English Poetry Terms

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Stanza

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A fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem.

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Blank Verse

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unrhymed iambic pentameter; represents adaption and fusion of sentences to poetic form (5 in a line)

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Couplet

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contains two rhyming lines and is the shortest distinct closed form

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Heroic Couplet

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Two successive rhyming lines of iambic pentameter. (5 stress couplets)

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Parallelism

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A figure of speech embodying a contradiction that is nevertheless true

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Antithesis

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A rhetorical device of opposition in which one idea or word is established, and then the opposite idea or word is expressed ex. "I burn and freeze" and "I love and hate"

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Tercet / Triplet

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A three-line unit or stanza of poetry usually rhyming (aaa, bbb, ccc, etc)

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Terza Rima

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A three-line stanza form with the interlocking rhyming pattern (aba, bc, cdc, etc)

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Villanelle

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A closed-form poem of nineteen lines, composed of five tercets and a concluding quatrain. Whole lines are repeated in a specific order and only two rhyming sounds occur

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Sonnet

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Consists of 14 lines in iambic pentameter.

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Italian / Pertrarchan Sonnet

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14 line iambic pentameter poem. Contains 2 quatrains (octave) and 2 tercets (sestet)
Uses 5 rhymes> (abba abba)

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Shakespearean Sonnet

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Developed from Shakespearean imabic pentameter composed of three quatrains and a couplet with 7 rhymes in pattern abab cdcd efef, gg.

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Lyric

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About a feeling. short poem or sont written in fixed stanzaic form.

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Ode

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Variable stanzaic poeit form (usually long to contrast it with the song) with varying line lengths and sometimes intricate rhyme schemes

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Elegy

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A poem of lamentation about a death.

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Symbolism

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A specific word, idea, or object that may stand for ideas, values, persons, or ways of life.

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Ballad

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A narrative poem, originally a popular form, composed of quatrains in ballad measure; that is, a pattern of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter and rhyming x-a-x-a.

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Haiku

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A verse derived from Japanese poetry. Contains three lines of 5/7/5 syllables in that order and usually treating a topic derived from nature.

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Epigram

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2-4 lines, often written in couplets. A short and witty poem, often in couplets, that makes a humorous or satiric point.

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Epitaph

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A short comment or description marking someone's death. Also, a short, witty, and often satiric poem.

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Limerick

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A brief poem with preestablished line lengths and rhyming patterns, designed to be comic. More often than not, limericks are risque.

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Open Form Poem

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Poems that avoid traditional structural patterns, suchs as rhyme or meter, in favor of other methods of organization.

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Free Verse

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Poetry based on the natural rhythms of phrases and normal pauses, non metrical feet.