Poetry Terms Everything you ever wanted to know

ALLITERATION l The repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) in neighboring words or

ASSONANCE l A form of ALLITERATION that can be described as a repetition of

BALLAD l A short narrative poem that relates the details of a story through

BLANK VERSE … come on, you know this from Shakespeare l Poetry written without

COUPLET l Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence,

FREE BIRD…… FREE VERSE l oops! Poetry that does not follow a fixed rhythm

RHYME SCHEME l The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza

RHYTHM lthe pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem; also called a poem’s

STANZA l A group of lines in a poem, separated from others by a

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Poetry Terms Everything you ever wanted to know about poetry, but didn’t know you wanted to know… so, now you’ll know.

ALLITERATION l The repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) in neighboring words or at short intervals within a line or passage, usually at word beginnings, as in "wild and woolly" or the line from Shelley's "The Cloud, " I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

ASSONANCE l A form of ALLITERATION that can be described as a repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more words. Assonance differs from RHYME in that rhyme is a similarity of vowel and consonant. "Lake" and "fake" demonstrate a rhyme; "lake" and "fate" demonstrate assonance.

BALLAD l A short narrative poem that relates the details of a story through stanzas of two or four lines and usually contains a repeating refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter, but most frequently deals with folklore or popular legends. They are written in straightforward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing.

BLANK VERSE … come on, you know this from Shakespeare l Poetry written without rhymes, but which retains a set metrical pattern or rhythm of sound, usually iambic pentameter (or five iambic feet per line) in English verse.

COUPLET l Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme A SMALL COUPLE ≠ A COUPLET

FREE BIRD…… FREE VERSE l oops! Poetry that does not follow a fixed rhythm or rhyme scheme. Free verse poems have an irregular rhythm scheme or irregular meter. Free verse relies on the recurrence, with variations, of phrases, images, and syntactical patterns rather than the conventional use of METER. RHYME may or may not be present in free verse, but when it is, it is used with great freedom.

RHYME SCHEME l The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as ababbcc.

RHYTHM lthe pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem; also called a poem’s METER.

STANZA l A group of lines in a poem, separated from others by a blank space on the page, that forms a unit of thought, mood, or meter. Common stanzaic forms include the COUPLET (two lines), quatrain (four lines), and octave (eight lines).