LITERARY TERMS FOR

POETRY
English II CP
Ms. C. Lee
POETRY BASICS: STANZA FORMS
 stanza: a division in a poem, named for the number of
lines it contains; distinguished from each other with line
breaks
 Couplet: a pair of rhyming lines

 Tercet: a stanza containing three (3) lines

 Quatrain: a stanza (or entire poem) containing four (4)

lines
 Cinquain: a stanza (or entire poem) containing five (5)
lines
 Sestet: a stanza containing six (6) lines

 Septet: a stanza containing seven (7) lines

 Octave: a stanza containing eight (8) lines

POETRY BASICS: FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
 Imagery: “word pictures” achieved through use of vivid
and specific sensory details
 Simile: comparison using “like” or “as”

 Metaphor: direct comparison w/o “like” or “as”

 Extended metaphor: when a metaphor is carried

through an entire piece to compare
 Personification: giving human traits to non-human
things
 Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect
POETRY BASICS: RHYME & METER
 Rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem
[ex: abab, aabb, abca, etc.]
 Meter: the rhythmic pattern established by stresses or
beats within each line of a poem.
 iambic pentameter: five pairs of iambs; line of poetry
will have 10 syllables [one “iamb” is a 2-syllable unit
comprised of one unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable]
 free verse: poetry with no set rhyme scheme or metrical
pattern
READING POETRY: SPEAKER
 Speaker: the voice of a poem, who is sharing his/her
feelings or situation
 Comparable to narrator of a story and therefore can be
characterized like one
 NOT to be confused with the POET, since s/he might be
taking on an entirely different persona
 Determining the Speaker: Examine…
 Overall situation presented in the poem
 Title can be a HUGE clue
 Figurativeor colloquial language
 Any descriptive details
READING POETRY: ENJAMBMENT
 Enjambment: when a sentence, thought, or other
grammatical division goes beyond the end of a line,
couplet, or stanza and into the next
 Read THROUGH the thought; do not automatically stop at
the end of the line.

 Reasons to Use Enjambment:

 Assist with pacing or rhythm
 Express multiple ideas; reinforce main idea
 Reader thinks about the idea longer
 Tricks reader; thought may go in different direction than
expected
TYPES OF RHYME
 end rhyme : when rhyming words appear at the ends of
the lines of poetry
 internal rhyme : rhymes that appear within lines vs. at
the ends
 slant rhyme: aka near rhyme, half-rhyme, or imperfect
rhyme
 uses words with similar, but not exact, end sounds, or
 relies on consonance or assonance for rhymes
 [Ex: gill and shell; understand and find]
 A “staple” of rap music
SOUND DEVICES
 Alliteration: the repetition of INITIAL consonant
sounds [Peter Piper picked…]
 Assonance: repetition of internal vowel sounds [sad,
glad, mad]
 Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds within or at
ends of words [There is no right time to imitate the
teacher.]
 Onomatopoeia: words that “sound” like sounds [woof,
moo, bang, crash]
SPECIAL FORMS OF POETRY:
NARRATIVE POETRY
 Tells a story
 Has a plot, characters, setting,
point of view
 Makes use of story techniques
like suspense and
foreshadowing
 Most common forms are epics
and ballads
CHARACTERISTICS OF BALLADS
 Simple language
 Contain dialogue

 Objective narration (sometimes

1st person)
 Heavily reliance on rhythm and
rhyme
 Repetition of a refrain

 Some use incremental

repetition
 A phrase recurs, with minor
differences, throughout the ballad
LYRIC POETRY
 The most common type of poetry in modern literature
 Expresses the thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and state
of mind of a single speaker
 Uses melodic language, imagery, rhythm, and sound
devices to express emotions
 Main forms include
 Odes
 Elegies: poems of loss that express praise for the dead
 Sonnets
 Haiku
 Tanka
THE EXTENDED METAPHOR
 A metaphor developed over several lines of text, or at
different points throughout a text
 Often serve the basis for an entire poem

 Different Methods:
 Explicit comparison: writer makes a direct metaphor, then
develops it by comparing characteristics of the two things
 Implicit comparison: comparison of the traits of the two
things are developed over several lines without saying
straight out what the two things are
 Example: Romeo and Juliet, I, iii
 Example: “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost
SPECIAL FORM OF POETRY: SONNETS
 All sonnets contain 14 lines
 All sonnets use iambic pentameter (blank verse)

 All sonnets pose a problem or question in the first part

and attempts to answer it in second part/half
 Two main types:
 Petrarchan
 Elizabethan (Shakespearean)
PETRACHAN SONNET
 Created by Petrarch, an Italian poet
 Its 14 lines are divided into two parts:
 OCTAVE: poses a question or presents a problem that the
speaker is seeking insight into
 SESTET: attempts to answer the question, solve the
problem, express enlightenment/an epiphany
 The point at which the sonnet shifts in content is
called the volta
 Rhyme scheme:
 Octave: abba/abba
 Sestet: cdcdcd OR cddcdd OR cdecde, OR cdeced, OR
cdcedc
ELIZABETHAN SONNET
 Aka English sonnet, aka Shakespearean sonnet
 Also has 14 lines, but…

 Breaks into 3 distinct quatrains and one ending

couplet
 Rhyme scheme of abab/cdcd/efef/gg. Always.

 Each quatrain can expresses a thought, often building

to the intensity of the couplet, or
 The quatrains are parallel and use different metaphors
to express the poet’s concern/problem
 The volta can come at line 9 or, most often, at the
ending couplet
SPECIAL FORMS: HAIKU & TANKA
 Both are Japanese forms of
poetry
 Describe a scene from nature

 Use imagery/sensory details to

convey a single vivid emotion
or impression
 Haiku: 3 unrhymed lines,
5/7/5
 Tanka: 5 unrhymed lines,
5/7/5/7/7