Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
A
An allegory is a structured narrative containing symbols arranged in a rigid and sometimes complicated pattern. A whole novel can be an allegory in which abstract concepts are represented by persons, objects and events such as The Pilgrim's Progress in which Christian, the central character, is ensnared by the Slough of Despond and falls into the hands of the Giant Despair so depicting in his adventures the soul's journey through life to its heavenly reward. In poetry also, the poet can construct a narrative containing symbols and actions representing abstract concepts. There is the example of Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which literally describes a sea-faring journey with dangerous, mysterious happenings, punctuated by the wilful conduct of the mariner. Metaphorically, however, the poem is tracing, through the mariner's actions and the sequence of events, the course of a particular human being's sinning, suffering, repentance and redemption. BACK | INDEX
Alliteration is the repetition of the initial letter of successive words in a line of a text, e.g., "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, / the furrow followed free;" (Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). BACK | INDEX
Amphibrachic metre has units (feet) of three syllables, u / u (short, long, short) e.g., "There was a young lady of Brooklyn." (Stillman). In this line "was", "la" (of "lady") and "Brook" (of "Brooklyn" bear the heavy stresses and each heavy stress is preceded and followed by unaccented syllables. BACK | INDEX
Anapestic metre has units (feet) of three syllables, u u / (short, short, long) e.g., "There was an Old Man of the Dee/ Who was sadly annoyed by a Flea." (Edward Lear - Limerick). In these two lines the heavy stress falls on the following: "was", "Man", Dee/ "sad" (of "sadly"), "noyed" (of "annoyed") and "Dee". BACK | INDEX
Antistrophe is an answer to the strophe in a Pindaric Ode and the second part of an introduction to an ode. It consists of a series of lines with a metrical system which copies the series already set up in the strophe. Like the strophe, the antistrophe prepares the way for the person's exploits to be commemorated in the ode. The epode follows it. BACK | INDEX
An apostrophe is a direct address of a person or thing, present or absent. The poet could make the address in the form of an exclamation. The use of the apostrophe indicates that the poet has entered into a heightened phase of feeling. See Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind": O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being. BACK | INDEX
An archetype is a basic model. In poetry it could be an idea, a character, an action, an object, an institution, an event or setting. Whatever it is, it must contain primitive, general and universal characteristics. For example, in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner the mariner at the metaphorical level of the poem stands for a wise, old man. BACK | INDEX
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, e.g., "that dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea." (W.B. Yeats). The "o" found in "dol" and "gong" and "orn" and "orm". BACK | INDEX
The atmosphere of a poem is the feeling surrounding the poem, not to be confused with tone and mood. For example, if the poem is about a wind storm, the atmosphere, no doubt, would be disturbed, and maybe, invigorating. BACK | INDEX
B
ballad is a very old form of narrative poetry with a specific form dictated to by the fact that it was originally orally transmitted and sung to music. Its content covered incidents from folklore and political and family histories to supernatural happenings. These ballads were handed down from generation to generation and in the process probably underwent many changes. They were not put into print until the eighteenth century. By that time many of them had been lost. BACK | INDEX
Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter which became the standard verse form for Elizabethan theatre and was later used in longer poetic forms in the works of Milton and Pope. BACK | INDEX
The broadside ballad evolved out of the traditional folk ballad. It took its name from the fact that it was printed on one side of a sheet of paper and distributed by hand. This type of ballad disseminated news and information and indicated to what popular tune the ballad could be sung. It often dealt with a social issue and provided an opportunity for public comment. BACK | INDEX
C
Cacophony is a device which the poet uses to create a sense of disharmony, e.g., Pope's "An Essay on Criticism": But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,/ The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar. BACK | INDEX
Caesuras are devices the poet uses to create a break/pause in the flow of sound within a line of poetry. These breaks correspond to a break in meaning, e.g., Wordsworth's "The World": The World is too much with us:\\ late and soon./Getting and spending,\\we lay waste our powers. There are two caesuras used here: one at the end of "us" and one at the end of "spending". BACK | INDEX
The Cinquain was invented by an American poet, Adelaide Crapsey who was inspired by the Haiku and Tanka. The Cinquain is a five line poem with a different number of syllables in each line, e.g., two in line 1; four in line 2; six in line 3; eight in line 4; two in line 5. There are twenty-two syllables in all. (2,4,6,8,2) The poem is written in iambic metre. This poet relates the experience to the self unlike the Japanese poets in Haiku and Tanka who keep distanced from the experience being communicated. BACK | INDEX
see heroic couplets BACK | INDEX
Concrete Poetry (Shape Poetry) is a type of poetry in which form and content are inseparable. It uses words, visual images and layout to suggest something about the subject. It acts out the meaning of the word and is a form of lyric poetry as it brings into focus the individual writer's feelings about the subject through the word/letter/shapes that make up the poem. BACK | INDEX
Connotation means not only using a word literally but using it in such a way that it carries with it a suggestion or implication of some added meaning which can be grasped by the senses and the imagination. The reader is directed by the poet's use of connotation to have a sensory or emotional or cognitive response. See Sandburg's "Fog": The fog comes/on little cat feet./ It sits looking/ over harbor and city/ on silent haunches/ and then moves on. Here "little cat feet" describe a gentle motion but "silent haunches" implies something more forceful and perhaps brings in an element of danger. BACK | INDEX
Consonance is a device in which the consonants in a line dominate the pattern of identical sound. There could be identical sounds both at the beginning and end of words made by the use of consonants. The use of various consonants in this way help the poet achieve a desired end. Does the poet want to achieve harshness or unkindness, tranquillity or easy motion? The repetition of certain consonants can help him/her to achieve the desired end but he/she can also use these devices as a binding force as well. See the following two lines from Milton's Paradise Lost. "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit/ Of that forbidden tree . . ." Here there is alliteration with the words: "first", "fruit" and "forbidden" which are key words in Milton's argument brought together by this device. Note how "first", "fruit", "that" and "tree" end or begin with the consonant "t".. Note also, how there is a re-echo of "disobedience" in the later word, "forbidden". The intermingling of both alliteration and consonance give here a binding effect to the argument that Milton is making. BACK | INDEX
Courtly love in literature, especially poetry, is a convention in which the lover expresses a noble passion for his beloved. This lady is given a very exalted position and has high noble feelings and beauty of both soul and body. BACK | INDEX
D
Dactyllic metre has three syllables to the foot or unit, which consists of one accented (stressed) syllable followed by two unaccented (unstressed) syllables. It gives a lilting feeling to the verse, e.g., "Touch her not scornfully." (Thomas Hood: "The bridge of sighs".) Here the words, "touch" and "scorn-" carry the accents. BACK | INDEX
Denotation means the dictionary meaning of a word, the literal meaning. The reader must be sure, if there is more than one meaning, which meaning the poet is using in the text. For example, if the word, "brawn" is being used, is the poet using it as "muscle" or "power"? BACK | INDEX
Diction refers to the way a poet utilises language to communicate ideas and includes such devices as: denotation, connotation, style, apostrophe and repetition. (See the individual entries for each of these devices.) BACK | INDEX
Dimeter refers to a line of poetry that contains two metric feet. BACK | INDEX
Disyllabic refers to a two-syllable metric foot. BACK | INDEX
The Dramatic is actually drama written in poetic form. BACK | INDEX
The Dramatic Monologue is a type of poem that has taken its inspiration from the Shakespearean Soliloquy in which the audience becomes part of the dramatic experience. In a Dramatic Monologue there is a single speaker, a setting in time and place, an event and a conflict. Unlike the soliloquy, the monologue provides for interaction between the speaker and his/her audience. The English poet who used this form extensively was the nineteenth century poet, Browning. BACK | INDEX
Dramatic poetry focuses on character but also contains a story line. The character is placed in a conflict situation. There could be more than one character in the poem and all speak in their own voices. It is the voice of the poet that binds meaning and ideas together. BACK | INDEX
E
An Elaborate Conceit is a figure of speech which gives a detailed, often clever parallel between two things or ideas. In creating a Conceit, the poet finds resemblances between unlike objects or situations but takes the comparison further than he would have, had he/ she decided to use a metaphor or simile and so carries the comparison to extremes. See Herrick's "Cherry Ripe": Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry,/ Full and fair ones; come and buy:/ If so be, you ask me where/ They do grow? I answer, there,/ Where my Julia's lips do smile;/ There's the land, or cherry-isle:/ Whose plantations fully show/ All the year, where cherries grow. Herrick is not content to use a metaphor and say: "Julia's lips are ripe cherries" but extends the comparison by making up a "cherry-isle" where there are "plantations" in which cherries flourish "all the year" round. Obviously, this place enjoys a continual summer. BACK | INDEX
The Elegy in English poetry is a lament that commemorates the dead in terms of either a personal loss or a general loss. Feelings are expressed in restrained tones. The Elegy has its origins in the Pastoral Elegy. (See separate entry). BACK | INDEX
End-rhyme refers to a rhyming scheme in a poem where the end of one line rhymes with the end of another. The rhyming words at the end of the lines binds the ideas in the line together. BACK | INDEX
End-stops occur at the ends of lines of poetry at which the poet forces the reader to pause by his/her use of commas, semi-colons or full-stops. A break in the continuity of thought/ movement, has been made. The use of the end-stop is the opposite of enjambement which is the use of a "run-on" line. BACK | INDEX
Enjambement literally means "a striding over". In a poem where a line runs over into the one that follows, the poet has used enjambement. It has the effect of linking/completing ideas or thoughts as well as creating movement. BACK | INDEX
An epic is a very lengthy narrative poem which had its origins in ancient Greece. It celebrates the achievement of a hero or heroes who have the heavy responsibility of performing a very difficult task for the good of others. The exploits pan out under the surveillance of the gods who sometimes take part in the hero's struggles. The epic form has been adapted by English poets since the sixteenth century to recount an heroic tale. BACK | INDEX
The epic simile is a device used by the epic poet to compare what is happening in the poem to something that has already happened. BACK | INDEX
The epode is the third part of the introduction to an ode which is an incantation or lyric song related to the strophe and antistrophe and designed to introduce the hero. BACK | INDEX
Euphony is a device in which the poet uses a succession of light, harmonious syllables which contribute to the tone, mood and atmosphere in a poem, e.g., See Pope's "An Essay on Criticism": Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,/ And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows." BACK | INDEX
F
Feminine rhyme occurs when the rhyming lines have words ending in a stressed syllable followed by one or more unstressed syllables, e.g., "burning" and "turning"; "dizzy" and "easy". This technique always gives a sense of falling away; or perhaps, mystery. BACK | INDEX
Figures of Speech are words and expressions used in an unusual, non-literal way. They are sometimes referred to as imagery because they create a word picture and appeal to the senses, so that they can be gustatory, olfactory, tactile, visual and aural. (See Imagery below.) There are three main kinds of figures of speech: simile, metaphor, personification. (See their description under separate headings here in the glossary.) BACK | INDEX
Free Verse originated in France and was adopted by English speaking poets. It is poetry which lacks regular metre and line length and relies on natural speech rhythms. BACK | INDEX
Frontier (American folk) ballads and Bush (Australian folk) ballads are traditional forms of folk ballad that grew out of the experiences of the early pioneers in both America and Australia and today are seen as social commentaries on the times which they depicted. BACK | INDEX
H
Haiku is a concise form of lyric poetry which originated in Japan many centuries ago and has found its way into English poetry. A Haiku is the result of an interaction that takes place between the poet and the environment. The poet and the object become one. The motive of the poem is pure feeling and is a communication of an experience done in an objective manner. In form it is a poem of three lines containing seventeen syllables - five in line 1; seven in line 2; five in line 3. (5,7,5) Think of the Haiku as a snapshot which implies more than it says. BACK | INDEX
Half-rhyme (slant/para-) refers to sounds, for example, at the end of lines that almost rhyme, e.g., the second word gives an echo of the first word such as in Owen's "A Strange Meeting": And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall/ By his dead smile, I knew we stood in Hell. Here there is a difference in vowel sounds between "hall" and "Hell". The effect of this usage in this particular poem gives a ghostly feeling. The poet feels disturbed by what he is experiencing. BACK | INDEX
Heptameter refers to a line of poetry with seven metric feet. BACK | INDEX
Heroic couplets (rhyming/closed) are two successive lines of poetry which rhyme with one another and usually have the same rhythm. A meaning is sealed off within the two lines. Very often the poet uses iambic pentameter within the two lines. The name "heroic" derives from its usage in heroic verse where it acted as a vehicle for narrative poetry. Its origin is not known but it was used by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, and Pope and Dryden made use of it in the form of closed couplets. Some poets create their poems in the form of stanzas made up of closed couplets. BACK | INDEX
Hexameter refers to a line of poetry with six metric feet. BACK | INDEX
The Homostrophic ode was used by Pope. Here the stanza forms are identical and the poem is, like all odes, a poem in praise of a person or object or qualities. BACK | INDEX
The Horatian ode was created by the Roman poet, Horace (65-8BC). In this form of ode the poet establishes a pattern in the first stanza and keeps to that pattern for the remainder of the poem. BACK | INDEX
Hyperbole is a device of exaggeration which the poet uses to make a point. For example, "not all the waters in the rude, rough sea can wash the balm from an annointed king." Shakespeare, Richard II, 3.3.54. BACK | INDEX
I
An iamb is a metric foot consisting of two syllables - a short followed by a long or an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. BACK | INDEX
Iambic is the word that describes the metre which contains units (feet) made up of a short (unaccented) syllable followed by a long (accented or stressed) syllable. BACK | INDEX
Iambic pentameter is the name for a five foot line in poetry in which each foot is an iamb, that is, a short followed by a long syllable. (unaccented followed by an accented). It is the most commonly used form in classical style poetry and gives a rising, musical effect. BACK | INDEX
In the context of poetry this word means picture, a picture which the poet creates with words. BACK | INDEX
Imagery is the term used to denote a picture that the poet creates with words. It is also used to refer to figures of speech such as metaphors, similes and the like. Imagery draws on the poet's world of the five senses - taste (gustatory), touch (tactile), smell (olfactory), hearing (aural) and seeing (visual). With the help of one, two or more of these, the poet is able to share more precisely with the reader a certain experience. The reader's own five senses become involved. See Tennyson's "Mariana": Old faces glimmered through the doors,/ Old footsteps trod the upper floors/ Old voices called her from without." Here Tennyson is appealing to the visual, then the aural in these lines. BACK | INDEX
Initial rhyme refers to a rhyming scheme in which the first word of a line rhymes with the first word of another line. Like end-rhyme it has a binding effect on the meaning in the poem. BACK | INDEX
Internal rhyme refers to a rhyming scheme in which a word within a line rhymes with the word at the end of the line. This feature gives an emphatic force to meaning and a strong bonding of ideas. It can also assist with the rhythm of the poem. BACK | INDEX
L
The first level of meaning in a poem is that of the literal, that is, what literally is the poem saying. Then one has to search for other possible meanings from this literal level. One must ask if there is also a metaphorical meaning that the poet wishes the reader to receive. BACK | INDEX
The limerick is a five line poem which recounts a comic incident. It has a rhyming pattern of aabba. The longer lines have three strong beats and the shorter have two. The metre is usually a mixture of dimeter (iambic) and trimeter (anapest). It always begins with the words: "There once was a . . ." BACK | INDEX
The literary ballad evolved out both the traditional folk ballad and the broadside ballad during the eighteenth century. They recounted stories of other times or protested at current social conditions. The great components of this type of ballad were the poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge. BACK | INDEX
The lyric is usually a short poem. Its name derives from the word, "lyre", a musical instrument. It deals with the emotions only and in modern poetry it explores the human condition and life experiences. BACK | INDEX
M
Masculine rhyme occurs when the rhyming lines end in one syllable words, e.g., "fount" and "count"; "support" and "distort". The accent or stress is always on the final syllable. This technique always gives a sense of strength. BACK | INDEX
A metaphor is a figure of speech which makes a comparison without the use of "like" or "as". The poet takes a word with its usual meaning and makes it stand for another meaning. Something is seen as if it is something else, e.g., See Noyes', "The Highwayman": The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees. The noise of the wind is being compared to a swift flowing, swollen river which makes a tumultuous sound but cannot be seen, only heard in the thick blackness of night. Noyes has appealed to the visual and aural senses by making this implied comparison and has struck an atmosphere of mystery. BACK | INDEX
Metaphysical poetry deals with spiritual or philosophical matters. It is a term used to describe the work of a group of seventeenth century poets, among whom were: Donne, Marvell, Cowley, Crashaw, Herbert and Vaughan. They used ordinary speech, in contrast to the poetic language of their contemporaries, paradoxes and elaborate conceits. (See the individual entries for these terms.) and obscure Scientific terms taken from the Science of their day. Sometimes the metaphysical poem was an elaborate argument coupled with intense emotion. BACK | INDEX
Metonymy is a device, involving the use of an attribute which the poet uses to convey what he/she thinks about a person. It allows the poet to move from the particular to the general. See Collins' "How sleep the brave": How sleep the brave who sink to rest/ By all their country's wishes best. Collins is able to praise the courage of all who have died in battle with the general use of the word, "brave". BACK | INDEX
Metre is the precise, rhythmic pattern which the poet imposes on his verse. There are several kinds of metre: such as: iambic, trochaic, dactyllic, spondaic, anapestic and amphibrachic. (See explanations for these under individual headings. BACK | INDEX
The Miltonic sonnet uses the Spensarian sonnet form but is written in one complete stanza. BACK | INDEX
Monometer refers to a line of poetry consisting of one metric foot. BACK | INDEX
The mood of a poem is how the reader is feeling/reacting to the content, message, tone and atmosphere that the poet has created. For example, if the poem were about the horrors of life on the battlefield and the useless loss of life, the reader might be reacting in an angry way and at the same time might be feeling sympathetic. BACK | INDEX
N
A narrative poem tells a story or recounts some events as the poet views them and to communicate the poet's attitude to what he/she is writing. BACK | INDEX
O
Octameter refers to a line of poetry with eight metric feet. BACK | INDEX
The Ode is a reflective form of lyric poetry which praises a person, object or incident and often addresses the subject in question. BACK | INDEX
Onomatopoeia is a device in which the sound of the word closely resembles its meaning, e.g., "smack", "clatter", "clash". Its usage in a poem helps to engage the reader more closely with the situation being described in the poem. BACK | INDEX
P
Paradoxes are statements which on the surface are absurdities or contradictions but, in fact, carry a truth, e.g., See Wordsworth's claim in "My heart leaps up when I behold" when he says: The child is father of the man. BACK | INDEX
See half-rhyme BACK | INDEX
The Pastoral Elegy is a lament for the dead. For a Pastoral Elegy there must be a rural setting, shepherd characters, gods and goddesses, all in an idyllic natural world. The object of the poem is to mourn a death and learn how to come to terms with it. A special elegiac metre is used. BACK | INDEX
personification is a figure of speech which presents an object or idea as if it were a person. It is given human qualities or feelings, e.g., See Wright's "The Old Prison": The rows of cells are unroofed,/ a flute for the wind's mouth,/ who comes with a breath of ice from the blue caves of the south. The wind here is given the role of a person breathing icy breath who puts his/her "mouth" around the hollows of the old prison as if over a flute, to produce the eerie sounds. So, through this personification, Wright has been able to embody the inhospitable atmosphere and help the reader to feel the cold and to hear the eerie sound made by the wind as it passes through the spaces of the crumbling prison. BACK | INDEX
The Petrarachan sonnet was widely used by an Italian poet, Petrarch (1304-74) and was introduced into England in the fourteenth century. The sonnet is broken into an octave of eight lines (abbaabba) and a sestet of six lines (cdecde or cdcdcd) and is written in iambic pentameter. In the octave an issue is proposed and in the sestet some kind of resolution is made. BACK | INDEX
The Pindaric ode was created by the Greek poet, Pindar (518-442 BC). Pindar created a pattern for his ode by constructing three initial parts called, the strophe, antistrophe and epode. His odes were designed for choral purposes and dance and were a reflective form of praise of some notable person, object or incident. BACK | INDEX
Poetic Feet are units of rhythm found in lines of poetry. A poetic foot can be made up of one, two or three syllables, (stressed and unstressed) e.g., a stressed and an unstressed; an unstressed and a stressed, two unstressed and a stressed, a stressed and two unstressed, and even two stressed. (See different types of poetic feet under the heading of Metre.). BACK | INDEX
Poetic Forms are many, each having its own set of rules and purpose. Broadly speaking Poetic Forms fall into three categories: the narrative, lyric and dramatic. (See separate entries for these.) Each category contains different types, e.g., the narrative has a form of poetry called the Ballad, the lyric has the Sonnet, and the dramatic has the Dramatic Monologue. (See individual entries for these.) BACK | INDEX
Prose Poetry originated in eighteenth century France. It is lyric poetry which looks like prose on the page but is shorter and more compact than prose and has a density of expression and with a more obvious rhythm than prose. The poet sometimes uses inner rhyme and metrical runs. Unlike prose, there is a need to pause at the end of lines for emotional effect and the poem varies in length from half a page to three or four pages. BACK | INDEX
Punctuation in poetry can be an important tool for the expression of rhythm, e.g., a full stop in the middle of a line can break up the flow of thought and create a jerky rhythm. It can also help to emphasise a certain point. A full-stop at the end of a line, as in prose, completes a thought unit while a semi-colon creates a pause, greater than the comma and relates what has gone before it with what follows it. BACK | INDEX
R
Rap is a popular form of music developed in 70s which copies the strong stress metre of Old English. It is based on rhythm and not melody BACK | INDEX
Repetition or the repeating of words, phrases or refrains helps to convey feelings, enhance description, emphasise a point, link ideas or bind ideas together. BACK | INDEX
Rhyme is the matching of words or syllables which, when spoken, have the same sound, eg, cat/mat/sat; hollow/follow;hill/still. Rhyme in poetry usually comes at the end of lines but check on internal, initial, masculine, feminine, initial, half or para or slant, end-rhyme to see how widely rhyme can be used. BACK | INDEX
See heroic couplet BACK | INDEX
Rhyming scheme refers to the pattern of end-rhyme in stanzas or poems. BACK | INDEX
The Rhythm of a poem is the flow of movement or pace within the lines of a poem. It could be fast, slow, calm or jerky. The meaning of the words works with the rhythm. BACK | INDEX
Romance poetry was narrative poetry popular in Medieval times which told of the adventures of knights on quests in which their spiritual and moral qualities were tested. BACK | INDEX
S
Setting is where the events in a poem takes place. It is not always expressed and the reader has to read the poem carefully to see what setting is being implied by the poet. Knowing the setting is crucial to the reader's understanding of the poem and can clarify as well for the reader the theme, mood and action. BACK | INDEX
The Shakespearean soliloquy is a piece of dramatic poetry in which the character speaks alone and aloud. It is a means of giving the audience information and helps to move the plot forward in the play. Through the soliloquy the speaker is able to convey his/her thoughts and directs the audience's understanding of his/her motives, as well as the conflict that is at the very heart of the action. BACK | INDEX
The Shakespearean sonnet widely used by Shakespeare was an adaptation of the Petrarchan sonnet. Its rhyming scheme is as follows: abab cdcd efef gg. This rhyming scheme, although governing the movement of thought, allows for more variety of thought. It is written in three quatrains and ends with a rhyming couplet. The three stanzas can give three viewpoints of an issue/subject. There is a definite turn of thought in the final stanza and in the couplet there is a conclusion or a surprise. Like the Petrarchan sonnet it is written iambic pentameter. BACK | INDEX
A simile is a figure of speech with which the poet makes a comparison using the words, "like" or "as". See Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib": The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. This simile gathers up the ferocity of the attack on the Israelites' camp and the defencelessness of the Israelites against the might of the Assyrian. Sennacherib's army is seen to be like a ferocious, hungry wolf devouring everything before it and the Israelites as helpless sheep in their pen. BACK | INDEX
Single/double off-beats are the unstressed syllables in a word that follow a stressed syllable. Their use in poetry can assist the poet to create contrast or change of pace to reflect the theme, e.g., "lyric style" and "lyrical style". BACK | INDEX
See half-rhyme BACK | INDEX
The Soliloquy is found in dramatic poetry and is the action of a character speaking aloud and alone. The character divulges important information which is helpful to the audience's understanding of what is happening. BACK | INDEX
The sonnet is a form of lyric poetry constructed to cater for a range of emotions and ideas. The word, "sonnet" literally means a "little song". It is a short poem of fourteen lines with a rigid metrical and structural pattern. There are four kinds of basic sonnets: Petrarchan, Shakespearean, Spenserian and Miltonic. (See individual entries for these.) BACK | INDEX
Sound variation is created with devices such as: onomatopoeia, euphony and cacophony. BACK | INDEX
Sound devices are of many kinds and include: alliteration, assonance, consonance (See meanings under their separate headings.) BACK | INDEX
The Spensarian sonnet is a modified version of the Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyming pattern is abab bcbc cdcd ee. As with the Shakespearean sonnet, the Spensarian sonnet through its rhyming scheme for each quatrain ensures a relationship between form and content. There is a turn of thought in the sestet. BACK | INDEX
Spondaic metre consists of a metric foot made up of two long syllables which give a pounding effect, e.g., "The long /day wanes; /the slow /moon climbs. (Tennyson's "Ulysses"). The second and fourth feet are spondees. BACK | INDEX
Sprung rhythm is a term given by Gerard Manly Hopkins to the accent metre which he used in his poetry. He mixes metrical feet in his lines and employs a large number of heavy stresses side by side on words that are not linked with the usual conjunctions nor put in balanced phrases. He wished to achieve an abruptness and an emphasis. See the following line from his poem, "Pied Beauty":
/ / / / / /
With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim BACK | INDEX
The statement is the literal content of a poem including the subject matter, such as people, objects, facts and events and what literally happens or is experienced. (It is not the metaphorical meaning, if the poem has one.) BACK | INDEX
The strophe, according to Pindar, the Greek poet, is the first of three initial parts or introduction preceding an ode, namely, the strophe, antistrophe and the epode. The poet composes a few lines set to a metrical pattern in which a familiar Greek context. is established. BACK | INDEX
Style is the particular way a poet selects and puts words together. It is connected closely to the purpose of the poem. The poet's choice and arrangement of words/phrases are intended to convey attitude and often to preserve a certain rhythm. BACK | INDEX
The subject matter could comprise a single event, an experience, a particular adventure, an animal. It is whatever the poet has chosen as the subject for his/her poem. BACK | INDEX
Symbolism is a verbal device used by the poet to make the reader aware of and understand certain abstract ideas, such as: peace, love, hatred and others. See Yeats' "The Wild Swans at Coole" in which he uses the "nine-and-fifty swans" to reflect upon the immutable aspects of life against all that has changed in his life. The swans are able to make him very aware of how life has little permanency. BACK | INDEX
Synecdoche is a device in which the poet uses a part of a whole to mean/signify the whole, for example, "heart" or "hand" to mean a person. This kind of device allows the poet to generalise about the person in question. BACK | INDEX
T
The Tanka, like the Haiku, is a concise form of lyric poetry which comes to us from the Japanese. It captures an interaction between the poet and an object or person or experience and expresses pure feeling in an objective fashion. In form it consists of five lines of thirty-one syllables: five syllables in line 1; 7 syllables in line 2; five syllables in line 3; seven syllables in line 4; seven syllables in line 5. (5,7,5,7,7) In the evolution of the Tanka two dominant patterns emerged (575-pause-77) and (5pause75pause77). The two extra lines that the Tanka affords and the different places for a pause in thought allow for an expansion of the single experience and for emphasis. BACK | INDEX
Tetrameter refers to a line of poetry with four metric feet. BACK | INDEX
The theme of a poem is the underlying idea or concept on which the poem is built. For example, a poem about the carnage of war and loss of life could be futility. BACK | INDEX
The Three Affective Levels in a poem are the tone, mood and atmosphere. (See the individual entries for each of these.) The poet's careful choice of rhythm, rhyme, visual and verbal devices and diction contribute to these feeling levels and enable the poet transmit a message. BACK | INDEX
Timing is that aspect in poetic rhythm which keeps the desired pace. Underlying the idea of rhythm in the spoken language is the notion of a regular periodic beat which rises out of the stress patterns that are used. For example, when two different English sentences written side by side, although not quite identical in structure, are read aloud, the time involved in the reading of each sentence is approximately the same. It happens because the reader, practised in the language, has learnt to keep a beat in speaking the language. This same principle applies to the reading of poetry. BACK | INDEX
Tone in a poem refers to the poet's feelings towards his/her topic. The reader is able to grasp the tone through recognising what kinds of words and features the poet uses, e.g., Is there a constant repetition of a certain phrase or word? Are the words used throughout: trivial? harsh? light-hearted? heavy? If one can recognise these features then one can say the tone is light-hearted or disapproving, angry, depressed and so on. BACK | INDEX
Trimeter refers to a line of poetry that contains three metric feet. BACK | INDEX
Trisyllabic refers to a metric foot of three syllables. BACK | INDEX
Trochaic metre refers to a metric foot or unit consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one. It gives a falling musical effect, e.g., "Honour/ riches/, marriage/-blessing(Shakespeare: The Tempest.) The heavy stress in each of the four feet above falls on the first syllable in each foot. BACK | INDEX
V
Verbal devices are means which the poet uses to support the three components of a poem, namely, the Statement and Voice, the Rhythm and the Rhyming Scheme. These devices are: imagery and figures of speech and such things as: synecdoche, metonymy, hyperbole, symbolism. (See explanations of these under individual headings.) BACK | INDEX
Verse refers generally to poetry but usually is used in reference to simple (children's) poems and sometimes to a stanza or a line of a poem. BACK | INDEX
Voice in a poem is the person who is telling of the event/experience. It is not necessarily the voice of the poet. The poet often allows someone very close to the concerns of the poem to speak in his/her place. This technique gives an authentic feel to the experience. BACK | INDEX
W
Word order assists the poet to achieve a desired rhythm and to emphasise certain ideas. BACK | INDEX
Word Stress which is part of the English language plays an important role in poetic rhythm. The poet has to keep in mind that English words can be composed of single, double or multiple syllables BACK | INDEX