Some Fundamentals of Poetry – Flashcards
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Meter
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Meter is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables established in a line of poetry. The stressed syllable is also called the accented syllable. The unstressed syllable is also called the unaccented syllable.
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Foot
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A foot is a unit of meter. A metrical foot can have two or three syllables. A foot generally consists if one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables. Poetic lines are classified according to the number of feet in a line.
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Iamb
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The iambic foot is a two-syllable foot with the stress in the second syllable. The iambic foot is the most common.
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Trochee
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The trochaic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
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Anapest
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The anapestic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
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Spondee
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The spondaic foot consists of two stressed syllables. Used for variation EX: Compound words
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Dactyl
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The dactylic foot contains three syllables with the stress on the first syllable.
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Pyrrhic
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The pyrrhic foot consists of two unstressed syllables. Rare and found interspersed with other feet.
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Monometer
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A line of verse with one metrical foot.
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Dimeter
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A line of verse with two metrical feet.
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Trimeter
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A line of verse with three metrical feet.
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Tetrameter
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A line of verse with four metrical feet.
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Pentameter
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A line of verse with five metrical feet.
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Hexameter
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A line of verse with six metrical feet.
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Heptameter
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A line of verse with seven metrical feet.
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Octometer
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A line of verse with eight metrical feet.
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Rhymed Verse
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Consists of verse with end rhyme and usually a regular meter.
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Blank Verse
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Consists of lines of iambic pentameter without end rhyme.
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Free Verse
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Consists of lines that do not have regular meter and do not contain rhyme.
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Rhyme
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The similarity of likeness of sound existing between two words.
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Slant Rhyme
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Based on an imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds.
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End Rhyme
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Consists of the similarity occuring at the end of two or more lines of verse.
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Internal Rhyme
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Consists of the similarity occuring between two or more words in the same line of verse.
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Masculine Rhyme
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Occurs when one syllable of a word rhymes with another word.
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Feminine Rhyme
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Occurs when the last two syllables of a word rhyme with another word.
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Triple Rhyme
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Occurs when the last three syllables of a word rhyme with another.
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Rhyme Scheme
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The patten or sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first sound is represented as A, the second is designated as B, and so on. When the first sound is repeated, it is designated as A also.
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Alliteration
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The repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line verse.
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Onomatopoeia
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The use of a word to represent or imitate natural sound.
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Assonance
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The similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words.
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Consonance
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The repetition of consonant sounds within a line verse.
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Refrain
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The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.
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Repetition
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The reiterating of a word or phrase within a poem.
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Figure of Speech
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An expression in which the words are used in a nonliteral sense to present a figure, picture, or image.
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Simile
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A direct or explicit comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating likeness between some attribute found in both things. Uses like or as to intorduce the comparison.
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Metaphor
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An implied comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating likeness or analogy between atrributes found in both things. Doesnt not use like or as.
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Personification
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The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas or animals.
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Synecdoche
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The technique of mentioning a part of something to represent a whole.
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Metonymy
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The substitution of a word naming an object for another words closely associated with it.
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Symbol
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A word or image that signifies something other than what it literally represents.
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Allegory
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A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface.
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Overstatement
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An exaggeration for the sake of emphasis and is not to be taken literally.
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Understatement
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Consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with les force than the occasion warrants.
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Antithesis
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A balancing or contrasting of one term against another.
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Apostrophe
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The addressing of someone or something usually not present, as though present.
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Dramatic Irony
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A device by which the author implies a different meaning from that intended by the speaker in a literary work. A discrepancy between what a character says or thinks ans what the reader knows to be true.
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Irony of Situation
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In which there is a incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass.
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Verbal Irony
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A figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said.
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Paradox
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A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.
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Oxymoron
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A compact paradox, a figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side.
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Stanza
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A division of a poem based on thought or for. When based on form they are marked by their rhyme scheme. Known for the number of lines they contain.
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Heroic Couplet
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Consists of two succesive rhyming verses that contain a complete thought within the two lines. Usually consists of iambic pentameter lines.
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Terza Rima
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A three-line stanza form with an interlaced rhyme scheme. Usually iambic pentameter.
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Limerick
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A five-line nonsense poem with an anapestic meter. The first, second, and fifth lines have three stresses; and the third and fourth have two stresses.
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Ballad Stanza
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Consists of four lines (with a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b.) The first and third lines are tetrameter and the second and fourth are trimeter.
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Rime Royal
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A stanza consisting of seven lines in iambic pentameter (rhyming a-b-a-b-b-c-c)
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Ottava Rima
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Consists of eight iambic pentameter lines (rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c) Form borrowed from the Italians.
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Spenserian Stanza
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A nine-line stanza consisting of eight iambic pentameter followed by a hexameter (alexandrine) (rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c)
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Sonnet
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A fourteen-line stanza consisting of iambic pentameter lines.
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Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet
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Divided usually between eight lines called the octave, using rimes arranges a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, and six lines called the sest, using any arrangement of either two or three rimes c-d-c-d-c-d and c-d-e-c-d-e are common patterns.
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English or Shakespearean Sonnet
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Composed of threee quatrains and a concluding couplet, riming a-b-a-b c-d-c-d and e-f-e-f g-g.
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Villanelle
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Consists of five tercets and a quatrain in which the first and third lines of the opening tercet recur alternately at the end of the other tercets and together as the two last lines of the quatrain.
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Elegy
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Usually a poem that mourns the death of an individual, the absence of something deeply loved, or the trasience of mankind.
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Lyric
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The most widely used type of poem.
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Ode
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An exalter, complex rapturous lyric poem written about a dignified, lofty subject.
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Allusion
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A reference in literature or in art to previous literature, history, mythology, current events, or the bible.
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Anachronism
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An element in a story that is out of its time frame; sometimes used to creater a humorous or jarring effect, but sometimes the result of poor research on the author's part.
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Anecdote
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A short and often personal story used to emphasize a point, to develop a character or a theme, or to inject humor.
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Antecedent
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The word or phrase to which a pronoun refers.
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Aphorism
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A terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle; spmetimes considered a folk proverb.
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Archetype
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A character, situation or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion or folklore.
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Conceit
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A far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things; an extended metaphor that gains appeal from its unusual or extraordinary comparison.
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Connotation
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Associations a word calls to mind, what a word suggest beyond its definition.
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Enjambment
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The running over of a sentence from one verse or stanze into the next without stopping at the end of the first.
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Imagery
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Anything that affects or appeals to the reader's senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.
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Narrative Poem
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A poem that tells a story.
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Parable
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A short story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.
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Parody
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A comical imitation of a serious piece with the intent of ridiculing the author or his work.
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Pastoral
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A poem, play or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepards and shepherdesses. The term has also come to refer to an artistic wok that portrays rural life
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pathos
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the quality of literacy work or passage which appeals to the readers or viewers emotions-escpecially pity,compassion,and sympathy.
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pun
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humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound th =e same bu t have different meanings
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satire
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the use of humor to ridicule or expose the shortcomings of society,individuals, and institutions, often in hope that change and reform is possible
