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Poetry
The art of expressing one's thoughts and feelings in verse
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Verse
Writing that is rhythmic and metered
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Prose
Writing that uses everyday common language. The writing is not intentionally rhythmic or metered
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Poetic Foot
A group of 2 or 3 syllables with an accent on one of the syllables . When the feet are put together they make a special pattern called meter
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Meter
Describes the sound atterns of a verse. It gives the poem its beat. Scansion or scanning is the analysis of poetry's metrical and rhythmic patterns. Prosody is sometimes used to describe poetic meter. Meter is part of many formal verse forms
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Accentual Syllabic Verse
Fixes both the number of stresses and syllables within a line or stanza. Accentual syllabic verse is highly regular and therefore easily scannable. Usually, either one metrical foor, or a specific pattern of metrical feet, is used throughout the entire poem. Thus we can talk about a poem being in, for example, iambic pentameter
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Iamb
- A oetic foot of 2 syllables with no accent on the first syllable but an accent on the second syllable. U-unstressed /=stressed. The morns are mee/ker than they wereu / u / u / u /
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Iambic Pentameter
- A line of verse consisting of 5 iambic feet. Notice that there are 5 accented syllablesBut soft what light through yon/der win/dow breaks?
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u / u / u / u / u /
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Irony
When the outcome os opposite of what is expected. A contrast between what appears to be and what really is.
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Verbal Irony
When what one says or writes is the opposite of the intended meaning. Sarcasm would be an example of verbal irony
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Situational Irony
When the reslts of the situation are far different from what was expected. An example is The Gift of the Magi
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Dramatic Irony
When the reader knows more about the true state of affairs than a character does. For example in the Scarlet Letter where Hester is in the governmnet's garden to see to t that Pearl is not taken away from her, she asks Dimmesdale to support her position. This is an example of dramatic irony as the reader knows that Dimmesdale and Hester are partners in sin, but the other characters do not
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Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds in a line of verse or prose. An example is hear the mellow wedding belss silver bells
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Hyperbole
Exaggeration. An example is I told you a million times not to exaggerate
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Imagery
A description in a poem or other literary work that appeals to one or all of the 5 senses
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Ballad
The word ballad comes from the Latin word ballare meaning to dance. A ballad is a song that tells a story and originally was a musical accomplishment to dance. There are certain characterisitcs common to a large number of ballads such as the beginning is often unexpected, the language is simple, the story is told through dialouge and action, the theme is often tragic, and it usually has a rhyme scheme of ABCB
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Fold Ballad
Anonymous and is transmitted from singer to singer by word of mouth. It belongs to the oral tradition. Folk ballads were made to be sung
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Literary Ballad
Not ananymous and is written by the poet as he composes it. Literary ballads were made to be read not sung
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Sonnet
A lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal rhyme scheme expressing different aspects of a single thought, mood, or feeling
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English Sonnet
- Also known as Shakespearean sonnet which is divided into 3 quatrains, each rhymed differently, with a final, independently rhymed couplet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB
- CDCD
- EFEF
- GG
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Italian Sonnet
The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave or an 8 line stanza and a sestet or 6 line stanza. The octave has 2 quatrains whyming ABBA ABBA. The sestet is built on 2 or 3 different rhymes arranged CDECDE or CDCDCD or CDEDCE
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Couplet
- A pair of lines of a verse that form a unit. Poetry in rhyming couplets is one of the simplist rhyme schemesAA BB CC DD EE FF where it signifies the first rhyme, B the second and so forth.
- I THINK that I shall never see A
- A poem lovely as a tree A
- A tree whose hungry mouth is prest B
- Against the sweet earth's flowing breast B
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Diction
Word choice of the author or poet. Diction words are words that have connotative meaning that is a word that invokes an idea or feeling besides its literal meaning
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Haiku
- Japanese poetry composed of 3 lines with 17 syllables. The structure is Line 1- 5 syllables
- Line 2- 7 syllables
- Line 3- 5 syllables
- Haiku poetry is generally about nature.
- Quiet trails in woods
- Lead through jeweled pine forests
- Scented statues rise
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Alliteration
A literary device where the author purposly uses a series of words with the same beginning sound
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Metaphor
A figure of speech where one thing is spoken about as if it were another thing. Education is a gateway to success. The floor was a sea of presents
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Narrative Poetry
Poetry that tells a story or a series of events using poetic devices such as rhyme scheme and rhythem
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Simile
A comparison between 2 unline things using words such as like or as
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Onomatopoeia
The immitation of natural sounds of words. The arrow whistled in the still air
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Stanza
A group of lines in verse. It may be of any number but more than 12 in uncommon and 4 is the most common. There is usually a double space between stanzas
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Tone
The attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character. Serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, and objective
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