486 Appendix i
pentameter A verse line consisting of five metrical
feet.
persona The speaker in a poem, most often the nar-
rator; the term is derived from the Latin word for
“mask.”
personification Attributing human qualities to an
inanimate entity.
prosody The study of versification; the term is at
times used as a synonym for meter.
quatrain A four-line stanza of a poem, also a portion
of a sonnet.
rhetorical figure An arrangement of words for one
or another emphasis or effect.
rhyme Fundamentally, “agreement,” the term specif-
ically indicates the sameness or similarity of vowel
sounds in an arrangement of words; there can be
end-rhyme, internal rhyme, eye rhyme, half rhyme,
feminine rhyme, masculine rhyme, slant rhyme.
rhyme scheme The arrangement of end rhymes in a
poem, indicated when analyzing a poem with the
letters of the alphabet, such as, for a poem in suc-
cessive couplets, aa, bb, cc, etc.
rhythm A sense of movement created by arrange-
ment of syllables in terms of stress and time.
sestet A six-line stanza of poetry, also the final large
portion of a sonnet.
sestina A 36-line poem broken up into six sestets
as well as a final stanza of three lines, the six words
ending the first sestet’s lines appearing at the conclu-
sions of the remaining five sestets, in one or another
order, and appearing in the final three lines; these
repeated words usually convey key motifs of the
poem.
simile A comparison using the word like or as.
slant rhyme A partial, incomplete rhyme, sometimes
called a half, imperfect, near or off rhyme.
sonnet A poem of 14 lines, traditionally in iambic
pentameter, the rhyme scheme and structure of
which can vary. There are two predominant types
of sonnets: the English or Shakespearean, which
consists of three quatrains and a final couplet, usu-
ally with a rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, gg; and
the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, often with an initial
octave rhyming abba, abba and a concluding sestet
rhyming cdecde. However, it is important to keep in
mind that sonnet rhyme schemes can be very differ-
ent from the above.
spondee A metrical foot comprised of two hard
stresses.
stanza A group of lines of poetry.
stress The emphasis when reading a poem accorded
to a syllable.
strophe A stanza, or verse paragraph in a prose
poem, derived from classical Greek drama.
syllabic verse Poetry that employs a set number of
syllables in a line, regardless of stress.
symbol A figure of speech that means what it says
literally but also connotes a secondary meaning or
meanings, and which usually conveys a concept,
motif, or idea.
synecdoche A figure of speech in which a part of
something is meant to signify the entirety of the
thing, such as a hand that is meant to suggest a
sailor whose hands are used in sailing a ship (as in
“all hands on deck”). See metonymy.
synesthesia The mingling or substitution of the
senses, such as when talking about a sound by
mentioning a color.
tercet A three-line stanza grouping.
terza rima Poetry comprised of tercets and an inter-
locking rhyme scheme: aba, bcb, cdc, etc.
tetrameter A verse line of four metrical feet.
tone A poet’s manifest attitude toward the subject
expressed in the poem.
trimeter A verse line of three metrical feet.
trochee A metrical foot consisting of a hard stress
followed by a soft stress.
trope A figurative or rhetorical mechanism, and at
times a motif.
verse A line of poetry or at times a synonym for
poetry or poem.
vers libre free verse.
voice Not unlike the poem’s persona, a sense of a
personality or speaker’s diction, point of view or
attitude in a poem; voice can also simply refer to a
poem’s speaker.