Download POETRY TERMS 1.ааAlliterationанаthe repetition of initial

POETRY TERMS 1. Alliteration ­ the repetition of initial consonant sounds. 2. Ballad ­ a song­like poem that tells a story, often one dealing with adventure and romance. Most ballads are written in four to six line stanzas and have regular rhythms and rhyme schemes. A. ballad often features a refrain ­ a regularly repeated line or group of lines. 3. Blank verse ­ is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. 4. Concrete poem ­ one with a shape that suggests its subject. The poet arranges the letters, punctuation, and lines to create an image, or picture, on the page. 5. Extended metaphor ­ a subject is spoken or written of as though it were something else. In an extended metaphor several comparisons are made. 6. Figurative language ­ writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally. Common figures of speech include hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and simile. 7. Free verse ­ poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern, or meter. In free verse the poet is free to write lines of any length or with any number of strong stresses, or beats. 8. Haiku ­ a three­line Japanese verse form. The first and third lines of a haiku have five syllables. The second line has seven syllables. A writer of haiku uses images to create a single, vivid picture, generally of a scene from nature. 9. Image ­ a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses. 10. Limerick ­ a humorous, rhyming, five­line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme. Most limericks have three strong stresses in lines 1, 2, and 5 and two strong stresses in lines 3 and 4. Most follow the rhyme scheme aabba. 11. Lyric Poem ­ a highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. 12. Metaphor ­ a figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else. It points out a similarity between two unlike things. 13. Meter ­ the meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line. To describe the meter of a poem, you must SCAN its lines. SCANNING involves marking the stressed and unstressed syllables. Each strong stress is marked with a slanted line and each weak stress with a horseshoe symbol. The weak and strong stresses are then divided by vertical lines into groups called FEET. A. Iamb ­ A foot with one week stress followed by one strong stress, as in the word begin. B. Trochee ­ A foot with one strong stress followed by one weak stress, as in the word people. C. Anapest ­ A foot with two weak stresses followed by one strong stress, as in the phrase on the sea. D. Dactyl ­ A foot with one strong stress followed by two weak stresses, as in the word happiness. E. Spondee ­ A foot with two strong stresses, as in the word downtown. F. Pyrrhic ­ A foot with two weak stresses, as in the last foot of the word unev|enly. G. Amphibrach ­ A foot with a weak syllable, one strong syllable, and another weak syllable, as in the shimmer|ing sunlight. H. Amphimacer ­ A foot with a strong syllable, one weak syllable, and another strong syllable, as in Jack and Jill. Depending on the type of foot that is most common in them, lines of poetry are described as iambic, anapestic, or dactylic. Lines are also described in terms of the number of feet that occur in them as follows: A. Monometer ­ verse written in one foot lines. B. Dimeter ­ verse written in two foot lines. C. Trimeter ­ verse written in three foot lines. D. Tetrameter ­ verse written in four foot lines E. Pentameter ­ verse written in five foot lines F. Hexameter ­ verse written in six foot lines G. Heptameter ­ verse written is seven foot lines. 14. Narrative poem ­ a story told in verse. Narrative poems often have all the elements of short stories, including characters, setting, conflict, and plot. 15. Onomatopoeia ­ the use of words that imitate sounds. Crash, buss, screech, hiss, neigh, jingle, and cluck are examples of onomatopoeia. 16. Personification ­ a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics. 17. Poetry ­ One of the three major types of literature. Poems are often divided into lines and stanzas and often employ regular rhythmical patterns, or meters. Some poems are written just like prose, and some are written in free verse. Most poems make use of highly concise, musical, and emotionally charged language. Major types of poetry include lyric poetry, narrative poetry, and concrete poetry. Other forms of poetry include dramatic poetry, in which characters speak in their own voices, and epic poetry. 18. Refrain ­ a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song. 19. Repetition ­ the use, more than once, of any element of language ­ a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence. Poets make use of many varieties of repetition. Rhyme, alliteration, and rhythm are all repetitions of sounds or sound patterns. PARALLELISM is when a grammatical pattern is repeated but the words are changed. 20. Rhyme ­ the repetition of sounds at the end of words. Poets use rhyme to lend a song­like quality to their verses and to emphasize certain words and ideas. Many traditional poems contain END RHYMES, or rhyming words at the ends of lines. Another common device is the use of INTERNAL RHYMES, or rhyming words within lines. EXACT RHYMES have words that are exactly alike, except the consonants at the beginning. HALF RHYMES are words that sound similar but are not identical. 21. Rhyme Scheme ­ a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem. To indicate the rhyme scheme of a poem, one uses lowercase letters. Each rhyme is assigned a different letter. 22. Rhythm ­ the pattern of beats, or stresses, in spoken or written language. 23. Sensory Language ­ writing or speech that appeals to one or more of the five senses. 24. Simile ­ a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two unlike subjects using either like or as. Writers use similes to describe people, places, and things vividly. Poets, especially, create similes to point out new and interesting ways of viewing the world. 25. Stanza ­ a group of lines in a poem, considered as a unit. Many poems are divided into stanzas that are separated by spaces. Stanzas often function just like paragraphs in prose. Each stanza states and develops a single main idea. Stanzas are commonly named according to the number of lines found in them. a. Couplet ­ a two line stanza b. Terrace ­ a three line stanza c. Quatrain ­ a four line stanza d. Chinquapin ­ a five line stanza. e. Sestet ­ a six line stanza f. Heptastich ­ a seven line stanza g. Octave ­ an eight line stanza. Division into stanzas is common in traditional poetry and is often accompanied by rhyme. 26. Symbol ­ anything that stands for or represents something else.