English 10 Mrs. DiSalvo
Alliterative Verse: uses alliteration as the primary structure device Sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines, commonly written in iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter: five sets of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable Free Verse: poetry that does not contain regular patterns of rhythm and rhyme; flows like natural speech
Blank Verse: unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter Elegy: an extended meditative poem in which the speaker reflects upon death or another serious subject Often a tribute to someone who has died recently Ode: a lyrical poem written in praise of or in dedication to someone or something
Pastoral: a poem presenting shepherds in a rural setting (nature) Ballad: a narrative poem originally intended to be sung Depicts ordinary people in the midst of tragic events or adventures Begins quickly, focuses on a single event, uses dialogue and repetition, often contains supernatural elements Typically stanzas are quatrains with 2 nd and 4 th lines rhyming
Quatrain: 4 lines Sestet: 6 lines Couplet: 2 lines Octet: 8 lines
Rhyme: words rhyme when the sounds of their accented vowels and all succeeding sounds are identical Ex: amuse and confuse Approximate Rhyme: words sound identical but do not rhyme exactly; also known as slant rhyme Ex: come and doom Internal Rhyme: words rhyme within the line of poetry Ex: Give crowns and pounds and guineas
The pattern of end rhyme in a poem The rhyme scheme is charted by assigning a letter of the alphabet, beginning with a, to each line Example from My Lute, Awake by Sir Thomas Wyatt: Vengeance shall fall on thy disdain a That makest but game on earnest pain. a Think not alone under the sun b Unquit to cause thy lovers plain, a Although my lute and I have done. b
Meter: the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit of poetry Emphasizes the musical quality of language Each unit of meter is a foot (one unstressed syllable and one or two stressed syllables) Rhythm: a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry Emphasizes musical quality, language, ideas, creates mood, etc.
Simile: a comparison using like or as Metaphor: the comparison of two unlike things without using like or as Extended Metaphor: a metaphor in which two things are compared in various ways throughout all or part of a work Implied Metaphor: a subtle comparison (sometimes hard to catch) Ex: Comparing a stubborn man to a mule and then describing his talking as braying (the sound a mule makes)
Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds Example from Beowulf: Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty Hills and bogs, bearing God s hatred, Grendel came Assonance: the repetition of a vowel sound in two or more stressed syllables that don t end with the same consonant Example from When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be by John Keats When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean d my teeming brain
Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds within and at the ends of words Example: lonely afternoon; hours and squeeze Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds Example: buzz, swish, splash, etc. Cacophony: an unpleasant spoken sound made by clashing consonants Example from Lewis Carroll s Jabberwocky 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
Euphony: pleasant spoken sound that is created by smooth consonants Example from To Autumn by John Keats Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Caesura: a pause in a line of poetry (usually in Anglo-Saxon Poetry, think Beowulf) Repetition: a sound, word, or phrase is repeated Refrain: a line or group of lines is repeated throughout a poem (think of the witches Double, double, toil and trouble )