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BUILD A BETTER VOCABULARY
Words posted by @kairosoflife on Twitter
under the hashtag #beautifulwords
This section is still under construction. The word lists are slowly being transferred here from Creativity Chaos
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POETIC STRUCTURE
Part 2 - Meter and Rhythm
SEE ALSO:
LITERARY HOME
Language, Literature & Writing Poetic Form and Structure Words of Shakespeare
LITERARY HOME
Language, Literature & Writing Poetic Form and Structure Words of Shakespeare
TERMS TO KNOW FOR READING THE GLOSSARY
The metre in a line of poetry is identified through the stressed and unstressed pattern of words. Poetic rhythms are measured in metrical feet.
Usually a metrical foot has one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed syllables. You can use the pattern of the metre to create different effects.
One of the most frequently used patterns of metre is iambic pentameter and it is found in Shakespeare’s sonnets. An iamb is a metrical foot that is made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one - da-DUM.
‘Penta’ means five. So a line of iambic pentameter contains five iambs, or five sections of da-DUM da-DUM- daDUM da-DUM da-DUM.
For example in Sonnet 104
‘To me fair friend you never can be old,’
There are five sections to the line, and five stresses, following that da-DUM pattern, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
By the Numbers
Alexandrine: A line of poetry that has 12 syllables.
Anapest: A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed).
Ballade: A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (or envoy) of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.
Chapbook: A small book of about 24-50 pages.
Couplet: Stanza of 2 lines; often, a pair of rhymed lines.
Cretic: Also known as amphimacer. A Greek and Latin metrical foot consisting of a short syllable enclosed by two long syllables
Dactyl: Foot consisting of a stress followed by 2 unstressed syllables.
Decasyllable: Line consisting of 10 syllables.
Dimeter: A line of verse composed of two feet.
Double dactyl: Consists of two quatrains, each with three double-dactyl lines followed by a shorter dactyl-spondee pair. The two spondees rhyme.
Fib: A six-line poem in which the number of syllables per line follow the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. The form was invented by Gregory K. Pincus.
Fourteener: A metrical line of 14 syllables (usually seven iambic feet).
Hendecasyllable: Line consisting of 11 syllables. typically a spondee or trochee, a choriamb, and two iambs, the second of which has an additional syllable at the end.
Heptameter: A line of poetry that has seven metrical feet.
Heroic couplet: A stanza composed of two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
Hexameter: A metrical line of six feet, most often dactylic, and found in Classical Latin or Greek poetry, including Homer’s Iliad.
Iamb: Foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress.
Hexameter: Line consisting of 6 metrical feet.
Octave: Stanza of 8 lines.
Ottava rima: Originally an Italian stanza of eight 11-syllable lines, with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC.
Pentameter: Line consisting of 5 metrical feet.
Poulter's measure: Couplets in which a 12-syllable iambic line (see Alexandrine) rhymes with a 14-syllable iambic line (see Fourteener).
Quatrain: Stanza of 4 lines.
Quintain: Stanza of 5 lines.
Septet: Stanza of 7 lines.
Sestet: Stanza of 6 lines.
Spondee: Foot consisting of 2 stressed syllables.
Tercet: Stanza or poem of 3 lines.
Tetrameter: Line consisting of 4 metrical feet.
Trochee: Foot consisting of a stress followed by an unstressed syllable.
Trimeter: A line of three metrical feet.
Triolet: An eight-line stanza having just two rhymes and repeating the first line as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line as the eighth.
- Couplet: A pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length.
- Line: Unit of language into which a poem or play is divided.
- Foot: Unit of measure in a metrical line of poetry.
- Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats.
- Octosyllable: Line consisting of 8 syllables.
- Stanza: Grouped set of lines within a poem, usually set off from other stanzas by a blank line or indentation
- Syllable: Part of a word that contains a single vowel sound and that is pronounced as a unit.
- Stress: Emphasis that falls on certain syllables and not others; the arrangement of stresses within a poem is the foundation of poetic rhythm.
The metre in a line of poetry is identified through the stressed and unstressed pattern of words. Poetic rhythms are measured in metrical feet.
Usually a metrical foot has one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed syllables. You can use the pattern of the metre to create different effects.
One of the most frequently used patterns of metre is iambic pentameter and it is found in Shakespeare’s sonnets. An iamb is a metrical foot that is made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one - da-DUM.
‘Penta’ means five. So a line of iambic pentameter contains five iambs, or five sections of da-DUM da-DUM- daDUM da-DUM da-DUM.
For example in Sonnet 104
‘To me fair friend you never can be old,’
There are five sections to the line, and five stresses, following that da-DUM pattern, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
By the Numbers
Alexandrine: A line of poetry that has 12 syllables.
Anapest: A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed).
Ballade: A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (or envoy) of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.
Chapbook: A small book of about 24-50 pages.
Couplet: Stanza of 2 lines; often, a pair of rhymed lines.
Cretic: Also known as amphimacer. A Greek and Latin metrical foot consisting of a short syllable enclosed by two long syllables
Dactyl: Foot consisting of a stress followed by 2 unstressed syllables.
Decasyllable: Line consisting of 10 syllables.
Dimeter: A line of verse composed of two feet.
Double dactyl: Consists of two quatrains, each with three double-dactyl lines followed by a shorter dactyl-spondee pair. The two spondees rhyme.
Fib: A six-line poem in which the number of syllables per line follow the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. The form was invented by Gregory K. Pincus.
Fourteener: A metrical line of 14 syllables (usually seven iambic feet).
Hendecasyllable: Line consisting of 11 syllables. typically a spondee or trochee, a choriamb, and two iambs, the second of which has an additional syllable at the end.
Heptameter: A line of poetry that has seven metrical feet.
Heroic couplet: A stanza composed of two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
Hexameter: A metrical line of six feet, most often dactylic, and found in Classical Latin or Greek poetry, including Homer’s Iliad.
Iamb: Foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress.
Hexameter: Line consisting of 6 metrical feet.
Octave: Stanza of 8 lines.
Ottava rima: Originally an Italian stanza of eight 11-syllable lines, with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC.
Pentameter: Line consisting of 5 metrical feet.
Poulter's measure: Couplets in which a 12-syllable iambic line (see Alexandrine) rhymes with a 14-syllable iambic line (see Fourteener).
Quatrain: Stanza of 4 lines.
Quintain: Stanza of 5 lines.
Septet: Stanza of 7 lines.
Sestet: Stanza of 6 lines.
Spondee: Foot consisting of 2 stressed syllables.
Tercet: Stanza or poem of 3 lines.
Tetrameter: Line consisting of 4 metrical feet.
Trochee: Foot consisting of a stress followed by an unstressed syllable.
Trimeter: A line of three metrical feet.
Triolet: An eight-line stanza having just two rhymes and repeating the first line as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line as the eighth.
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View Me on Twitter @kairosoflife
See Creativity Chaos - a Creativity Blog by Kai
About | Reprints & Copyrights
© 2019-2020 Copyright Starlight Poetry