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56 Cards in this Set

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Accent
he prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word poetry, the accent (or stress) falls on the first syllable.
Anapest
A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed), as in 'twas the night and to the moon. The anapest is the reverse of the dactyl.
Alliteration
The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words. Some famous examples of alliteration are tongue twisters such as Betty Botta bought some butter and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
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, as in the tongue twister "Moses
supposes his toeses are roses."
Blank Verse
Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.
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 . . ."
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.
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.
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.
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."
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)
Feminine rhyme
A multi-syllable rhyme that ends with one or more unstressed syllables: paper/vapor, vacation/proclamation.
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 antithesis, hyperbole, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, simile, and synecdoche.
Free verse
Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter.
Heptameter
A line of poetry that has seven metrical feet.
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.
Heroic couplet
A stanza composed of two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter
Haiku
A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku often reflect on some aspect of nature.
Fib
A six-line poem in which the number of syllables per line follow the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. The form was invented by Gregory K. Pincus, and popularized on his blog in April 2006 (both National Poetry Month and Mathematics Awareness Month).
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
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.
Limerick
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, which is a form of understatement, is the opposite of hyperbole.
Lyric
A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and fe elings 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, endow/vow, 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.
Meter
The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables.
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, cock-a-doodle-do, pop, splat, thump, and tick-tock. 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.
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 nonhuman things or abstract ideas are given human attributes: the sky is crying, dead leaves danced in the wind, blind justice.
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 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, behave/shave, observe/deserve. When the rhyme ends with one or more unstressed syllables, it is said to be feminine: vacation/sensation, reliable/viable. 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 rea son 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.
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.
Tetrameter
A line of poetry that has four metrical feet
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).
Versification
The system of rhyme and meter in poetry.