This is a glossary of poetry terms.
Basic composition
Accent Vedic accent Arsis and thesis: the first and second half of a foot Cadence: the patterning of rhythm in poetry, or natural speech, without a distinct meter Catalexis: shortening of a line by one element (adjective: catalectic) Acatalexis: the opposite of catalexis Acephalous line: a line lacking the first element Line: a unit into which a poem is divided Line break: the termination of the line of a poem and the beginning of a new line Metre (or meter): the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Metres are influenced by syllables and their "weight" Metrical foot ( poetic foot): the basic repeating rhythmic unit that forms part of a line of verse in most Indo-European traditions of poetry Prosody: the principles of metrical structure in poetry Stanza: a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem. (cf. verse in music.) Syllable weight and stress: weight refers to the duration of a syllable, which can be defined by the length of a vowel; whereas stress refers to a syllable uttered in a higher pitch—or with greater emphasis—than others Stressed or long syllable (Latin: longum; notation: ): a heavy syllable Unstressed or short syllable (Latin: brevis; notation: ): a light syllable Verse: formally, a single metrical line. (Not to be confused with musical verse.) Gāthā Verse paragraph: a group of verse lines that make up a single rhetorical unit
Other parts
Anceps: a position in a metrical pattern that can be filled by either a long or a short syllable. Caesura: a stop or pause in a metrical line, typically marked by punctuation. Canto: a long subsection of a long narrative poem such as an epic. End rhyme (a.k.a. tail rhyme): a rhyme occurring in the terminating word or syllable of one line in a poem with that of another line, as opposed to internal rhyme. End-stopping line Enjambment: incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning runs over from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation. Epigraph: a quotation from another literary work that is placed under the title at the beginning of a poem or section of a poem. Hemistich: a half of a line of verse. Internal rhyme: a rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines. Off-centered rhyme: a rhyme that occurs in an unexpected place in a given line. Refrain: repeated lines in a poem. Strophe: the first section of a choral ode
Metrical feet A metrical foot (a.k.a. poetic foot) is the basic repeating rhythmic unit that forms part of a line of verse in most Indo-European traditions of poetry.
In some metres (such as the iambic trimeter) the lines are divided into double feet, called metra (singular: metron).
Monosyllable Disyllable: metrical foot consisting of 2 syllables. Iamb (a.k.a. iambus): short-long Trochee (a.k.a. choreus or choree): long-short Spondee: long-long Pyrrhic (a.k.a. dibrach): short-short Trisyllable: metrical foot consisting of 3 syllables. Dactyl: long-short-short Anapaest (a.k.a. antidactylus): short-short-long. (Example: "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron.) Amphibrach: short-long-short Cretic (a.k.a. amphimacer): long-short-long. (Example: modern-day uses can typically be found in expressions like "In a while, crocodile;" as well as in slogans and advertising.) Molossus: long-long-long Tribrach: short-short-short Bacchius: short-long-long Antibacchius: long-long-short Tetrasyllable: metrical foot consisting of 4 syllables. Tetrabrach (a.k.a. proceleusmatic): short-short-short-short Dispondee: long-long-long-long Paeon: a metrical foot of 1 long syllable and 3 short syllables in any order. Primus paeon: long-short-short-short Secundus paeon: short-long-short-short Tertius paeon: short-short-long-short Quartus paeon: short-short-short-long Epitrite: a metrical foot consisting of 3 long syllables and 1 short syllable. First epitrite: short-long-long-long Second epitrite: long-short-long-long Third epitrite: long-long-short-long Fourth epitrite: long-long-long-short Ionic: a metrical foot consisting of 2 short and 2 long syllables Minor ionic (a.k.a. double iamb): short-short-long-long Major ionic: long-long-short-short Diamb: short-long-short-long (i.e., two iambs) Ditrochee: long-short-long-short (i.e., two trochees) Antispast: short-long-long-short Choriamb: long-short-short-long (i.e., a trochee/choree alternating with an iamb)
Metrical lines Hexasyllable: metrical line consisting of 6 syllables. Double dactyl Octosyllable: metrical line consisting of 8 syllables. Decasyllable: metrical line consisting of 10 syllables. Hendecasyllable: metrical line consisting of 11 syllables. Dodecasyllable: metrical line consisting of 12 syllables.
Forms
Verse meters In a poetic composition, a verse is formally a single metrical line.
Monometer: a line of verse with just 1 metrical foot. Dimeter: a line of verse with 2 metrical feet. Trimeter: a line of verse with 3 metrical feet. Tetrameter: a line of verse with 4 metrical feet. Hexameter: a line of verse with 6 metrical feet. Heptameter: a line of verse with 7 metrical feet. Octameter: a line of verse with 8 metrical feet. Dactylic meter: any meter based on the dactyl as its primary rhythmic unit. Dactylic tetrameter Dactylic pentameter Dactylic hexameter Golden line Iambic meter: any meter based on the iamb as its primary rhythmic unit. Alexandrine (iambic hexameter): a 12-syllable iambic line adapted from French heroic verse. Example: the last line of each stanza in “The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy. Czech alexandrine French alexandrine Polish alexandrine Fourteener (iambic heptameter): line consisting of 7 iambic feet (14 syllables) Galliambic verse Iambic pentameter: line consisting of 5 iambic feet (10 syllables) Iambic tetrameter: line consisting of 4 iambic feet (8 syllables) Trochaic meter: any meter based on the trochee as its primary rhythmic unit. Trochaic tetrameter Trochaic octameter Trochaic septenarius Arabic poetic meters: Basīṭ Hazaj Kāmil Mutaqārib Madīd Rajaz Tawīl Wāfir Anapestic tetrameter (a.k.a. reverse dactyl): a poetic meter that has 4 anapestic metres per line. Common metre: a quatrain with rhyme scheme ABAB and alternates 4-stress and 3-stress iambic lines. This is the meter used in hymns and ballads. Indian poetic meters: Chhand Kannada meter Mandakranta Mātrika Ovi Triveni Sanskrit meter Tamil meter Vedic meter Triṣṭubh: a Vedic meter of 44 syllables, or any hymn composed in this meter Long metre (a.k.a. long measure): a poetic metre consisting of quatrains (4-line stanzas) in iambic tetrameter with the rhyme scheme ABAB. Persian metres Quantitative meter: the dominant metrical system in which the rhythm depends on the length of time it takes to utter a line rather than on the number of stresses. Traditional Welsh
Types of verse
Accentual verse Accentual-syllabic verse Syllabic verse Adonic Aeolic Glyconic: most basic form of aeolic verse. Alcmanian Archilochian Asclepiad Choliamb Dochmiac Doggerel: a bad verse, traditionally characterized by clichés, clumsiness, and irregular meter. Free verse and vers libre: an open form of poetry that does not use consistent of meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern, therefore tending to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Knittelvers Heroic verse Riding rhyme: an early form of heroic verse derived from the rhythm of the poetry in parts of The Canterbury Tales depicting the pilgrims as they rode along. Leonine verse McWhirtle Neo-Miltonic syllabics Political verse (a.k.a. decapentasyllabic verse): iambic verse of 15 syllables. Saturnian Anuṣṭubh: a quatrain with each line (called a pāda, or 'foot') having 8 syllables. Shloka Triadic-line
Verse forms
Blank verse: non-rhyming iambic pentameter (10-syllable line). It is the predominant rhythm of traditional English dramatic and epic poetry, as it is considered the closest to English speech patterns. Examples: "Paradise Lost" by John Milton and “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens. Chant royal: five stanzas of ababccddedE followed by either ddedE or ccddedE (capital letters indicating lines repeated verbatim). 'a Gra' Reformata': ten stanzas of ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABAC. Following the rhyme scheme of the Villanelle, but with 5 extra couplets just after each tercet. Cinquain: rhyme scheme ABABB. Clerihew: rhyme scheme AABB. Enclosed rhyme (a.k.a. enclosing rhyme): ABBA. Ghazal: AA BA CA DA Kural: Tamil verse form Limerick: AABBA. Monorhyme: an identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic: AAAAA. Rondelet: AbAabbA (capital letters indicating lines repeated verbatim). Rubaiyat: AABA. Sapphics Seguidilla: Spanish-origin poem with seven syllable-counted lines, rhyming the second & fourth, and the fifth & seventh lines (ABCBDED). Petrarchan sonnet: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE or ABBA ABBA CDC CDC. Sestina: a complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of 6 stanzas of 6 lines each and a 3-line envoi. Shadorma: an allegedly Spanish six-line stanza, syllable-count restricted form, 3/5/3/3/7/5 Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Simple 4-line: ABCB. Spenserian sonnet: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. Onegin stanzas: "" with lowercase letters representing assonant rhymes and the uppercase representing end-rhymes. Sprung rhythm: a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. Tanaga: traditional Tagalog tanaga is AAAA. Terza rima: ABA BCB CDC, ending on YZY Z or YZY ZZ.
Types of rhyming A rhyme is the repetition of syllables, typically found at the end of a verse line.
Assonance (a.k.a. vowel rhyme): the repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants. Broken rhyme: a type of enjambment producing a rhyme by dividing a word at the line break of a poem to make a rhyme with the end word of another line Chiasmus: repetition of any group of verse elements (including rhyme and grammatical structure) in reverse order. Consonance: the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are different Alliteration: the repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line. Cross rhyme Holorime: identical pronunciation of different lines; in other words, when two entire lines have the same sound Imperfect rhyme (a.k.a. half or near rhyme) Monorhyme Pararhyme Perfect rhyme (a.k.a. full or exact rhyme) Syllabic
Types of stanza A stanza is a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem. (cf. verse in music.)
Alcaic: a 4-line stanza invented by the Classical Greek poet Alcaeus that uses a specific syllabic count per line and a predominantly dactylic meter. Ballad Biolet Burns Chaubola Cinquain Couplet: two successive rhyming lines (AA), usually of the same length (usually re-occurring as AA BB CC DD). Doha Heroic couplet: written in iambic pentameter. Poulter's measure: couplets in which a 12-syllable iambic line rhymes with a 14-syllable iambic line. Envoi (or envoy): the brief stanza that ends French poetic forms such as the ballade or sestina. Ghazal Octave: an 8-line stanza or poem. Ottava rima: an Italian stanza of eight 11-syllable lines, with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC. Quatorzain Quatrain: a 4-line poem or stanza Quintain Rhyme royal: a stanza of seven 10-syllable lines, with rhyme scheme ABABBCC. Sapphic Sestain Sestet: a 6-line stanza Onegin stanza Spenserian: consists of 9 lines in total—8 iambic-pentameter lines and a final alexandrine—with a rhyme scheme of ABABBCBCC. Tercet (or triplet): a unit of three lines, rhymed (AAA) or unrhymed, often repeating like the couplet.