IAMBICS - Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
IAMBIC PENTAMETER 5 pairs of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable as in begin, belong, forget
The milkmaid fell among the angry cows
Whatever's right, he said, and smiled
Whatever did you mean? The mermaid said
The cat crept low behind the speckled bird
His earring sparkled in the candle light
The night began with soft enchanting sighs
KENNING
Figurative stock phrase in Norse and Anglo-Saxon poetry. Example: whale-road, the sea. Equivalent to stock epithet "wine-dark sea" as in Greek epics.
SESTINA
39 lines all ending in one of 6 words chosen in advance
ACROSTIC
Initial letters of lines spell a name or title as in Ben Jonson's prefaces to THE ALCHEMIST and VOLPONE
ALPHABET
Also built on 1st letters of lines - here, the alphabet. Try poetry consisting of 2-word lines starting with A B, C D, ending with Y Z.
ALLITERATION
Repetition of initial consonants as in tongue twisters. List groups of these and of combined consonants such as "br".
ASSONANCE same thing, with vowels
ONOMATOPOEIA sound words. Buzz, whine, clatter, etc
ALLUSION (fellow, poets)
ANTIHIMERA - One part of speech used for another. Examples: Dogging somebody's footsteps or Catch of the day.
APHORISM - short, witty statement
ECHOING or prevailing idea to keep readers' minds on the subject at hand
EROTEMA - ask a rhetorical question such as Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
Synonymous and antithetical parallellism
PARTIAL RHYME
Near rhyme (less, best) eye rhyme (wind, kind) assonance (tank, last) consonance (bad, good)
PUNS
* Paranomasia - words sounding alike
* Antanaclasis - same word used differently
* Syllepsis - same word literally and figuratively
STANZAS
Terza Rima - 3 lines with linking rhymes: aba, bcb, cbc, etc.
Rime Royale -
Ottava Rima -
Anapestic and trochaic verse -
Spenserian -
Exotica - foreign imports
* Ballade - 3 octets rhyme ababbcbc then an envoi (final stanza of dedication or summary)
* Rondeau Example stanzas of 5, 3, 5 lines use same 2 rhymes throughout
* Roundel similar structure as Rondeau but fewer lines
* Villanelle 2 rhymes, 2 refrains in 5 tercets and a quatrain
STYLE can be formal, informal, colloquial
HAIKU
Originally Japanese. 1st line, flash. 2nd line, recognition. 3rd line, afterthought. 3 lines: 1st line 5 syllables, 2nd line 7 syllables, 3rd line 5 syllables, total 17 syllables. Lines
should make sense, not just cut off from end of one line to the next. EXAMPLE by 1500s Japanese poet Moritake.
The falling flower
I saw drift back to the branch
Was a butterfly.
TANKA
More Japanese poetry. 5 lines. Lines 1, 3 have 5 syllables. Lines 2, 4, 5 have 7 syllables. Total 31 syllables.
SONNET
Italian root word for "little song". Total 14 lines. Poetry forms named after two famous sonnet writers, Shakespeare and Petrarch.
Shakespearean (English) form [of rhyme] A B A B 1st quatrain (4 lines) C D C D 2nd quatrain E F E F 3rd quatrain GG couplet.
PETRARCHAN (Italian) form A B B A A B B A octave C D E C D E or C C D C C D or C D C D C D sestet.