Poetry Terms

 poetry written with a precise meter—almost always iambic pentameter—that does not rhyme

• Limerick

• Free Verse

• Haiku

• Blank Verse

a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse

• tercet

• epics

• stanza

• syllable

a nineteen line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain

• villanelle

• ode

• Elegy

• Cinquain

the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse

• meter

• sestet

• rhyme scheme

• couplet

a form of poetry that tells a story, such as "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"

• Blank Verse

• Free Verse

• Epic

• Narrative Poem

long, often book length, narrative, in verse that retells the heroic journey of a single person, such as Beowulf or Homer's The Odyssey

• Blank Verse

• Free Verse

• Epic Poem

• Narrative Poem

a set or group of three lines of verse rhyming together

• couplet

• tercet

• quatrain

• cinquain

a poem dealing with rural life, often involving shepherds, representing the idealized version of country life

• Sonnet

• Elegy

• Ode

• Pastoral

two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by a rhyme

• couplet

• tercet

• quatrain

• sestet

a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, it emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression

• Blank Verse

• Ode

• Elegy

• Haiku