Poets & Poetry Terms

ballad

songlike poem that tells a story; simple language; 4-6 line stanzas; regular meter

epic

long narrative telling of a hero's deeds

lyric

melodic poem that expresses observations and feelings of a single speaker; focus on producing a single, unified effect

narrative

tells a story; includes ballads & epics

ode

long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme; may have traditional stanza structure; can honor people, commemorate events, respond to natural scenes, consider problems

idyll

poem about pastoral/country life

pastoral

poem dealing with rural settings; idealized views of rural life

sonnet

14 line lyric poem focused on a single theme; usually iambic pentameter following either Petrarchan or Shakespearean style

soliloquy

monologue spoken by a character who is alone--contemplating and talking to himself

stanza

group of lines in a poem that are considered to be a unit; function like paragraphs; each one states and develops a single main idea

refrain

repeated line or group of lines in poem or song; most end stanzas

alliteration

repitition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or accented syllables

assonance

repitition of vowel sounds in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds

consonance

repitition of similar final consonant sounds at ends of words or accented syllables

onomatopoeia

use of words that imitate sounds

rhyme

repition of sounds at ends of words; identical vowel sounds in final accented syllables

sight rhyme

agreement in spelling but not sound

slant rhyme

similar but not exact rhyming; ex: prove & glove

end rhyme

rhyme of terminal syllables

internal rhyme

rhyme of 2 or more words in the same line of a verse

rhyme scheme

regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

allusion

reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or a work of art; often to materials with which authors can expect their readers to be familiar

apostrophe

figure of speech in which speaker directly addresses an absent person or personified quality, object, or idea

hyperbole

exaggeration

metaphor

figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else; suggests comparison between 2 things

paradox

statement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents the truth

personification

figure of speech in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics

pun

play on words having more than one meaning

simile

figure of speech that makes direct comparison between 2 subjects using "like" or "as

synecdoche

figure of speech where part is substituted for a whole or vice versa

imagery

descriptive/figurative language used to create word pictures for the reader

synesthesia

using 1 sensory image to describe another

meter

rhythmical pattern of a poem determined by the number and types of stresses/beats in each line

scansion

process of marking stressed and unstressed syllables

foot

groups dividing by weak/strong stresses

monometer

verse written in 1 foot lines

dimeter

verse written in 2 foot lines

trimeter

verse written in 3 foot lines

tetrameter

verse written in 4 foot lines

pentameter

verse written in 5 foot lines

iamb

poet foot consisting of 1 weak stress followed by 1 strong stress

free verse

poetry that lacks a regular rhythmic pattern or meter

blank verse

poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

iambic pentameter

each line has alternating stressed and unstressed beats with 5 each

trochee

foot with 1 stressed syllable followed by 1 unstressed
ex: Irish poets earn your trade.

anapest

foot with 2 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed syllable
ex: As I came to the edge of the woods

dactyl

foot with 1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed
ex: Half a league, half a league, half a league onward

spondee

foot with 2 stressed syllables

Edgar Allan Poe

1809-1849; had a troubled childhood (his father deserted and his mother died); his poem "The Raven" met with enthusiasm, but he remained poor; battled depression & madness; known as the inventor of the detective story

Emily Dickinson

1830-1886; wrote 1,775 poems but only 7 were published while she was alive; normal childhood, led an isolated adult life; gave instructions for her poems to be burned after she died; regarded as one of America's greatest poets

Walt Whitman

1819-1892; published "Leaves of Grass", a collection of 383 poems which is regarded to be one of the best collections of poetry ever written; known as "the Good Gray Poet" and "the Bard of Democracy

Langston Hughes

1902-1967; came out of the Harlem Renaissance; regarded as the most successful African American writer during this time; often tried to recreate the rhythms of jazz through his poetry

Angela de Hoyos

born 1940; celebrates her Mexican heritage through her poems; published 5 collections

Paul Laurence Dunbar

1872-1906; first African American to gain national attention for his writing; wrote in a formal style or a regional dialect

Edwin Arlington Robinson

1869-1950; successful in the 1920s; worked as a subway inspector; focused on inner struggles; received 3 Pulitzer Prizes

Edgar Lee Masters

1868-1950; worked as a criminal lawyer; published "Spoon River Anthology" in 1915 about 244 characters in a cemetery and their personal lives

Archibald MacLeish

1892-1982; trained as a lawyer but turned to poetry; explored political and social issues through his poems; won 3 Pulitzer Prizes

Carl Sandburg

1878-1967; wrote about ordinary Americans and industrial America; son of Swedish immigrants; started a career as a folk singer; awarded with the Presidential Medal in 1964; regarded as an optimist

Robert Frost

1874-1963; America's most beloved poet; wrote about New England life; his poems are filled with deeper meaning

Jean Toomer

1894-1967; during the Harlem Renaissance; expressed pride in African American heritage