Poetry Terms Glossary Chart (Page 4 of 4) in pdf

Types of Poetry

1. Didactic poem- a poem which is intended primarily to teach a lesson. The distinction between didactic

poetry and non-didactic poetry is difficult to make and usually involves a subjective judgment of the

author’s purpose on the part of the critic or the reader. Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism is a good

example of didactic poetry.

2. Dramatic poem- a poem which employs a dramatic form or some element or elements of dramatic

techniques as a means of achieving poetic ends. The dramatic monologue is an example.

3. Elegy A meditative poem in the classical tradition of certain Greek and Roman poems, which deals with

more serious subject (e.g. justice, fate, or providence). It often begins with an appeal to a muse for

inspiration and includes ALLUSIONS to classical mythology. Other literary works may include elegiac

[ell-leh-JI-ek] motifs, reminding the reader of the transitory nature of life. Often in English it is a poem

or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.

Examples include Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s In

Memoriam; and Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

4. Epic-A long, grand, narrative (story-telling) poem about the brave, exemplary deeds of ancient heroes.

A "primary" epic the oldest type, based upon oral tradition; a "literary" epic is written down from the

start.

Examples of the first type include Homer's, Iliad and the Odyssey, and the Anglo Saxon epic, Beowulf;

examples of the second type include Virgil's, the Aeneid, Spenser's, Faerie Queene, and Milton's,

Paradise Lost.

5. Ode-A lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated

style and formal stanzaic structure. An ode celebrates something. John

Keats is known for writing odes.

6. Rhyme royal- a seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc, used by Chaucer and other

medieval poets.

7. Sonnet: The sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem in predominantly iambic pentameter, with a formal

rhyme scheme. Although there can be considerable variation in rhyme scheme, most English sonnets

are written in either the Italian (Petrarchan) style or the English (Shakespearean) style

The conventional Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet is rhymed abba, abba, cde, cde; the English, or

Shakespearean, sonnet is rhymed abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

Villanelle- a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain. The villanelle uses only

two rhymes which are repeated as follows: aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa. Line 1 is repeated entirely

to form lines 6, 12, and 18, and line 3 is repeated entirely to form lines 9, 15, and 19; thus, eight of the

nineteen lines are refrain.

Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is an example of a villanelle.

Poetry4

Poetry Terms Glossary Chart Page 4