Unseen Poetry Flashcards

A poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter with a set rhyme scheme.

Three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG).

An octave (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines).

A poem spoken by one character, not the poet, often to a silent listener.

Poetry with no regular rhyme or metre.

A poem that tells a story, usually in rhyming quatrains, often with a refrain.

A poem of mourning for someone who has died.

A poem addressed to a person, object or idea, usually praising it.

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

The voice that speaks the poem, which may not be the poet.

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line.

A unit of one unstressed then one stressed syllable: da-DUM, as in be-HOLD.

A line of five iambs (ten syllables): “That time of year thou may’st in me behold”.

A unit of one stressed then one unstressed syllable: DUM-da, as in TI-ger.

Two lines in a row that rhyme, e.g. “ground” / “sound”.

Words whose sounds nearly match but don’t fully rhyme, e.g. “dawn” / “gone”.

Rhyme within a line: “And summer pools could hardly cool”.

The pattern of end rhymes, labelled with letters, e.g. ABAB.

A sentence running over the end of a line into the next, with no punctuation.

A line that ends with punctuation, finishing a phrase or sentence.

A pause in the middle of a line, usually punctuation: “Unwontedly. It was late June.”

A turn in a poem’s argument or mood; in a sonnet, often at line 9 or the final couplet.

A group of lines forming a unit of a poem, like a paragraph.

A stanza of four lines.

A line or phrase repeated at regular points, often the end of each stanza.

Repeating words at the start of lines or stanzas: “I remember, I remember”.

Repeated s sounds: “soft rains and the smell”.

Hard b, p, d, t, g, k sounds, made with a burst of air.

Repeated vowel sounds in nearby words.

Repeated consonant sounds at the start of nearby words: “Whistling their whims”.

A word that sounds like what it describes: “The steam hissed.”

A comparison using like or as: “Like strings from broken lyres”.

Describing something as if it is something else.

Giving human qualities to something non-human: “Spring herself, when she woke at dawn”.

Weather or nature reflecting a character’s or speaker’s mood.

Two opposite words placed together, e.g. bittersweet.

Placing two contrasting ideas or images side by side.

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