Poetry

Poetry

Poetry—concentrated language consisting of rhythm and sound

Prose—everyday language

Metrical Writing

Meter—regular rhythm in language

Broken into Syllables:U Unstressed/ Stressed

Metrical Lines1. A one-foot line is called monometer.2. A two-foot line is called dimeter.3. A three-foot line is called trimeter.4. A four-foot line is called tetrameter.5. A five-foot line is called pentameter.6. A six-foot line is called hexameter. When it is a

pure iambic line, it may be called an alexandrine.7. A seven-foot line is called heptameter.8. A eight-foot line is called octameter.

Metrical Feet & Symbols

1. iamb: a light stress followed by a heavy stress. U /

2. trochee: a heavy stress followed by a light stress. / U

3. dactyl: a heavy stress followed by two light stresses. / U U

4. anapest: two light stresses followed by a heavy stress. U U /

5. spondee: two equal stresses. - -

This above all to thine own self

be true.

U / U / U / U /This above all to thine own self U /be true.

U / U / U / U /This above all to thine own self U /be true.

Pentameter

Penta—5Meter—regular rhythm in language

Pentameter—a regular rhythm reoccurring five times in one line of poetry

Iambic Pentameter—A line of poetry consisting of five iambs

Rhyme Scheme

The frequency or pattern where the last word in a line of poetry rhymes with the last word in other lines.

When the stars threw down their spears aAnd water’d heaven with their tears, aDid He smile His work to see? bDid He who made the lamb make thee? b

(William Blake, The Tyger)

Blank Verse

Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter

The last a line of poetry consisting ofword of five iambseach linedoesn’trhyme

Length, Breadth, & Rhyme

• Couplet aa bb cc dd, etc.• Tercet, ot Triplet aaa bbb ccc ddd, etc.• Quatrain abab cdcd, etc.• Terza Rimaaba bcb cdc ded, etc.• Spenserian Stanza abab bcbc c

(the first eight lines are always iambic pentameter; the final line is always an alexandrine).

Sonnet

The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines; traditionally it uses iambic pentameter.

• Italian sonnet abba abba cdd cee• English sonnet abab cdcd efef gg

Sounds• Alliteration—the repetition of the initial sound

of words in a line or lines of verse.

• Assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line or lines of verse.

• Onomatopoeia—the use of a word that, through its sound as well as its sense, represents what it defines.

Figurative Language

• The language of the poem is also the language of one thing compared to another thing.

• In figurative language, a familiar thing is linked to an unknown thing, as a key, to unlock the mystery, or some part of the mystery, of the thing that is unknown.

• Simile—a comparison using “like” or “as”• Metaphor—an implicit rather than an explicit

comparison.• Personification—when one gives a physical

characteristic or innate quality of animation to something that is inanimate, or to an abstraction.

• Allusion—a reference to something that belongs properly to a world beyond the specific sphere of the poem.

• Universal Images—images, characters, motifs, or patterns that recur in the myths, dreams, oral traditions, songs literature, and other texts of peoples widely separated by time and place.

Figurative Language