Glossary of poetry terms

This is a glossary of poetry terminology.

Measures of verse

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

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

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".
* Ghazal: "aa ba ca da ...".
* 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.

See also

: "Main list: List of basic poetry topics"

* List of literary terms
* Literature
* Poet
* Poetry

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.