Poetic Terms and Sound Devices

Poetic Terms and Sound Devices

Verse— Metrical or rhymed writing that is different from prose in its form; poetry.

Free verse—poetry that does not contain a regular pattern of rhythm or rhyme

Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter

Form—the structure or organization of a work of writing, including the arrangement of words and

lines on the page.

Line—the core unit of a poem.

End-stopped line—a line that “breaks” or ends at the end of a sentence, clause, or phrase

Enjambed line--a line that ends in the middle of a grammatical unit so that the sense continues on the next line.

Caesura—a pause in the middle of a line of poetry, created either by punctuation or natural sense of

phrasing

Stanza—one of several groups of lines in a poem that have the same line length, number of lines,

and metrical pattern

Strophe--a group of lines in a poem; strophes within a poem need not match each other in form

Quatrain—a group of four lines

Octet—a group of eight lines

Sestet—a group of six lines

Repetition—the appearance of an element (a sound, word, or phrase) more than once for emphasis,

unity, or rhythm

Rhythm—the pattern of stressed and unstressed (accented or unaccented) syllables in a line of

poetry

Stress/accent—emphasis placed on a syllable by pronouncing it louder, stronger, and/or longer as a

natural part of the language. Ex. In the word “label,” the first syllable (“la”) is accented or

stressed

Meter—The arrangement of words in poetry, measured in units of rhythmic pattern and the

number of syllables per line

Foot—one unit of a particular rhythmic pattern

Iamb—a two-syllable rhythmic foot in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second syllable

is stressed. Adjective form: iambic. Ex.: today (accent/stress in on the second syllable)

Pentameter—a rhythmic pattern which contains five feet per line

Tetrameter-- a rhythmic pattern which contains four feet per line

Iambic pentameter—one of the most common meters in English language literature and

Shakespeare’s meter of choice, consisting of five iambic feet per line.

Elision—the slurring together of syllables to force a line to fit the pattern of the required number of

syllables. Ex.: “But let your love even with my life decay” “Even” can be pronounced as

“e’en” to reduce the number of syllables in the line from eleven to ten, as required to fit the

pattern of the poem’s iambic pentameter

Couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines

Heroic couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines of iambic pentameter

Rhyme—the occurrence of similar or identical sounds at the end of two or more words

End rhyme—rhyming words used at the end of separate lines of poetry

Internal rhyme—words that rhyme within a line of poetry instead of at the end of separate

lines

Near/close rhyme—words that almost rhyme. Ex.: “dome” and “shone”

Visual rhyme—words at the end of lines that look like they should rhyme based on their

spellings rather than their pronunciation. Ex.: “does” and “foes”

Rhyming couplet—two consecutive rhymed lines

Rhyme scheme—the pattern of end rhymes in a poem, in which a lowercase letter of the alphabet is

assigned to represent each unique rhyming sound.

Alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Ex. Leaping lizards (repetition of “l” sound)

Assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds within non-rhyming words.

Ex. One last catch (repetition of short “a” sound)

Consonance— the repetition of consonant sounds within words.

Ex.: “bitter little bites” (repetition of the “t” sound)

Onomatopoeia—the use of words that sound like what they mean. Ex.: “crash” or “mumble”

Sonnet—a fourteen-line poem that has a regular rhythm and specific rhyme scheme (either abab

cdcd efef gg of abba abba cde cde). There is typically a shift in meaning or theme between

the third quatrain and the couplet or between the octet and the sestet, whichever pattern

applies. Ex.: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 71

Petrarchan or Italian sonnet-- a sonnet with an abba abba cde cde rhyme scheme and a structure of one

octet and sestet. Because so many words in Italian end in pure vowel sounds, the language can

easily support a rhyme scheme of only five sounds.

Shakespearean or English sonnet—a sonnet with an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme and a structure of

three quatrains and couplet. Because English words end in so many different vowel-consonant

combinations, the language cannot support a rhyme scheme of only a handful of sounds (like

the Italian sonnet), so the English sonnet provides for seven sounds to give the poet more

opportunities to find meaningful rhyming words.