TYPES OF STANZAS
• couplet (2)
• tercet (3)
• quatrain (4)
• cinquain (5)
• sestet (6)
• septet (7)
• octave (8)
Rhyme: the repetition of similar or duplicate sounds at regular intervals, usually the repetition of terminal sounds of words at the ends of lines.
End Rhyme: rhyme occurring at the ends of verse lines; most common rhyme.
Internal Rhyme: a word in the middle of the lines rhymes with a word at the end of the line.
Old King Cole was a merry old soul.
Perfect Rhyme: bake / rake
Imperfect Rhyme: the spelling or sound is different - break / snake - come / home
Rhyme Scheme: patterns of rhymes with a unit of verse.
TYPES OF POEMS
A. Narrative: a recording of events, sometimes brief, sometimes long; is highly objective, told by a speaker detached from the action.
1. Epic: a long, dignified narrative poem about the deeds of a traditional or historical hero or heroes of high station.
• dignified style
• battles and Gods
2. Ballads: a narrative poem, usually simple and fairly short, originally designed to be sung.
• refrains
• quatrains
• abcb
B. Lyric: a subjective, reflective poem expressing the thoughts and especially the feelings of a single speaker; has a regular rhyme scheme.
1. Elegy: a dignified poem mourning the death of an individual or of all men.
2. Ode: a lyric poem of some length, serious in subject and dignified in style; a poem praising someone or something.
3. Sonnet: a verse form containing fourteen lines, in English usually iambic pentameter, and a complicated rhyme scheme.
Types of Sonnets:
a. Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet:
• an octave and sestet
• abba abba cde cde
b. Shakespearean (English) Sonnet:
• three quatrains and a concluding couplet
• rhyming abab cdcd efef gg
C. Descriptive: an impersonal word painting. A truly descriptive poem is objective; that is, the poet is more interested in depicting a scene than in his own emotions.
D. Special Kinds of Poems:
1. Pastoral: depicts country scenes, dealing with shepherds and shepherdesses; its setting is marked by constant summer and fecund nature.
2. Blank Verse: unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.
But God left free the Will, for what obeys
Reason is free, and Reason he made right,
But bid her well beware, and still erect,
Lest by some fair appearing good surpris’d
She dictate false, and misinform the Will
To do what God expressly hath forbid
3. Free Verse: no consistency in line length, meter, rhyme or stanza form; is very rhythmic, often patterned after the spoken word.
Alliteration is the intentional repetition of similar initial sounds in two or more words. Alliteration is meant to appeal to the sense of sound.
He claps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands.
Assonance is the intentional repetition of an internal vowel sound in stressed syllables.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Consonance is the repetition of internal consonant sounds or end consonant sounds in words.
I caught this morning morning’s minion, kingdom of daylight’s
dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air...
Onomatopoeia is the use of a word to indicate a sound.
Certain words, such as hiss, bang, meow, imitate the sounds they represent.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inyard.
Euphony is the use of compatible, harmonious sounds to produce a pleasing melodious effect.
And the smooth stream in the smoother numbers flows.
Cacophony (Dissonance) is the use of inharmonious sounds in close conjunction for effect; a harsh, clashing sound.
But when loud surges lash the surrounding shore.
A simile is a direct comparison between two things, often using the clue words “as,” “like,” “than,” “as...as,” or “so...as”.
A metaphor is an indirect or implied comparison between two things. One thing is talked about as if it were another.
The leaves of life keep falling one by one.
The cherished fields
Put on their robes of purest white.
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor which is drawn-out beyond the usual word or phrase to extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by using multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas.
In personification human or personal qualities are given to inanimate things or ideas.
The haughty lion surveyed his realm.
My car was happy to be washed.
Apostrophe is a direct address to a person or personified object not present.
O’ solitude? Where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face.
Metonymy is speaking of a thing by the name of some other thing closely related to it.
From the cradle to the grave.
The crown for the monarchy.
Synecdoche is when a part is used to signify the whole and the whole for a part.
“wheels” for automobile
The factory employed 500 “hands”. (workers)
Hyperbole is an exaggeration or bold overstatement for the sake of emphasis.
This book weighs a ton.
as old as the hills
drowning in my tears
An allusion is a casual reference to a famous historical, biblical or literary figure or event.
I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen before;
Of Daphne and the laurel bough
And that god-feasting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light resume.
A rhetorical question is a question asked in such a way that the answer, being obvious, is not needed.
Was it for this you took such constant care
The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare?
For this your locks in paper durance bound?
For this with tort’ring irons wreath’d around?
...Gods! shall the ravisher display your hair,
While the fops envy, and the ladies stare?
A paradox is a statement which appears self-contradictory or absurd, but turns out to have a valid meaning.
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Oxymoron is the combination of two contradictory terms to form a compressed paradox.
living death
pleasing pains
A pun is a word used in a double sense in order to produce a humorous effect.
Ben Battle was a soldier bold,
And used to war’s alarms:
But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
So he laid down his arms!
A litote is a type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary.
He is not the brightest man in the world.
She is no beauty.
A euphemism expresses a disagreeable or unpleasant fact in agreeable language.
death being referred to as sleep
a liar as someone with a wonderful imagination
An antithesis involves sharply contrasting ideas being expressed within a balanced grammatical structure.
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
He promised wealth and provided poverty!
Parallelism is a similarity in structure.
He tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable.
Repetition is when words, sounds, devices are repeated primarily for the sake of emphasis.
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
Anaphora is repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.
Antimetabole is repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.
One should eat to live, not live to eat.
Climax is the arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance.
Let a man acknowledge obligations to his family, his country, and his God.
Anti-Climax or Bathos is the opposite of climax. It is a sudden ludicrous, descent from the higher to the lower. (Used in satire or ridicule)
You have behaved most treacherously; you have attempted to murder me; and you have blunted my razor.
An epigram is a brief, pointed saying that has the nature of a proverb; based on contrast.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
