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Poetry terms
Poetic terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| diction | The language, including word choice and syntax, that sets poetry apart from more utilitarian forms of writing. |
| imperative sentence | A type of sentence that makes a command, gives a direction, or expresses instructions of some kind. |
| apostrophe | An address to a dead or absent person, or personification as if he or she were present. Also, addressing a usually personified thing: "O Liberty, what things are done in thy name!" |
| meter | The rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. |
| accentual syllabic verse | Verse whose meter is determined by the number and alternation of its stressed and unstressed syllables, organized into feet. From line to line, the number of stresses (accents) may vary, but the total number of syllables within each line is fixed. The majority of English poems from the Renaissance to the 19th century are written according to this metrical system. |
| trochee | A metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. Examples include “garden” and “highway.” William Blake opens “The Tyger” with : “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright.” |
| dactyl | A metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables. Example words: “poetry” and “basketball” . |
| double dactyl | A form of light verse consisting of two quatrains, each with three double-dactyl lines followed by a shorter dactyl-spondee pair. Example: "Higgledy-piggledy, / Benjamin Harrison, / Twenty-third President, / Was, and, as such, / Served between Clevelands, and / Save for this trivial / Idiosyncrasy, / Didn’t do much. - John Hollander |
| iamb | A metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. Examples: the words “unite” and “provide”. It is the most common metrical foot in English poetry. |
| anapest | A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable. Examples: “underfoot” and “overcome." |
| alliteration | The repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line. It need not reuse all initial consonants; examples: “pizza” and “place”. Example: “With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim” from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Pied Beauty.” |
| anaphora | the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect. Often used in political speeches and occasionally in prose and poetry. |
| rhythm | An audible pattern in verse established by the intervals between stressed syllables. |
| scansion | The mechanical notation of the metrical pattern of a poem; in this process, every syllable of every word is accounted for. |
| foot | The basic unit of measurement of accentual-syllabic meter. A foot usually contains one stressed syllable and at least one unstressed syllable. |
| spondee | A metrical foot consisting of two accented syllables. Example:“hog-wild.” |
| monometer | a one-foot line |
| dimeter | a two-foot line |
| trimeter | a three-foot line |
| tetrameter | a four-foot line |
| pentameter | a five-foot line |
| hexameter | a six-foot line |
| heptameter | a seven-foot line |
| octameter | an eight-foot line |
| litotes | A deliberate understatement for effect; the opposite of hyperbole. For example, a good idea may be described as “not half bad,” or a difficult task considered “no small feat.” |
| syntax | Refers to word order, and the way in which it works with grammatical structures. To break with normalcy is to draw attention to what is being said and the way it is said. |
| tone | The poet’s attitude toward the poem’s speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader. Often described as a “mood” that pervades the experience of reading the poem. |
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eaust