Glossary of Poetic Terms A - D Options

[Tinker]

Poetic Terms	Definitions are simplified and limited to their use within the scope of poetic study. I recommend the use of a good dictionary for more complete explanation.
A	Also see Poetic Genres and Verse Forms A
abstract	Intangible, not concrete, separate from the physical.
Abstract Poetry	A poetic movement and genre which attempts to communicate emotion through word sounds.
academic verse	Poetry that follows the conventions of a particular school of poetry or movement.
acatalectic	A complete metric line.
accent	The recurring beat of a metric line. Emphasis or stress on a syllable in comparison to the other syllable or syllables within the metric foot. It is the basis for most poetic meters in English.
accentual verse	The measure of heavy stresses without any specific pattern and sometimes measures unstressed syllables, but not always. This is also known as folk verse; it carries the rhythm of normal speech.
accentual syllabic verse	The measuring of the line by dividing it into metric feet. The metric feet are made up of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.
acephalous	"headless" the initial syllable of a metric line of verse is missing.
Acmeism	"pinnacle of" was a short lived Russian poetic movement similar to Imagism.
Acrostic	Greek for "at the tip of the verse". This poetic genre dates back to 1000 BC in ancient Babylonia. The first letter of each line or stanza spells out a name, a word, the title of the work or even a sentence or phrase. There are several Acrostic variations.
Action Poetry	Verse meant to be performed by several voices.
Adonics	A 2 foot line composed in 5 syllables, a dactyl followed by a trochee.
adynaton	Poetic device, the magnification to impossibility. E.g. "I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles." The opposite of aporia.
Aesthetic Movement	School of thought that art is its own justification and purpose. Edgar Allen Poe, Algernon Swinburne, Oscar Wilde were proponents.
Afflatus	"act of blowing or breathing on", verse inspired by the study of another's poem.
aicill rhyme	(Commonly used in Celtic verse forms.) A 2 syllable end word rhymes internally within the first half of the next line.
Alexandrine	French - An iambic hexameter (6 metric feet) line made up of 2 hemistiches (half lines) separated by a caesura or pause. The pause gives a dramatic, sometimes formal effect to the line. The pattern slows speech and gives the line a sense of importance.
allegory	(Greek-altos agoreuein -others speak) A symbolic representation, a narrative describing a subject under the guise of something else with similar points. The characters or symbols usually become what they represent and are often named accordingly. e.g. Dr. Love, Miss Terry, Valley of Humiliation, Mr. Worldy Wiseman etc. An extended metaphor that explains good and evil, or moral or religious principals that are often written as dreams.
alliteration	(from Latin al litera- to letter) Repetition of 2 or more beginning sounds of the stressed syllable of successive words in a line, most commonly repeated consonants e.g. Little ladies like lovely Lillys. However beginning vowel sounds will always alliterate e.g The ant eater entered the exit.
allusion	Deliberate added elements to inform and enrich the poem. A play on words, a metaphor or allegory are forms of allusion.
alternate rhyme	abab cdcd Rhyme change every other line.
American Verse Forms	Verse Forms originating in America.
amphibrach	A metric foot of short-long-short or unstressed-stressed-unstressed (uSu e.g. forever)
Amphigory	Parody or nonsense verse. In this poetic genre silliness and wit are the main goals , amusing while containing little inside knowledge.
anachronism	A poetic device, adding an image which is completely out of place either by time, event, or person.
anaclasis	Substituting a different measure to break the rhythm of a metric line.
anacrusis	Unstressed syllabic prefix outside of the metric pattern.
Anagram	The transposition of one word or phrase to another. This has been a tool of light verse, occasional verse and epigraphs probably as far back as the written word. e.g. transposing Mary to army
Anapest	Metric foot of 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. (uuS e.g. through the night)
anaphora	"a carrying, up or back" A poetic device in which there is repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or lines.
anastrophe or antistrophe	"Counterturning or turning back" a change of voice from the previous strophe but maintaining the same meter. (As demonstrated at the 2nd strophe of the Pindaric Ode.) It the inversion or unusual order of words or clauses.
anceps	(doubleheaded) In quantitative verse, a metric foot with a syllable which can be either long or short. Usually only one foot in a line will be anceps; it is common in Aeolic verse.
Anisometric Verse	Verse that is unmetered and the lines within the strophe are uneven.
antepenultimate	3rd to last in a series.
anthimeria	One part of speech substituted for another, such as a noun for a verb.
apocopate rhyme	(Greek to cut off ) Lines rhyming on the penultimate syllable.
aporia	An expression of doubt or anxiety. The opposite of adynaton.
apostrophe	from Greek -"to turn away" a technique in which the poet addresses someone not there or addresses an object as if it is a person. Coleridge's - To William Wordsworth and Keat's - Ode to a Nightingale use apostrophe.
Arabic Verse Forms	Verse forms from the Middle East
archaism	The deliberate use of an archaic word or phrase to evoke a sense of another time in the distant past.
archetype	A recurring character, event or symbol that crosses cultures.
Archilochian Verse	A heptameter named for the Greek poet Archilochus that is made up of 4 dactyls followed by 3 trochees. Suu/Suu/Suu/Suu/Su/Su/Su. Spondees can be substituted for any dactyl in Greek measure.
Arlabecca verse	Occitan genre of verse of the Middle Ages, a song "defined by" poetic meter.
arsis and thesis	The rise and fall or the accented and unaccented parts of a poetic foot.
Art Mayor	A Spanish term to identify any line of 9 or more syllables. However, it commonly refers to a specific pattern of a double adonic line.
Art Menor	Spanish term that refers to any verse of 8 or less syllables.
asclepiad	An Aeolic meter built around the choriamb (metric pattern of LssL). The common example is a spondee followed by 2 choriambs and an iamb. LL LssL LssL sL
assonance	Poetic device in which repeated vowel sounds within a line.
asyndeton	"unconnected" A poetic device to omit conjunctions or connective words to create a feeling piling on or overwhelming evidence. Found in European baroque verse.
auditory image	A word or phrase that triggers the readers auditory sense.
Augustan age	Either (27 B.C-14 A.D.) the great period of Roman literature under Emperor Augustus, produced the writings of Horace, Virgil and Ovid. Or the early 18th century England, neoclassic period, the formal writings of poets like Alexander Pope.
Austrian Verse Forms	Verse Forms from Austria.
B	Also see Poetic Genres and Verse Forms B
baccius	A metrical foot consisting of a short syllable followed by two long syllables.
Ballad	A universal stanzaic form of poem or song that tells a tale in the language of the common man. In English there is an identifiable rhythmic pattern that is also associated with the form.
bard	From Welsh/Celticbardd meaning poet. The ancientbardd not only created verse, he was believed to have magical powers and had great influence in the courts.
bathos	The unintentional switch from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Beast Epic	Narrative, poetic genre telling a fictional tale with animals emulating human behavior.
Beat Poetry	A poetic movement from the 50's and 60's which came to prominence in San Francisco which defied convention and attempted to change consciousness, questioning mainstream politics and culture. Ginsberg's Howl is probably the best known example of Beat poetry.
beher	(Urdu) Meter or line length of the sher (couplet of the Ghazal). There are 19 types of beher but the most common are short, medium and long.
Belarus Verse Forms	Verse forms from Belarus.
binary meter	A metric measure that has two syllables per foot, as in iambic, trochaic, pyrrhic, and spondaic meters, sometimes referred to as duple or double meters.
Black Mountain Poets	A school of poetry from the 40's centered at Black Mountain College North Carolina which promoted open form and was spawned in an environment attempting to create the ideal community. Also call projectivist poets, they based the frame of their poetry on the line, referred to as an utterance or a breath. Poetry Guide
Boast or Brag	A poetic genre in which 2 speakers try to "one-up" the other. Each topping the other's assertion.
Bouts-Rimes	(French - rhymed ends) A game in which list of rhymes is prepared in advance then given to the players who must write a poem using the rhymes in the order they appear. It is said to be inspired by a minor 17th century, French poet Dulot as a kind of joke after he complained he had lost hundreds of sonnets which turned out to be just the rhymes for the sonnets, no actual poems. Bouts Rimes
Breton Lay	A poetic genre, a short narrative verse about Arthurian subjects. e.g. Chaucer's Franklin Tale
breve	In scanning Accentual Syllabic verse, the breve is the symbol used above an unstressed vowel. It looks like a shallow u without the tail. e.g. ă The stressed syllable is identified with a macron which is a straight line above the stressed vowel. e.g. ā
Bridging Title	When the first line of a poem is also used as the title.
Broadside ballads	Poems on a single sheet of paper and set to a traditional tune. Originating in the late 16th century as a cheep form of poetic journalism. Often funny or pathetic accounts of current news events.
broken rhyme	Breaking an end word to create rhyme with another line. Like breaking the word heartbreak carrying the "break" to the next line so that heart can rhyme with part.
bucolic	A poem centered on the beauty of country life. It is a sub-genre of pastoral verse, bucolic verse is lofty, the realm of upper class, aristocratic country living as opposed to the more humble shepherd and peasant setting of Pastoral or Idyllic verse or the hardships of working in the country described in Georgic verse.
burden	A central idea commonly repeated in a refrain.
burlesque	Poetic genre that ridicules or mocks by the use of grotesque exaggeration or by the treatment of a unimportant subject with the gravity due one of great importance. Burlesque by Jan Haag
Burmese Verse Forms	Verse forms from Burma
C	Also see Poetic Genres and Verse Forms C
cacophony	Words or phrase which create a discordant sound used to mirror the context of their meaning.
caesura	A pause mid way in a line, signaled usually by punctuation a comma, semicolon or period.
caesura rhyme	Couplet rhymed at the caesura mid line and alternating at the end of the line as if an alternate rhymed quatrain abab is written as a couplet.
Canto	In epic verse, a major division or section of an extended narrative. (not to be compared to a stanza)
Catalan verse	Catalan verse in the eastern region of Spain began as prose poetry. By the 15th century narratives in octo-syllabic couplets became popular. Eight syllable lines became a standard in both Catalan and Castilian poetic forms. By the 16th century Castilian became the language of the east and the only poetry that remained in the Catalan language were ballads and a popular religious song.
catalectic or catalexis	Omission of an unstressed syllable at the end of a metric line. Opposite of acatalectic meaning a complete metric line.
caudate rhyme	Same as tail rhyme, the short line at the end of the stanza rhymes with the other short line in the stanza, with longer lines in between.
chain rhyme	poetic device, interlocking rhyme that links one stanza to the next. Such as in the Terza Rima rhyme aba bcb cdc etc...
Chant	Poetic genre, short verse with a strong metric rhythm which is repeated frequently.
Chantey or shanty	French chanter-sing, A poetic genre, a sailor's work song, alternating solo and chorus.
Chinese Verse Forms	Verse forms originating in China.
choral lyric	Verse meant to be sung as a refrain. (Originally meant to be sung by a choir.)
choriamb	4 syllable metric foot made up of LssL or SuuS.
cinquain	Any poem or stanza in 5 lines. Same as quintain or quintet.
cliché	An overused phrase or a stereotypical image.
closed form	Verse written in a preexisting pattern of meter, rhyme, line and/or stanza. e.g. Sestina, Triolet, Lai, Limerick etc. Same as fixed form or verse form.
closed couplet	A stanzaic form, a couplet that is complete in thought and syntax. Also complete couplet and heroic couplet
closed verse	Verse that is end-stopped.
Cobla Esparza	Cobla is Occitan for stanza. The Cobla Esparsa refers to an "isolated" stanza or a complete poem in one stanza which were common in 12th century Europe.
comedic	A poem meant to be funny.
Comiat or Comjat	(Occitan-dismissal) A poetic genre, verse dismissing a lover.
Composite Sonnet	A sonnet that is made up of parts (usually evidenced in the rhyme scheme) of other better known sonnet forms such as taking the octave of a Shakespearean Sonnet and ending with the sestet of a Petrarchan Sonnet.
conceit	Italian consetto=concept or idea A poetic device that uses elaborate comparisons such as comparing a twinkle in a loved ones eyes to the sparkle of thousand stars.
concrete	Palpable, real, touchable.
connotation	Suggested meaning.
consonance	Poetic device, shared similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds as in season and raisin or sometimes only the last consonant sound such as fame and room. This is a simplified meaning, definitions of consonance or slant rhyme seem to wander all over the place. For a more complicated definition see "consonate". also slant rhyme, near rhyme, off rhyme, imperfect rhyme
consonate	According to Lewis Turco's, Book of Forms, "to consonate is to create a compatible or similar sound, to agree or harmonize". It appears most often in matching end consonants, but not always. The easiest to identify is first and last consonant of the word, also called frame-rhyme or para-rhyme (bike / bake). Consonance assumes all vowel sounds are interchangeable, as are some consonant sounds, but it distinguishes between the soft and hard sounds of consonants created by proximity to other consonants. (e.g. the soft sound of g in "page" and the harder sound of the dg in "edge"
Conversation Poem	A poetic genre, a poem in which the reader is seemingly listening in on a casual conversation concerning a serious subject.
corona	Any series of fixed verse forms linked by the repetition of the last line of each verse as the 1st line of the next verse and the last line of the last verse is the 1st line of the first verse. e.g. A Corona of Villanelles or a Corona of English Quintets.
corrupted form	Intentional disregard of the criteria of a poetic verse form.
couplet	2 lines representing a poetic thought unit.
Cowboy Poetry	A contemporary poetic movement or genre of folk poetry written by people with first hand experience with life with horses, trail riding, ranching. It is usually plain language, often humorous, and sometimes composed in rhymed ballad stanzas and is often read or recited aloud. Poetry Guide
Crambo	A game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to be rhymed by the other players. Similar to Bouts Rimes
cross rhyme	Alternating rhyme abab.
Crown of Sonnets	A series of 7 Petrarchan Sonnets linked by the repetition of the last line of each sonnet as the 1st line of the next sonnet and the last line of the 7th or last sonnet is the 1st line of the 1st sonnet.
cynghannedd	Welsh harmony of sound All ancient Welsh and Celtic poetry is said to be written in cynghannedd. The harmony is accomplished through the controlled echoing of sounds through alliteration, assonance or consonance. These sounds are meant to offset any over-emphasis of the main rhyme, to create balance of sound.
Czech Verse Form	Verse originating in Czechoslovakia.
D	Also see Poetic Genres and Verse Forms D
dactyl	Metric foot of a stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables (Suu e.g. holiday)
decastich	(deca=units of 10) Strophe or stanza of 10 lines.
decameter	10 metric feet in a line.
denotation	The literal meaning of a word.
dialect	A local or provincial form of language, often used in verse to separate or identify a character with a particular time or place.
dialogue	A poetic genre, a poem with 2 or more voices communicating. Not necessarily taking opposite sides.
diction	Choice of words used to express ideas or emotions.
Didactic	A poetic genre, a poem meant to instruct of teach, often moral or theoretical. Also Primer or Skeltonic
dimeter	2 metric feet in a line.
dipodic verse	Verse written in lines with 2 heavy stresses and any number of unstressed syllables.
distich	Greek - 2 related lines, a couplet.
ditty	A short lyrical verse meant to be sung. Light verse, usually witty.
dodeca	Measures of 12- dodecameter =12 metric feet, dodecasyllable =12 syllables in the line.
doggerel	Deliberately clumsy, unskilled verse written for comic effect.
double	In poetry, double simply means to make 2 of any fixed verse form therefore expanding the content. Double haiku = 6 lines. Double Sonnet = 28 lines etc.
Dramatic Verse	Verse to be performed in character. This is one of the 3 categories of poetry, along with Lyrical and Narrative Verse.
Dub Poetry	Performance poetry spoken over reggae rhythms, from 1970s Jamaica. It is prepared rather than extemporaneous and primarily concerned with political or social reform themes. Dub Poetry
dunadh	Beginning and ending the poem with the same syllable, word or line bringing the poem full circle. (A defining feature of ancient Celtic poetry.)

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This post has been edited by Tinker: Dec 3 2009, 09:05 PM