Poetry Terms
rhythm • The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables– the poem’s beat
elegy • A poem for someone who has died
meter • A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
End rhyme • Rhymes at the end of the line • The panther is a leopard, • Except it hasn’t been peppered. • --Ogden Nash • from “The Panther”
couplet • Two consecutive rhyming lines The panther is a leopard, Except it hasn’t been peppered. --Ogden Nash from “The Panther”
Internal rhymes • Rhymes that occur within the same line • While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, • As if someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door– • --Edgar Allan Poe • from “The Raven”
Exact rhymes • Identical sounds in final syllables or paired groups of final syllables • Examples: great, late • rider, beside her • dutiful, unbeautiful
Approximate rhyme • Sounds that are similar but not exactly the same; this type of rhyme is more popular with modern poets. (also called imperfect rhymes, near rhymes, slant rhymes, or off rhymes) • Examples: fellow, hollow • cat, catch • bat, bit
Free verse • Poetry without the use of meter or a regular rhyme scheme; however, poets still work to make their lines rhythmic. One way to do this is by repeating sentence patterns. • Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling, • Give me juicy autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard, • Give me a field where the unmowed grass grows, • Give me an arbor, give me the trellised grape… • --Walt Whitman • from “Give Me the Splendid Sun”
alliteration • The repetition of consonant sounds in several words that are close together • And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain • --Edgar Allan Poe • “The Raven”
Assonance • The repetition of vowel sounds in several words close together • That solitude which suits abstruser musings • — Samuel Taylor Coleridge • from "Frost at Midnight”
onomatopoeia • Words that imitate natural sounds • Examples: rustle, sizzle, buzz, bark, meow
ballad • Songlike poem that tells a story, often a sad story of betrayal, death, or loss. Ballads usually have regular, steady rhythm, a simple rhyme pattern, and a refrain (repeated part).
Epic • Long narrative poem about the many deeds of a great hero. Epics are closely connected to a particular culture. The hero embodies the important values of the society he comes from.
Narrative Poem • Poem that tells a story– a series of related events.
Lyric poem • Poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings of a speaker
ode • Long lyric poem, usually praising some subject, and written in dignified (formal) language
sonnet • Fourteen-line lyric poem that follows strict rules of structure, meter, and rhyme
