone

n Formal diction (use of elegant words/expressions)

n Neutral diction (use of common, everyday words/expressions)

n Informal diction (use of colloquial or slang words/expressions)

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Simile: a direct, explicit comparison made using the words “as,” “like,” or “than”

Metaphor: one thing identified with another that is dissimilar to it

(Example: A car thief is a dirty dog.)

-- Implied metaphor: the comparison between two dissimilar things is implied

rather than stated directly (Some dirty dog stole my car.)

-- Metonymy: type of metaphor the name of something is substituted for something

closely associated to it (the White House; the silver screen)

Personification: something unhuman treated as if it had human characteristics

Paradox: a statement that seems to contradict itself but turns out to have a deeper truth

Pun: to play on various meanings of a word

(Example: His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.)

SYMBOLS

Literary symbol: an image or action in a poem that can be seen, touched, smelled, heard,

tasted, or experienced imaginatively, but that also conveys abstract meaning

beyond itself

Traditional symbol: images or phrases that have acquired meaning over centuries of

history (rose=love)

Allusion: when a poem alludes to other poems and to history, to ideas, to fact, and to myth

Literary archetypes: universal symbols or images that have widely accepted significance throughout the world or across cultures

(Examples: desert=emptiness; day/light=life/safety; lamb=gentleness; dove=purity)

FORM

Form: both (1) the artistic design , structure, or pattern that arranges, organizes, or

connects the various elements in a work, and (2) the shape the poem takes on the

page; the arrangement within the poem of ideas, images, and events

Quatrain: a four-lined stanza

Couplet: two rhyming lines

Terza rima: three-lined stanzas, interlinked by rhymes: aba bcb cdc ded efe

Chaucerian stanza: seven lines rhyming ababbcc

Spenserian stanza: nine lines (eight lines having ten syllables, the ninth line having twelve

syllables) rhyming ababbcbcc

Ottava rima: eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming abababcc

Sonnet: fourteen-line poems

-- Italian sonnet: fourteen-line poem (eight lines rhyming abbaabba and the last six

lines rhyming cdecde)

-- English (Shakespearean) sonnet: fourteen-line poem composed of three quatrains and a couplet

Ballad: a song that tells a story (a four-line stanza of alternating eight- and six-syllable lines

Haiku: a poem of three lines (first and third lines having five syllables, the second line

having seven syllables)

Sestina: poem consisting of six, six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza

Villanelle: a nineteen-line poem divided into five, three-line stanzas and a final four-line

stanza, rhyming aba aba aba aba aba abaa

Blank verse: a poem in iambic pentameter without rhyme (blank of rhyme)

Concrete poems: poems that are given recognizable form (like the shape of a swan or a

heart)

Free verse: poems free of predetermined metrical and stanzaic patterns, while observing

form through the use of lines, spaces, rhythms, etc.

Epitaph: an inscription on a gravestone

Epigram: a quotation an author places at the start of a work