| Term | Definition |
|---|
| assonance | repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same |
| euphony | refers to language that is smooth and musically pleasant to the ear |
| cacophony | language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce |
| rhyme | repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines |
| end rhyme | most common form of rhyme in poetry; the rhyme that comes at the end of the lines |
| internal rhyme | places at least one of the rhymed words within the line |
| consonance | common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds |
| rhythm | a musical quality in language, produced by repetition |
| stress | the emphasis, or accent, given a syllable in proununciation |
| meter | a regular pattern of stressed an unstressed syllables |
| scansion | process of measuring the stresses in a line of verse in order to determine the metrical pattern of the line |
| foot | metrical unit by which a line of poetry is measured |
| line | sequence of words printed as a separate entity on the page |
| iambic | consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable |
| trochaic | consists of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable |
| anapestic | two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed one |
| dactylic | one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones |
| monometer | one foot |
| dimeter | two feet |
| trimeter | three feet |
| tetrameter | four feet |
| pentameter | five feet |
| hexameter | six feet |
| heptameter | seven feet |
| octameter | eight feet |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| spondee | two syllable foot in which both syllables are stressed |
| caesura | pause within a line (II) |
| form | overall structure or shape of a poem |
| free verse | poems that do not conform to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza |
| stanza | consists of a grouping of lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme |
| rhyme scheme | pattern of end rhymes |
| couplet | consists of two lines that usally rhyme and have the same meter |
| heroic couplet | consists of rhymed iambic pentameter |
| tercet | three-line stanza |
| triplet | three lines rhyme |
| quatrain | four-line stanza; most common stanzaic form in the English language and can have various meters and rhyme schemes |
| ballad stanza | consists of alternating eight and six-syllable lines |
| sonnet | popular literary form in English since the sixteenth century |
| Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet | divided into an octave (abbaabba) and a sestet (cdecde) |
| octave | poetic stanza of eight lines; usually forming one part of a sonnet |
| sestet | stanza consisting of exactly six lines |
| Shakespearean (English) sonnet | organized into three quatrains and a couplet; (abab cdcd efef gg) |
| elegy | lyric poem written to commemorate someone who is dead (at a funeral) |
| ode | characterized by a serious topic and formal tone |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace