Stressed vs Unstressed Syllables

Review on Poetic Forms and Terminology

​From The Norton Anthology of English Literature by M.H. Abrams (1969)

Rhythm and Meter

Meter: the means by which rhythm is measured and described.

Poetic foot: the unit which is repeated to give steady rhythm to a poem​

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Multiple Choice

Poetic Foot Patterns - Iambic Foot or Iamb

For example: unite, repeat

• an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed followed by a unstressed syllable

• two stressed syllables

• two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

Multiple Choice

Poetic Foot Patterns - Throchaic Foot or Trochee

For example: unit, reaper, instant

• an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable

• two stressed syllables

• a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

• a stressed followed by a unstressed syllable

• two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

Multiple Choice

Poetic Foot Patterns - Anapestic Foot or Anapest

For example: intercede, disarrange

• an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed followed by a unstressed syllable

• two stressed syllables

• two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

Multiple Choice

Poetic Foot Patterns - Dactylic Foot or Dactyl

For example: Washington, Ecuador, applejack

• a stressed followed by a unstressed syllable

• two stressed syllables

• an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable

• two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

Multiple Choice

Poetic Foot Patterns - Spondeic Foot or Spondee

For example: kashmir, John Keats, breakfast

• two stressed syllables

• two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

• an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable

• a stressed followed by a unstressed syllable

• a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

A single poetic line is generally called a "verse"

Verse lengths are descibed as

1. ​Monometer: one foot

2. Dimeter: two feet

3. Trimeter: ​three feet

4. Tetrameter

5. Pentameter

6. Hexameter

7. Heptameter​

Verse

Sense and Sound

Repetition in verses

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• Consonance

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Multiple Choice

Alliteration is the...

• repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within a passage

• use of several nearby words beginning with the same consonant

• repetition of a pattern of consonants with changes in the intervening vowels

Multiple Choice

Assonance is the...

• use of several nearby words beginning with the same consonant

• repetition of a pattern of consonants with changes in the intervening vowels

• repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within a passage

Multiple Choice

Consonance is the...

• repetition of a pattern of consonants with changes in the intervening vowels

• repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within a passage

• use of several nearby words beginning with the same consonant

• 14 LINES​

• Petrarchan/Italian: an octave (8) and a sestet (6) abba abba cdecde

• Shakesperian: 3 quatrains and a final couplet ​- abab cdcd efef gg

• Spenserian: 3 quatrains and a final couplet ​- abab bcbc cdcd ee

Sonnets

• Internal rhymes

• Eye rhymes

• Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter

• Stanza

• Couplet

• Terza rima: aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.

• Quatrains​

Rhyme and Stanza

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Figurative Language

Provide examples for the following terms

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Open Ended

Simile

Open Ended

Metaphor

Open Ended

Synecdoche: a figure which substitutes the part for the whole

Open Ended

Metonymy: substitution of one term for another with which it is closely related

Open Ended

Irony

Open Ended

Hyperbole

Open Ended

Oxymoron: a figure of contradiction

Open Ended

Paradox

Open Ended

Personification