Glossary of poetry terms

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This is a glossary of poetry terminology.

Contents 1 Measures of verse 1.1 Types of metre 2 Tetrasyllables 3 Verse forms 4 See also 5 References and further reading

[edit] Measures of verse

[edit] Types of metre

Below, "short/long" definitions of a syllable of classical languages correspond to "unstressed/stressed" of English language.

• Amphibrach: short-long-short
• Amphimacer or cretic: long-short-long
• Anapaest or antidactylus: short-short-long
• Antibacchius: long-long-short
• Bacchius: short-long-long
• Choreus, choree same as Trochee: long-short
• Dactyl: long-short-short
• Iamb: short-long
• Molossus: long-long-long
• Pyrrhic or dibrach: short-short
• Spondee: long-long
• Tribrach: short-short-short
• Trochee: long-short

[edit] Tetrasyllables

• tetrabrach or proceleusmatic: short-short-short-short
• quartus paeon: short-short-short-long
• tertius paeon: short-short-long-short
• minor ionic, or double iamb: short-short-long-long
• secundus paeon: short-long-short-short
• diamb: short-long-short-long
• antispast: short-long-long-short
• first epitrite: short-long-long-long
• primus paeon: long-short-short-short
• choriamb: long-short-short-long
• ditrochee: long-short-long-short
• second epitrite: long-short-long-long
• major ionic: long-long-short-short
• third epitrite: long-long-short-long
• fourth epitrite: long-long-long-short
• dispondee: long-long-long-long

[edit] Verse forms

• Chant royal: Five stanzas of "ababccddedE" followed by either "ddedE" or "ccddedE". (The capital letters indicate a line repeated verbatim.)
• Cinquain: "ababb".
• Clerihew: "aabb".
• Couplet: "aa", but usually occurs as "aa bb cc dd ...".
• Enclosed rhyme (or enclosing rhyme): "abba".
• Limerick: "aabba".
• Monorhyme: "aaaaa...", an identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic
• Ottava rima: "abababcc".
• Rhyme royal: "ababbcc".
• Rondelet: "AbAabbA".
• Rubaiyat: "aaba".
• Sapphics
  • Petrarchan sonnet: "abba abba cde cde" or "abba abba cdc cdc".
  • Shakespearean sonnet: "abab cdcd efef gg".
  • Simple 4-line: "abcb"
  • Spenserian sonnet: "abab bcbc cdcd ee".
  • Onegin stanzas: "aBaBccDDeFFeGG" with the lowercase letters representing * Tanaga
• Spenserian stanza: "ababbcbcc".
• Tanaga: traditional Tagalog tanaga is aaaa
• Terza rima: "aba bcb cdc ...", ending on "yzy z" or "yzy zz".
• Triplet: "aaa", often repeating like the couplet.
• Villanelle: A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2, where A1 and A2 are lines repeated exactly which rhyme with the a lines.

[edit] See also

Main list: List of basic poetry topics

• List of literary terms
• Literature
• Poet
• Poetry

[edit] References and further reading

• M. H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Thomson-Wadsworth, 2005. ISBN 1413004563.
• Chris Baldick. The Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford Univ. Press, 2004. ISBN 0198608837.
• Chris Baldick. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001. ISBN 019280118X.
• Edwin Barton & G. A. Hudson. Contemporary Guide To Literary Terms. Houghton-Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0618341625.
• Mark Bauerlein. Literary Criticism: An Autopsy. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. ISBN 0812216253.
• Karl Beckson & Arthur Ganz. Literary Terms: A Dictionary. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. ISBN 0374521778.
• Peter Childs. The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0415340179.
• J. A. Cuddon. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0140513639 .
• Dana Gioia. The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader. Longman, 2005. ISBN 032133194X.
• Sharon Hamilton. Essential Literary Terms: A Brief Norton Guide with Exercises. W. W. Norton, 2006. ISBN 0393928373.
• William Harmon. A Handbok to Literature. Prentice Hall, 2005. ISBN 0131344420.
• X. J. Kennedy, et al. Handbook of Literary Terms: Literature, Language, Theory. Longman, 2004. ISBN 0321202074.
• V. B. Leitch. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W. W. Norton, 2001. ISBN 0393974294.
• John Lennard, The Poetry Handbook. Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, 2005. ISBN 0199265380.
• Frank Lentricchia & Thomas McLaughlin. Critical Terms for Literary Study. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN 0226472035.
• David Mikics. A New Handbook of Literary Terms. Yale Univ. Press, 2007. ISBN 030010636X.
• Ross Murfin & S. M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. ISBN 0312259107.
• John Peck & Martin Coyle. Literary Terms and Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0333962583.
• Edward Quinn. A Dictionary of Literary And Thematic Terms. Checkmark Books, 2006. ISBN 0816062447.
• Lewis Turco. The Book of Literary Terms: The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, and Scholarship. Univ. Press of New England, 1999. ISBN 0874519551.