Download the outline of poetry

THE OUTLINE OF POETRY – revised 2006
A. Types of poems classified according to a stanza pattern, feet, and meter.
1. Types of stanza patterns
a. Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
b. Couplets: 2-line stanzas, called heroic couplets if it is iambic pentameter
c. Triplet or tercet: a 3-line stanza
d. Quatrain: a 4-line stanza
e. Sestet: a 6-line stanza
f. Septet: a 7-line stanza
g. Octet: an 8-line stanza
h. Sonnet (also see sonnet, below)
1. Italian (also called Petrarchan): a stanza of 8 lines and a stanza of 6 lines,
usually rhyming AbbAAbbA CdeCde
2. Shakespearean: a stanza of 12 lines and a stanza of 2 lines, usually
rhyming AbabCdcdEfef GG
i. Free verse: unrhymed poetry in which the phrase or complete thought
determines line length
j. Haiku: a Japanese 3-line poetry form based on number of syllables per line,
traditionally 5, 7, 5, respectively
2. Units of rhythm (called foot), consisting of accented and unaccented syllables
a. Iambic (de-ter)
b. Trochaic (en-ter)
c. Anapestic (in-ter-cede)
d. Dactylic (help-less-ness)
3. Meter: the pattern of feet (see above) recurring in a poem
a. Dimeter: the pattern occurs twice in a line
b. Trimeter: the pattern occurs three times in a line
c. Tetrameter: the pattern occurs four times in a line
d. Pentameter: the pattern occurs five times in a line
e. Hexameter: the pattern occurs six times in a line
(NOTE: feet and meter are usually spoken of together, as in “iambic pentameter”)
4. Scanning or scansion: marking the feet and meter (rhythm)
Example: But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
B. Types of poems classified according to form and content
1. Humorous
a. Nonsense verse
b. Limerick: a poem containing 5 lines with a twist in the last line. Lines 1, 2,
and 5 rhyme and are anapestic trimeter; lines 3 and 4 rhyme and are
anapestic dimeter. See above for “anapestic”, “trimeter,” “dimeter”
c. Parody: a poem which imitates the form and/or content of another poem
d. Satire/satirical poetry – humorous poetry intended to improve or instruct
through pointing out faults
2. Narrative: poetry that tells a story
3. Lyric: brief, intense, highly musical poetry that expresses thought, mood, or
emotion
4. Ballad: a story told in verse and usually meant to be sung
5. Sonnet: usually about love or other serious subjects. It is always 14 lines of
iambic pentameter. Modern poets take some liberties with the subject matter
and some of the form.
6. Elegy: a meditative poem, usually expressing grief.
C. Other devices commonly used in poetry
1. Figurative language
a. Simile: a comparison of two unlike things, using like or as
b. Metaphor: a comparison of two unlike things, not using like or as and thus not
stated directly
c. Personification: giving the object human characteristics
d. Hyperbole: an exaggeration of a quality
e. Metonymy: (me-TAN-a-mee) a term for when an object closely associated
with the word is substituted for the word itself (ex. “My shoes hurt.”)
f. Synecdoche: (sin-EK-da-key) a significant part is substituted for the whole,
or vice-versa (Ex. The hired hands)
g. Apostrophe: a speaker directly addresses an absent or dead person, an
abstract quality, or something nonhuman as if it were present and capable of
responding
2. Symbol: something stands for something else, usually a large thematic idea
3. Irony: verbal, situational, dramatic
4. Allusion: a reference to something in history or literature
5. Imagery: a representation of sensory experience through language that appeals
to the senses through its word choice
6. Sound devices
a. Alliteration: the repeating of beginning consonants in a line of poetry, either to
speed up the line or slow it down, both to reflect meaning
b. Assonance: the repeating of vowel sounds within words in a line of poetry to
reinforce the mood of a poem
c. Consonance: when the endings of words sound the same but they do not
create a rhyme. “match” and “itch” “white heat”
d. Onomatopoeia: the word sounds like the object being described, such as
“buzz” or “pop.” Think Bat-Man words!
7. Internal rhyme: the rhyme occurs within the line rather than at the end
8. Word choice
a. word repetition for emphasis
b. connotation