Poetic Terminology

What is poetry? It can be true or imaginary, so it’s neither fiction nor nonfiction. It can be as short as a haiku or a very long epic. It may or may not rhyme, it’s doesn’t necessarily have to be about anything if it sounds pretty, and many people write poetry in complete sentences. So what is a poem? Words. Poetry is made of words—the precise words, written in a concise manner, with special attention to imagery. 

Type:

Aubade-a poem about the morning and two lovers who must part

Elegy-written in remembrance

Epic-about a hero who goes on a journey, usually very lengthy

Epithalamion- (written for a marriage?)

Found poem-composed of words and phrases “found”

Lullaby-

Narrative poem-

Ode-a poem written in honor, usually to a person, a place, a season, or an abstract idea

Pastoral Elegy

Confessional poetry- a poetic confession to the world rather than a priest; anti-Catholic

Drab poetry-

Dramatic poetry-

Dramatic-narrative poetry-

Gnomic poetry-

Occasional Poetry-

Philosophical poetry-

Structure (Form):

Acrostic

Ballad-a poem with a refrain, in the form of popular songs

Carol-

Chant-

Eclogue-

Free Verse-poem without rhyme, line length, meter, etc.

Ghazal

Haiku-3-line poem, 1^st line has 5 syllables, 2^nd has 7, and 3^rd has 5; usually about nature

Letter poem-

Limerick-5 lines; 1/2/5 rhyme with 8 syllables each & 3/4  rhyme with 4 syllables

Long poem-

Pantoum-

Pastoral-

Praise song-

Prose poetry-

Psalm-

Round-

Song-

Sonnet-14 lines poem with rhyme scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG

Sonnet, English or Shakespearean-

Sonnet, Italian or Petrarchan -

Sonnet, Spenserian

Villanelle-15 poem with complex refrain; line 3 is repeated in lines XXX, line 4 is repeated in lines XXX, and rhyme scheme is AABB throughout

Xanadu poem-

Stylistic Elements:

*Anaphora-

*Apostrophe-

Alliteration

Anapest-

Assonance-

Cadence-

Caesura-

Diction-word choice

Feminine Rhyme-

Imagery-

Internal rhyme-

Masculine Rhyme

Metaphor—a bridge that connects two things with one another (see pg. X)

Near rhyme-

Personification-giving non-human things human characteristics

Refrain-a repeating of a line or lines

Repetition-repeating words or phrases on purpose, for emphasis

Rhyme-

Rhyme (Feminine Rhyme)-

Rhyme (Masculine Rhyme)-

Rhyme scheme-

Simile-making a comparison using like or as;

Symbol-attributing an abstract idea to a physical object

Synecdoche-

Tone-

Structural Elements:

Accentual-Alliterative Verse-

Blank Verse-

Chorus-

Cinquain- see meter pg. X

Closure-the end of a poem, the conclusion, usually a twist or an epiphany

Couplet- two successive lines that rhyme

Dactyl- see meter pg. X

End Stop-

End-rhyme-

Enjambment-

Foot-

Free verse-see above

Full rhyme- (or, Slant Rhyme)

Heroic couplet-

Iambic pentameter-see meter pg. X

Line Length

Line length-

Medial pauses-

Meter- (see pg. X)

Off rhyme-

Persona

Quatrain- see meter pg. X

Refrain

Rhythm-

Run-on lines-

Sestina-

Slant rhyme-

Stanza-a paragraph in a poem; has a hard space between it and other stanzas

Syllabic verse-

Variable Foot-

POETRY

Glossary of everything else

Abecedarian-

Alexandrine-

Apollonian-

Ars Poetica-

Ash can

Ballade-

Beatnik-

Canticle-

Canto-

Didactic poetry-

Dionysian-

Envoi-

Homonyms-

Madrigal-

Metaphysical conceit-

Noh-

Ottava rima-

Poetic diction-

Primer prose-

Projective verse-

Prosody-

Repetend-

Rondel-

Sensory details-

$Surrealism-see above?

Tanka-

Terza rima-

Terzanelle-

Translation in poetry-

Troubadour-

Yeats Octave-