Persona Poem
a fictional, myth, historic, or other figure speaks; the poem's speaker is clearly someone other than the poet
Archetype
a general or universal story, setting, character-type or symbol that recurs in many cultures and eras. (ex. a hero defeating a stronger enemy)
Tone
attitudes of the speaker and poet toward the subject matter, conveyed by word choice and syntax
Irony
discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
Negative capability
(John Keats), poet's capacity of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason
Syllable-Stress meter
lines determined by a number of stressed and unstressed syllables
Metrical foot
basic unit of rhythm in metrical poetry
Iamb
1 unstressed, 1 stressed
Trochee
1 stressed, 1 unstressed
Spondee
2 stressed
Pyrrhic
2 unstressed
Anapest
2 unstressed, 1 stressed
Dactyl
1 stressed, 2 unstressed
Dimeter
2 feet
Trimeter
3 feet
Tetrameter
4 feet
Pentameter
5 feet
Hexameter
6 feet
Metrical substitution
replacing a foot of the dominant meter with a different type of foot (ex. spondee in place of an iamb)
Free verse
poem in which length and structure of the lines is not determined by the meter; other elements create tension and emphasis
Anaphora
repeated phrase at the start of lines
Drag
stressed syllables at the beginning of a line
Advance
stressed syllables at the end of a line
Balance
stressed syllables distributed evenly through a line
Slant rhyme
rhyme that is not exact, either in sound or rhythm
Alliteration
repeated consonant sounds at the start of words
Consonance
repeated consonant sounds within words
Assonance
repeated vowel sounds