Glossary of Poetry Terms
This index of common
poetry terms—from alliteration to verse—will take the mystery out of the art
form. Whether you're a student looking to improve your creative writing skills
or someone who just wishes to learn more about the craft of poetry, this
glossary will help make sense out of the many terms and types of poetry.
Accent
The prominence or emphasis
given to a syllable or word. In the word poetry, the accent (or stress)
falls on the first syllable.
Alexandrine
A line of poetry that has
12 syllables. The name probably comes from a medieval romance about Alexander
the Great that was written in 12-syllable lines.
Alliteration
The repetition of the same
or similar sounds at the beginning of words: “What would the world be, once
bereft/Of wet and wildness?” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Inversnaid”)
Anapest
A metrical foot of three
syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed), as in seventeen
and to the moon. The anapest is the reverse of the dactyl.
antithesis
A figure of speech in
which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other.
An example of antithesis is “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” (Alexander
Pope)
apostrophe
Words that are spoken to a
person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea. The poem
God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay begins with an apostrophe: “O World, I
cannot hold thee close enough!/Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!/Thy mists that
roll and rise!”
Assonance
The repetition or a
pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds: “Thou still unravished
bride of quietness,/Thou foster child of silence and slow
time” (“Ode to a Grecian Urn,” John Keats).
Ballad
A poem that tells a story
similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. “The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an example of a ballad.
Ballade
A type of poem, usually
with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (or
envoy) of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.
Blank verse
Poetry that is written in
unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.
Caesura
A natural pause or break
in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line. There is a caesura
right after the question mark in the first line of this sonnet by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
Canzone
A medieval Italian lyric
poem, with five or six stanzas and a shorter concluding stanza (or envoy). The
poets Petrarch and Dante Alighieri were masters of the canzone.
Carpe diem
A Latin expression that
means “seize the day.” Carpe diem poems urge the reader (or the person to whom
they are addressed) to live for today and enjoy the pleasures of the moment. A
famous carpe diem poem by Robert Herrick begins “Gather ye rosebuds while ye
may…”
Chanson de geste
An epic poem of the 11th
to the 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. Examples of classicism in poetry can be found in the works of John
Dryden and Alexander Pope, which are characterized by their formality,
simplicity, and emotional restraint.
Conceit
A fanciful poetic image or
metaphor that likens one thing to something else that is seemingly very
different. An example of a conceit can be found in Shakespeare's sonnet “Shall
I compare thee to a summer's day?” and in Emily Dickinson's poem “There is no
frigate like a book.”
Consonance
The repetition of similar
consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words, as in lost and past
or confess and dismiss.
Couplet
In a poem, a pair of lines
that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought.
Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.
Dactyl
A metrical foot of three
syllables, one long (or stressed) followed by two short (or unstressed), as in happily.
The dactyl is the reverse of the anapest.
Elegy
A poem that laments the
death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful. An example of this
type of poem is Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
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. An example of enjambment can be found in
the first line of Joyce Kilmer's poem Trees: “I think that I shall never
see/A poem as lovely as a tree.” Enjambment comes from the French word
for “to straddle.”
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. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad
and the Odyssey by Homer, which tell about the Trojan War and the
adventures of Odysseus on his voyage home after the war.
Epigram
A very short, witty poem:
“Sir, I admit your general rule,/That every poet is a fool,/But you yourself
may serve to show it,/That every fool is not a poet.” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Epithalamium (or epithalamion)
A poem in honor of a bride
and bridegroom.
Feminine rhyme
A rhyme that occurs in a
final unstressed syllable: pleasure/leisure, longing/yearning.
Figure of speech
A verbal expression in
which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular
effect. Figures of speech are organized into different categories, such as
alliteration, assonance, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, simile, and
synecdoche.
Foot
Two or more syllables that
together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem. For example, an iamb is
a foot that has two syllables, one unstressed followed by one stressed. An
anapest has three syllables, two unstressed followed by one stressed.
Free verse (also vers libre)
Poetry composed of either
rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter.
haiku
A Japanese poem composed
of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku often reflect
on some aspect of nature.
Heptameter
A line of poetry that has
seven metrical feet.
Heroic couplet
A stanza composed of two
rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
Hexameter
A line of poetry that has
six metrical feet.
Hyperbole
A figure of speech in
which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions
are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of
tears, etc. Hyperbole is the opposite of litotes.
Iamb
A metrical foot of two
syllables, one short (or unstressed) and one long (or stressed). There are four
iambs in the line “Come live/ with me/ and be/ my love,”
from a poem by Christopher Marlowe. (The stressed syllables are in bold.) The
iamb is the reverse of the trochee.
Iambic pentameter
A type of meter in poetry,
in which there are five iambs to a line. (The prefix penta- means
“five,” as in pentagon, a geometrical figure with five sides. Meter
refers to rhythmic units. In a line of iambic pentameter, there are five
rhythmic units that are iambs.) Shakespeare's plays were written mostly in
iambic pentameter, which is the most common type of meter in English poetry. An
example of an iambic pentameter line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
is “But soft!/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow breaks?”
Another, from Richard III, is “A horse!/ A horse!/ My king/dom
for/ a horse!” (The stressed syllables are in bold.)
Idyll or idyl
Either a short poem
depicting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or a long poem that tells a
story about heroic deeds or extraordinary events set in the distant past. Idylls
of the King, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is about King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table.
Lay
A long narrative poem,
especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouvères. The Lais
of Marie de France are lays.
A light, humorous 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. Some examples of litotes: no
small victory, not a bad idea, not unhappy. Litotes is the opposite of
hyperbole.
Lyric
A poem, such as a sonnet
or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem
may resemble a song in form or style.
masculine rhyme
A rhyme that occurs in a
final stressed syllable: cat/hat, desire/fire, observe/deserve.
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. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a
lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.
Meter
The arrangement of a line
of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed)
syllables.
Metonymy
A figure of speech in
which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.
For example, in the expression The pen is mightier than the sword, the
word pen is used for “the written word,” and sword is used for
“military power.”
Narrative
Telling a story. Ballads,
epics, and lays are different kinds of narrative poems.
Ode
A lyric poem that is
serious and thoughtful in tone and has a very precise, formal structure. John
Keats's “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a famous example of this type of poem.
Onomatopoeia
A figure of speech in
which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words are buzz,
hiss, zing, clippety-clop, and tick-tock. Keats's “Ode to a
Nightingale” not only uses onomatopoeia, but calls our attention to it:
“Forlorn! The very word is like a bell/To toll me back from thee to my sole
self!” Another example of onomatopoeia is found in this line from Tennyson's Come
Down, O Maid: “The moan of doves in immemorial elms,/And murmuring of
innumerable bees.” The repeated “m/n” sounds reinforce the idea of “murmuring”
by imitating the hum of insects on a warm summer day.
Ottava rima
A type of poetry
consisting of 10- or 11-syllable lines arranged in 8-line “octaves” with the
rhyme scheme 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 things or abstract ideas are given human attributes: dead leaves dance
in the wind, blind justice.
Poetry
A type of literature that
is written in meter.
Quatrain
A stanza or poem of four
lines.
Refrain
A line or group of lines
that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.
Rhyme
The occurrence of the same
or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. When the rhyme occurs in a
final stressed syllable, it is said to be masculine: cat/hat, desire/fire,
observe/deserve. When the rhyme occurs in a final unstressed syllable, it
is said to be feminine: longing/yearning. The pattern of rhyme in a
stanza or poem is shown usually by using a different letter for each final
sound. In a poem with an aabba rhyme scheme, the first, second, and
fifth lines end in one sound, and the third and fourth lines end in another.
Rhyme royal
A type of poetry
consisting of stanzas of seven lines in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme
ababbcc. Rhyme royal was an innovation introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Romanticism
The principles and ideals
of the Romantic movement in literature and the arts during the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. Romanticism, which was a reaction to the classicism of
the early 18th century, favored feeling over reason and placed great emphasis
on the subjective, or personal, experience of the individual. Nature was also a
major theme. The great English Romantic poets include Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
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 Japanese poem that
is similar to a haiku in structure but treats human beings rather than nature,
often in a humorous or satiric way.
Simile
A figure of speech in
which two things are compared using the word “like” or “as.” An example of a
simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem “Harlem ”:
“What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?”
Sonnet
A lyric poem that is 14
lines long. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and
a six-line “sestet,” with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde (or cdcdcd).
English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a final
couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. English sonnets are
written generally in iambic pentameter.
Spondee
A metrical foot of two
syllables, both of which are long (or stressed).
Stanza
Two or more lines of
poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem
are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme.
Stress
The prominence or emphasis
given to particular syllables. Stressed syllables usually stand out because
they have long, rather than short, vowels, or because they have a different
pitch or are louder than other syllables.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in
which a part is used to designate the whole or the whole is used to designate a
part. For example, the phrase “all hands on deck” means “all men on deck,” not
just their hands. The reverse situation, in which the whole is used for a part,
occurs in the sentence “The U.S. beat Russia in the final game,” where
the U.S.
and Russia
stand for “the U.S.
team” and “the Russian team,” respectively.
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 arranged in three-line “tercets” with the rhyme
scheme aba bcb cdc, etc. The poet Dante is credited with inventing terza
rima, which he used in his Divine Comedy. Terza rima was borrowed into
English by Chaucer, and it has been used by many English poets, including
Milton, Shelley, and Auden.
Tetrameter
A line of poetry that has
four metrical feet.
Trochee
A metrical foot of two
syllables, one long (or stressed) and one short (or unstressed). An easy way to
remember the trochee is to memorize the first line of a lighthearted poem by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which demonstrates the use of various kinds of
metrical feet: “Trochee/ trips from/ long to/ short.”
(The stressed syllables are in bold.) The trochee is the reverse of the iamb.
Trope
A figure of speech, such
as metaphor or metonymy, in which 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).
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