Elements of Poetry

Poetry Basics

• Poetic terms: end-stopped (end of a line) and enjambment (breaking of a line)

Meter and Foot

• Meter: pattern of sounds in a poem
• Foot: basic unit of meter
• Three types of meter:
• Accentual meter
• Syllabic meter
• Accentual-syllabic meter
• Types of feet and number of feet are written on paper

Sound Devices

• Alliteration: repetition of similar sounds (consonants or vowels)
• Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
• Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds
• Cacophony: unpleasant, jarring sounds
• Euphony: pleasant experience (opposite of cacophony)
• Onomatopoeia: words or phrases that create rhythm or emphasize an idea
• Rhyme: repetition of identical or similar sounds (full, slant, near, sight)

Imagery and Metaphor

• Imagery: appeal to the senses
• Metaphor: comparison between two things
• Good (logical) or bad (illogical)
• Conceit: extended metaphor

Poetic Forms

Lesson 6: Meter and Form

• Closed form: written in a specific, traditional pattern
• Examples of closed forms: sonnet, villanelle, sestina, blank verse

Sonnet

• 14 lines, originated in Italy, written in English and Italian
• Two forms: Pentarchan ( octave and sestet) and Shakesperean (three quatrains and a couplet)

Other Poetic Forms

• Villanelle: 19 lines, five tercets
• Sestina: 39 lines
• Blank verse: no fixed number of lines
• Heroic couplet: two rhyming lines
• Haiku: ancient Japanese poetry, 17 syllables
• Free verse: unconventional, no fixed form

Creative Writing and Poetry

• Poetry: condensed form of writing
• Conventional poetry: follows traditional forms
• Unconventional poetry: free verse
• Poet: one who writes poetry
• Defining poetry: William Wordsworth's "spontaneous overflow of feeling and emotion reflected in tranquility"

Elements of Poetry

• Meter: rhythmic structure within a poem
• Rhyme: created when last syllables of separate words match
• Scheme: refers to rhyming pattern within separated words
• Verse: poem is a way to describe the relationship between rhyme and meter
• Stanza: group of lines within a poem