Poetry for Students

Volume 19 327

ered while the speaker is alone on stage, a solilo-

quy is intended to present an illusion of unspoken

reflection.

Sonnet:A fourteen-line poem, usually composed

in iambic pentameter, employing one of several

rhyme schemes. There are three major types of son-

nets, upon which all other variations of the form

are based: the “Petrarchan” or “Italian” sonnet, the

“Shakespearean” or “English” sonnet, and the

“Spenserian” sonnet. A Petrarchan sonnet consists

of an octave rhymed abbaabba and a “sestet”

rhymed either cdecde, cdccdc,orcdedce.The oc-

tave poses a question or problem, relates a narra-

tive, or puts forth a proposition; the sestet presents

a solution to the problem, comments upon the nar-

rative, or applies the proposition put forth in the

octave. The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into

three quatrains and a couplet rhymed abab cdcd

efef gg. The couplet provides an epigrammatic

comment on the narrative or problem put forth in

the quatrains. The Spenserian sonnet uses three

quatrains and a couplet like the Shakespearean, but

links their three rhyme schemes in this way: abab

bcbc cdcd ee.The Spenserian sonnet develops its

theme in two parts like the Petrarchan, its final six

lines resolving a problem, analyzing a narrative, or

applying a proposition put forth in its first eight

lines.

Spenserian Sonnet:SeeSonnet

Spenserian Stanza: A nine-line stanza having

eight verses in iambic pentameter, its ninth verse

in iambic hexameter, and the rhyme scheme abab-

bcbcc.

Spondee:In poetry meter, a foot consisting of two

long or stressed syllables occurring together. This

form is quite rare in English verse, and is usually

composed of two monosyllabic words.

Sprung Rhythm:Versification using a specific

number of accented syllables per line but disre-

garding the number of unaccented syllables that fall

in each line, producing an irregular rhythm in the

poem.

Stanza:A subdivision of a poem consisting of lines

grouped together, often in recurring patterns of

rhyme, line length, and meter. Stanzas may also

serve as units of thought in a poem much like para-

graphs in prose.

Stereotype:A stereotype was originally the name

for a duplication made during the printing process;

this led to its modern definition as a person or thing

that is (or is assumed to be) the same as all others

of its type.

Stream of Consciousness:A narrative technique

for rendering the inward experience of a character.

This technique is designed to give the impression

of an ever-changing series of thoughts, emotions,

images, and memories in the spontaneous and

seemingly illogical order that they occur in life.

Structuralism:A twentieth-century movement in

literary criticism that examines how literary texts

arrive at their meanings, rather than the meanings

themselves. There are two major types of struc-

turalist analysis: one examines the way patterns of

linguistic structures unify a specific text and em-

phasize certain elements of that text, and the other

interprets the way literary forms and conventions

affect the meaning of language itself.

Structure:The form taken by a piece of literature.

The structure may be made obvious for ease of un-

derstanding, as in nonfiction works, or may ob-

scured for artistic purposes, as in some poetry or

seemingly “unstructured” prose.

Sturm und Drang: A German term meaning

“storm and stress.” It refers to a German literary

movement of the 1770s and 1780s that reacted

against the order and rationalism of the enlighten-

ment, focusing instead on the intense experience of

extraordinary individuals.

Style:A writer’s distinctive manner of arranging

words to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writ-

ing. The unique imprint of the author’s personality

upon his or her writing, style is the product of an

author’s way of arranging ideas and his or her use

of diction, different sentence structures, rhythm,

figures of speech, rhetorical principles, and other

elements of composition.

Subject:The person, event, or theme at the center

of a work of literature. A work may have one or

more subjects of each type, with shorter works

tending to have fewer and longer works tending to

have more.

Subjectivity:Writing that expresses the author’s

personal feelings about his subject, and which may

or may not include factual information about the

subject.

Surrealism:A term introduced to criticism by

Guillaume Apollinaire and later adopted by Andre

Breton. It refers to a French literary and artistic

movement founded in the 1920s. The Surrealists

sought to express unconscious thoughts and feel-

ings in their works. The best-known technique used

for achieving this aim was automatic writing—

transcriptions of spontaneous outpourings from the

unconscious. The Surrealists proposed to unify the

Glossary of Literary Terms

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