Poetry Terms Glossary Chart printable pdf download

Lit Terms Glossary: Poetry Terms

Poetry: A type of literature that emphasizes metaphor and other figures of speech in lines which are arranged

for emotional effect, usually according to meter. It is one of the two most basic types of literature. [Compare:

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Lines and Syntax

1. Inversion-In poetry is an intentional digression from ordinary word order which is used to maintain

regular meters. For example, rather than saying “the rain came” a poem may say “came the rain”.

Meters can be formed by the insertion or absence of a pause.

2. End-stopped- a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a

semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.

True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance, / As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

3. Enjambment- the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to

the next (a “run-on” line).

Milton’s Paradise Lost is notable for its use of enjambment, as seen in the following lines:

. . . .Or if

Sion hill / Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d / Fast by the oracle of God, . . . .

Stanzas

Stanza- usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme.

2. Couplet- a two-line stanza, usually with end-rhymes the same.

HEROIC COUPLET: One of the most common forms of English poetry. It consists of two rhymed lines of iambic

pentameter which together express a complete thought. Shakespeare's sonnets typically end with a heroic

couplet, e.g.: “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee;” (18)

Octave- an eight-line stanza. Most commonly, octave refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet.

4. Quatrain- a four-line stanza with any combination of rhymes.

5. Refrain- a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated

at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.

6. Sestet- a six-line stanza. Most commonly, sestet refers to the second division of an Italian sonnet.

7. Tercet- a stanza of three lines in which each line ends with the same rhyme.

8. Terza rima- a three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc,etc. Dante’s Divine Comedy is in terza rima.

Rhyme

1. Rhyme- close similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding

positions in two or more lines of verse. For a true rhyme, the vowels in the accented syllables must be

preceded by different consonants, such as “fan” and “ran.”

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Poetry Terms Glossary Chart