Poetry

1. Poetry

2. Poetry—concentrated language consisting of rhythm and sound Prose—everyday language

3. Metrical Writing Meter—regular rhythm in language Broken into Syllables: U Unstressed / Stressed

4. Metrical Lines 1. A one-foot line is called monometer. 2. A two-foot line is called dimeter. 3. A three-foot line is called trimeter. 4. A four-foot line is called tetrameter. 5. A five-foot line is called pentameter. 6. A six-foot line is called hexameter. When it is a pure iambic line, it may be called an alexandrine. 7. A seven-foot line is called heptameter. 8. A eight-foot line is called octameter.

5. Metrical Feet & Symbols • iamb: a light stress followed by a heavy stress. U / • trochee: a heavy stress followed by a light stress. / U • dactyl: a heavy stress followed by two light stresses. / U U • anapest: two light stresses followed by a heavy stress. U U / • spondee: two equal stresses. - -

6. This above all to thine own self be true.

7. U / U / U / U / This above all to thine own self U / be true.

8. U / U / U / U / This above all to thine own self U / be true.

9. Pentameter Penta—5 Meter—regular rhythm in language Pentameter—a regular rhythm reoccurring five times in one line of poetry Iambic Pentameter—A line of poetry consisting of five iambs

10. Rhyme Scheme The frequency or pattern where the last word in a line of poetry rhymes with the last word in other lines. When the stars threw down their spears a And water’d heaven with their tears, a Did He smile His work to see? b Did He who made the lamb make thee? b (William Blake, The Tyger)

11. Blank Verse Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter The last a line of poetry consisting of word of five iambs each line doesn’t rhyme

12. Length, Breadth, & Rhyme • Couplet aa bb cc dd, etc. • Tercet, ot Triplet aaabbbcccddd, etc. • Quatrain ababcdcd, etc. • TerzaRimaababcbcdcded, etc. • Spenserian Stanza ababbcbc c (the first eight lines are always iambic pentameter; the final line is always an alexandrine).

13. Sonnet The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines; traditionally it uses iambic pentameter. • Italian sonnet abbaabbacddcee • English sonnet ababcdcdefefgg

14. Sounds • Alliteration—the repetition of the initial sound of words in a line or lines of verse. • Assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line or lines of verse. • Onomatopoeia—the use of a word that, through its sound as well as its sense, represents what it defines.

15. Figurative Language • The language of the poem is also the language of one thing compared to another thing. • In figurative language, a familiar thing is linked to an unknown thing, as a key, to unlock the mystery, or some part of the mystery, of the thing that is unknown.

16. Figurative Language • Simile—a comparison using “like” or “as” • Metaphor—an implicit rather than an explicit comparison. • Personification—when one gives a physical characteristic or innate quality of animation to something that is inanimate, or to an abstraction. • Allusion—a reference to something that belongs properly to a world beyond the specific sphere of the poem. • Universal Images—images, characters, motifs, or patterns that recur in the myths, dreams, oral traditions, songs literature, and other texts of peoples widely separated by time and place.