| Term | Definition |
|---|
| accent | The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. |
| alexandrine | A line of poetry that has 12 syllables. |
| alliteration | The repitition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words. |
| anapest | A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by on long (or stressed). |
| antithesis | A figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other. |
| apostrophe | Words that are spoken to a person who is absent of imaginary, or to an object or abstact idea. |
| assonance | The repitition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds. |
| ballad | A poem that tells a story similary to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. |
| ballade | A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (or envory) of four or five lines. |
| blank verse | Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. |
| caesura | A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line. |
| canzone | A medieval Italian lyric poem, with five or six stanzas and a shorter concluding stanza (or envoy). |
| carpe diem | A Latin expression that means "seize the day". |
| chanson de geste | An epic poem of the 11th and 14th century, written in Old French, which details the exploits of a historical or legendary figure, especially Charlemagne. |
| classicism | The principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature. |
| conceit | A fanciful poetic image or metaphor that likens on ething to something else that is seemingly very different. |
| consonance | The repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words. |
| couplet | In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought. |
| dactyl | A metrical foot of three syllables, one long (or stressed) followed by two short (or unstressed). |
| elegy | A poem that laments the death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful. |
| enjambment | The continuation of a complete idea (a sentence or clause) from one line or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause. |
| envoy | The shorter final stanza of a poem, as in a ballade. |
| epic | A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. |
| epigram | A very short, witty poem. |
| epithalamium (or epithalamion) | A poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom. |
| feminine rhyme | A rhyme that occurs in a final unstressed syllable. |
| figure of speech | A verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular effect. |
| foot | Two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rythm in a poem. |
| free verse | Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter. |
| haiku | A Japenese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. |
| heptameter | A line of poetry that has seven metrical feet. |
| heroic couplet | A stanza composed of two rhymed lines in an iambic pentamter. |
| hexameter | A line of poetry that has six metrical feet. |
| hyperbole | A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. |
| iamb | A metrical foot of two syllables, one short (or unstressed) and one long (or stressed). |
| iambic pentameter | A type of meter in poetry, in which there are five iambs to a line. |
| idyll (or idyl) | Either a short poem depiciting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or long poem that tells a story about heroic deeds or extraordinary events set in the distant past. |
| lay | A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouveres. |
| limerick | A light, humurous poem of five usually anapestic lines with the rhyme scheme of aabba. |
| litotes | A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. |
| lyric | A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. |
| masculine rhyme | A rhyme that ocurs in a final stressed syllable. |
| metaphor | A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. |
| meter | The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables. |
| metonymy | A figure or speech in whih one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. |
| narrative | Telling a story, such as ballads, epics and lays. |
| ode | A lyric poem that is serious and thoughtful in tone and has a very precise, formal structure. |
| onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. |
| ottava rima | A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in 8-line "octaves" with the rhyme scheme of abababcc. |
| pastoral | A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way. |
| pentameter | A line of poetry that has five metrical feet. |
| personification | A figure of speech in which nonuman things or abstract ideas are given human attributes. |
| poetry | A type of literature that is written in meter. |
| quatrain | A stanza or poem of four lines. |
| refrain | A phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza. |
| rhyme | The occurance of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. |
| rhyme royal | A type of poetry consisting of stanzas of seven lines in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ababbcc. |
| romanticism | The principles and ideals of the Romantic movement in literature and the arts during the late 18th and early 19th centuries favoring felling over reason and placing great emphasis on the subjectice, or personal, ecperience of the individual. |
| scansion | The analysis of a poem's meter. This is usually done by marking the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line and then, based on the pattern of the stresses, dividing the line into feet. |
| senryu | A short Japenese poem that is similar to a haiku in structure but treats human beings rather than nature, often in a humurous or satiric way. |
| simile | A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as". |
| sonnet | A lyric poem that is 14 lines long. |
| spondee | A metrical foot of two syllables, both or which are long (or stressed). |
| stanza | Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. |
| stress | The prominence or emphasis given to particular syllables. |
| synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is used to designate the whole or the who is used to designate a part. |
| tanka | A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven. |
| terza rima | A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arrainged in three-line "tercets" with the rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc, ect. |
| tetrameter | A line of poetry that has four metrical feet. |
| trochee | A metrical foot of two syllabes, one long (or stressed) and one short (or unstressed). |
| trope | A figure of speech, such as metaphor or metonymy, in whch words are not used in their literal (or actual) sense but in a figurative (or imaginative) sense. |
| verse | A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose). |
| versification | The system of rhyme and meter in poetry. |
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