Poetic Terms (Night)
Instructions: Choose a poetic term! Look up the definition and find an accurate example. Type the information below. First come, first serve! (Optional: Use fall semester’s “Literary Devices (General + Poetry Terms)” Slides to help you–just don’t copy Ms. Ung’s examples).
1. Monometer
1. Definition: A line of verse consisting of a singular foot.
2. Example: Rivers
2. Dimeter
1. Definition: A line of poetry with two feet.
2. Example: For thou must die.
3. Trimeter
1. Definition: A line of poetry with 3 feet
2. Example: “When here/ the spring/ we see"
4. Tetrameter
1. Definition: A line of poetry with four feet
2. Example: Those lips that Love’s own hand did make
5. Pentameter
1. Definition: A line of poetry with five feet
2. Example: "Two households, both alike in dignity."
6. Iambic
1. Definition: A poetic meter where each foot contains 2 syllables and follows the pattern of unstressed, then stressed.
2. Example: be-LONG
7. Trochaic
1. Definition: A type of poetic meter that consists of 2 syllables in each foot and follows the pattern of stressed, then unstressed.
2. Example: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."
8. Dactylic
1. Definition: A poetic rhythm that has 3 syllables per foot and follows the pattern of stressed, unstressed, and unstressed.
2. Example: “Are you still standing there?”
9. Anapestic
1. Definition: A poetic rhythm that consists of three syllables per foot, with the first two being unstressed and the last one stressed.
2. Example: In the heart of the forest, the moonlight will gleam.
10. Spondaic
1. Definition: A poetic rhythm consisting of two syllables in each foot and both of them being stressed.
2. Example:
11. Hypercatalexis
1. Definition: the addition of an extra syllable or syllables at the end of a metrically complete line of verse
2. Example: 'Stood a lowly cattle shed'
12. Masculine rhyme
1. Definition: a rhyme of final stressed syllables
2. Example: Life is but an empty dream
13. Feminine rhyme
1. Definition: a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables
2. Example: ‘Glamorous’
14. Syntax
1. Definition: the arrangement of words and phrases in sentences to ensure clarity.
2. Example: The dog chased the ball
15. Enjambment
1. Definition: A poetic technique where the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza
2. Example: I wandered over the golden hills/ That were brimming with yellow flowers.
16. End-stopped line
1. Definition: An End-stopped line in poetry is when a complete thought/phrase happens on a single line, along with some punctuation.
2. Example: The crow is migrating east,
17. Slant rhyme (aka a half rhyme)
1. Definition: A rhyme where the words have similar sounds, but don’t have a perfect rhyme.
2. Example: wake and wait
18. Repetition:
1. Definition: The reoccurring of words or phrases in a sentence to build emotions and emphasize the importance of something
2. Example: Run, run, run, as fast as you can
19. Anaphora
1. Definition: Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase in the beginning of a consecutive clause or sentence to create rhythm or to emphasize a point
2. Example: "So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania..."
20. Alliteration
1. Definition: The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
2. Example: Sandy sells sandals at the sandal shop.
21. Consonance
1. Definition: involves the repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the end of words or in stressed syllables
2. Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
22. Assonance
1. Definition: The repetition of similar vowel sounds within words in a sentence.
2. Example: Can sand plan to be full of clams?
23. Personification
1. Definition: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristic to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form
2. Example: The leaves danced happily in the powerful wind.
24. Conceit
1. Definition: An extended metaphor that compares two things that seem very different from one another.
2. Example: Life is a bowl of cherries.
25. Allusion
1. Definition: An indirect reference to something popular.
2. Example: The fashion store on sale was my Garden of Eden.