Literary terms
A narrative poem that tells a dramatic story, often in quatrains.
Ballad
The basic unit of rhythm in poetry, usually made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Foot
A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme.
Sonnet
A long story that follows multiple generations of a family or a historical series of events.
Saga
The process of analyzing a poem’s meter by marking stressed and unstressed syllables.
Scansion
Unrhymed iambic pentameter, often used in Shakespeare’s plays.
Blank Verse
A type of poetry that does not follow a specific meter or rhyme scheme.
Free Verse
A three-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable structure.
Haiku
A grouped set of lines in a poem, often with a repeating pattern.
Stanza
A feeling of uncertainty or excitement about what will happen next in a story.
Suspense
A pause or break within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation.
Caesura
A short poem that expresses personal emotions or thoughts.
Lyric Poem
A long, formal poem that praises a person, idea, or event.
Ode
The ordered pattern of rhymes at the end of lines in a poem (e.g., ABAB, AABB).
Rhyme Scheme
The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience, expressed through word choice and style.
Tone
A pair of consecutive rhyming lines in poetry.
Couplet
A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
Anapest
A poem that mourns the loss of someone or something.
Elegy
The overall flow and beat of a poem, created by meter, rhyme, and sound devices.
Rhythm
The central message or underlying idea in a literary work.
Theme
A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g., desperate).
Dactyl
The structured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem.
Meter
A poem that tells a story and includes characters, plot, and setting.
Narrative Poem
A literary technique that uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize society, politics, or human nature.
Satire
A dramatic genre where the protagonist faces downfall due to a fatal flaw, fate, or other forces.
Tragedy