Enjoy a sampling of the various types of literary writing styles that poets through the ages have employed in their fine works.
Abecedarian Poem-
Type of acrostic where each line or verse begins with a successive letter of the alphabet; sometimes known as an alphabet poem.
Aide-memoire-
--Poetry Terminology: Aide-memoire poem -
Poem which helps the memory e.g. 'Thirty days hath September,/April, June and November'.
Aphorism-
Short pithy statement embodying a general truth e.g. Tennyson's 'Nature, red in tooth and claw.'
Arcadia-
Originally a mountainous area in the Peloponnese; then a symbol for idyllic rural life. Virgil's Eclogues were set in Arcadia. See also pastoral.
Bacchic-
Classical meter consisting of three syllables per foot: one short, one long, one long.
Bard-
Originally a term for a Celtic minstrel poet e.g. Cacofnix in Asterix the Gaul but is now used for any admired poet. Shakespeare is often referred to as 'the bard of Avon'.
Bardolatry-
The veneration accorded to Shakespeare.
Baroque Poetry-
Baroque derives from the Portuguese for imperfectly formed pearl. Baroque poetry is characterised by a highly elaborate style laced with extravagant conceits e.g. the work of the 17th century English poet Richard Crashaw.
Catharsis-
Much disputed term used by Aristotle in his Poetics where he suggests that tragedy should purge the emotions of pity and fear and, hence, lead to a catharsis.
Dada Poetry-
Poetry which attempts to deny sense and reason. Dada comes from the French for 'hobby-horse' - a word originally selected at random from the dictionary. Dada was the forerunner of surrealist poetry.
Dialect Verse -
Verse which employs national or regional dialects e.g. Robert Burns (Scottish), William Barnes (Dorset), Tennyson (Lincolnshire - see Northern Farmer) or my own poems (Norfolk - see New Norfolk Anals).
Eligiac Stanza-
A quatrain written in iambic pentameters and rhyming a-b-a-b.
Ellipsis-
Refers to any omitted part of speech that is understood; i.e. the omission is intentional. Analogously, in printing and writing, the term refers to the row of three dots (...) or asterisks (* * *) indicating such an intentional omission.
Elizabethan Poets-
Group of poets including Shakespeare, Sir Walter Ralegh, Sir Philip Sidney and Ben Jonson who were writing during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
Emotive Language-
Language which is charged with emotion e.g. love, hate, fear etc. Sometimes associated with inferior poetry - especially that produced by angst-ridden teenagers.
Fable-
Short story or piece of verse conveying a moral e.g. Aesop's fables.
Ghazal / Ghazel-
Arabic love poem or love-song.
Genre-
Kind or style of literary output e.g. poem, novel, play, short story etc.
Form-
The structural components of a poem e.g. stanza pattern, metre, syllable count etc - as opposed to the content. T.S.Eliot said that: 'In the perfect poet they (form and content) fit and are the same thing'.
Four Ages of Poetry-
Title of a (light hearted) essay by Thomas Love Peacock in which he classified poetry in terms of four periods: iron, gold, silver and brass.
Haibun-
Japanese form, pioneered by the poet Basho, and comprising a section of prose followed by haiku. They are frequently travelogues - as in Basho's The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel (1688). In the best examples, the prose and haiku should work together to create an organic whole.
Leonine Verse-
Type of verse possibly attributed to a 13th century French poet called Leo. In English it refers to verse employing an internal rhyme scheme where a word in the middle of the line rhymes with the word at the end of the line e.g 'The splendour falls on castle walls' from Blow, Bugle, Blow by Tennyson.
Magnum Opus-
An artist or poet's 'great work' e.g. Milton's Paradise Lost.
Meter-
The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line. The definitive pattern established for a verse (such as iambic pentameter).
Oblique Rhyme-
Alternative term for near rhyme.
Ode--
A lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying length of line, and complexity of stanza forms (of Latin, French, and Greek etymology).
Neo Classical Poets/Poetry-
Term used to describe the work of some late 17th century and 18th century poets such as Alexander Pope and John Dryden who deliberately imitated the classical Greek and Roman poets. Their work was characterised by formality and restraint. Romanticism was a reaction against neo-classicism. The neo-classical poets are sometimes known as the Augustans.
Occasional Verse-
Verse written to celebrate an occasion such as a coronation, a wedding or a birth. At national level, occasional verse would be one of the duties of the poet laureate.
Paeon -
A metrical foot (of Greek origin) containing one long syllable and three short syllables. The position of the long syllable can be varied hence the so-called first, second, third or fourth paeon.
Recitative/Recitativo-
Recitative/Recitativo -
Poem which is written to be spoken or performed - possibly with a musical accompaniment. See the opening line of To a Locomotive in Winter by Whitman.
Rising Meter-
Term used to describe end-stressed meters such as iambic and anapestic - as opposed to falling meter.
Rondel-
Another poem of French origin, normally consisting of fourteen lines, but with only two rhymes. The first and second, seventh and eighth, and thirteenth and fourteenth lines are the same. The most common rhyme scheme is: A-B-b-a-a-b-A-B-a-b-b-a-A-B.
Syllabic Verse-
A poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present. It is common in languages that are syllable-timed such as Japanese or modern French or Spanish, as opposed to accentual verse, which is common in stress-timed languages such as English.
Tercet-
A group of three lines, often rhyming together or with another tercet.
Example:
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,
until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow.
Tetrasyllables-
Tetrasyllables have four syllables in a foot.
Topographical Poetry-
The poetic equivalent of landscape painting e.g. Pope's Windsor Forest or Gray's Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. A more modern example of the genre is Remains of Elmet by Ted Hughes which was a collaboration with the photographer Fay Godwin.
Triad -
The strophe, antistrophe and epode of a Pindaric ode. See ode.
Stanza-
One or more lines that make up the basic units of a poem - separated from each other by spacing.
Vers de Societe-
Form of light verse which concerns itself with the comings and goings of polite society. Matthew Prior and Henry Austin Dobson both specialised in vers de société. How to Get On in Society by John Betjeman is another example - although this poem is also satirical in tone.
Vignette-
Vignettes are short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a trenchant impression about a character or an idea. It could describe a scene or even describe a situation involving action. A vignette points to a style rather than any form.
Welsh Forms-
Wales has always had a rich bardic tradition and can boast 24 separate poetic forms: 12 awdl forms, 4 cywydd forms and 8 englyn forms. See also cynghanedd and Eisteddfod.
Wrenched Accent-
Occurs when the metrical stress or accent forces a change in the natural word accent. This can occur due to a poet's lack of skill, but is also characteristic of folk ballads.
