Unseen Poetry: Important Techniques

Poetic Devices and Terminology

Allusion

• An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or work of art outside the text itself

Anaphora

• A rhetorical device in which a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses or lines

Meter and Foot

• An anapaest is a metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

Apostrophe

• A figure of speech in which a speaker addresses a person, place, or thing that is not present

Caesura

• A pause or break within a line of poetry, often indicated by punctuation

Chiasmus

• A reversal of word order in successive clauses or lines, often used to create a sense of balance and harmony

Couplet

• A unit of two lines that rhyme with each other, often used to conclude a poem or section

Punctuation and Lineation

• End-stop refers to the use of punctuation to separate lines of poetry
• Enjambment refers to the running on of a sentence or phrase from one line to the next without a pause

Meter and Iambic Pentameter

• Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that consists of five iambs (unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) per line

Poetic Forms

• A quatrain is a four-line stanza or poem, often with a specific rhyme scheme

Refrain and Repetition

• A refrain is a line or phrase that is repeated at regular intervals throughout a poem, often to create a sense of unity and cohesion

Volta

• A shift or turn in the poem's tone, point of view, or direction, often marked by a change in language or imagery