-Language-
These definitions apply to words and phrases we use to create poetry.
Alliteration: A repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words placed closely to one another.
Assonance: A type of rhyme in which the vowels are stressed, but not the consonants of the rhyme words. (example-hat and cap)
Cacophony: A harsh or unpleasand sound deliberately using rough meter or clashing vowels.
Consonance: A form of rhyme in which the consonants are stressed, but the vowels are not (example-ride and raid)
Euphemism: A word or term used because it is less offensive than the more direct or candid alternative (he passed away instead of he dropped dead)
Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration not intended to be taken seriously.
Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a line or lines instead of at the end.
Metaphor: Use of a word or phrase to represent another concept, idea or object (example-the bird was a wailing siren or the train was a speeding bullet). Metaphors differ from similies in that the writer does not soften the parallel by using the words 'like' or 'as', etc.
Metonymy: Use of substitue word to stand for the actual name of a thing or person.
Onomatopoeia: Use of words that imitate the sound of the thing they refer too.
Periphrasis: Very indirect way of saying something.
Personification: Attributing human qualities to an animal, plant, object or another inhuman thing.
Simile: Comparing two words, terms or concepts with use of the words 'like' or 'as'. These are similiar to metaphors but the comparison is made much more clearly.
Trope: Any figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used in an improper, unusual or unexpected sense (a metaphor, simile, hyperbole or metonymy could be trope)
Labels: language, tools, writing
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-Form-
Villanelle: A poem with six stanzas. The first five stanzas have three lines with a rhyme scheme of aba and the final stanza has four lines with a rhyme scheme of abaa.
Sonnet: A poem which contains 14 lines each of which contains 10 syllables. A Sonnet is usually written in a particular meter (iambic pentameter) and have a rhyme scheme of abab cded efef gg.
Ode: An elaborate lyric poem celebrating or praising an object or concept.
Limerick: A five line poem with structure and meter that lines 1, 2 and 5 have three beats and a rhyme scheme of aa bb a and lines 3 and 4 contain two beats that rhyme.
Haiku: A poem that presents an image, usually something in nature consisting of 17 syllables and made up of three lines. Counting the syllables five in the the first line, seven in the second line and 5 in the third line.
Free Verse: A poem that the verse can not be described in terms of meter, and may be irregular or sporadic.
Epitaph: A poem written to be inscribed on a tomb stone or grave marker.
Epistle: A poem in the form of a letter that addresses a specific person but extends its message to the world in general.
Epic: A long narrative poem usually on a mythological, historical or religious topic.
Elegy: A solemn dignified poem usually on a mythological, historical or religious topic.
Concrete: A way of structuring words so that they form a visual representation of their meaning.
Cinquain: A poem with five lines structured in such a way that the first line contain 2 syllables, the second line contains 4 syllables, the third line contains 6 syllables, the fourth line contains 8 syllables, and the fifth line contains 2 syllables. (Can be multiple sets of five lines done this way.)
Ballad: A brief narrative poem that is constructed in four line stanzas and has a rhyme pattern of the second and fourth lines.
Acrostic: A poem in which the letters of the subject word are written vertically down and the thoughts on the subject are written horizontally next to each letter so that each phrase or sentence begins with a letter of the subject word.
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-Voice-
These definitions apply to the point of view from which we write our words.
Apostrophe: A voice that addresses something that can not answer.
Dramatic Voice: Manner of speaking in which the writer pretends to be other people, animals, plants, or objects and presents their thoughts, feelings or actions.
Conversation: A piece that is presented as a dialogue between two people or objects.
Lyrical Voice: Originally the term 'lyric' simply referred to a poem that was intended to be sung. The lyric voice is seperated from the dramatic and narrative voices by the notion that the poem expresses the actual feelings of personal observations of the writer who is generally speaking in the first-person.
Narrative Voice: Manner of speaking which relays a story without any specific reference to the writer's feelings or personal observations.
Personna: A mask or alternate identity assumed by the writer. The writer will speak in the first-person for some other person or character.
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-Structural-
These definitions apply to the way in which we put words, phrases and lines together to create sections of a poem.
Canto: Major division of a long poem.
Chiasmus: Inversion or reversal of regular word order in successive phrases.
Couplet: Two adjacent lines of poetry that from a complete unit due to end rhyme, rhyme or meaning.
Enjambent: The sense or meaning of one line running over into the next line.
Line: The basic unit of a poem that a line ends when its momentum ends, not necessarily where a sentence or grammatical structure would end.
Parataxis: A way of placing words or phrases so that two images are merely stuck next to one another without any connective or explanation (like-my wrinkled hand or the bark of an old oak).
Quatrain: Four lines of poetry that form a complete unit through end rhyme, rhyme or meaning.
Refrain: A line or lines repeated at the end of several successive stanzas.
Stanza: Any distinct grouping of lines in a poem, usually occurring in the same number (couplets, tercets and quatrains are all types of stanzas).
Tercet: Three lines of poetry that form a complete unit due to end rhyme, rhyme or meaning.
Labels: structual, tools, writing
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-Rythmic and Meterical Tools-
These definitions apply to the number of beats or syllables in a line or word and the way in which we stress certain sounds when we speak.
Accent: A regular recurring stress in a line of poetry.
Anapest: A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable.
Cadence: A recurring rhythmical unit that does not have a strict meter.
Caesura: A natual pause in a line of poetry.
Daetyl: A foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
Ellision: A deliberate omission of a foot or syllablle to make a line conform to a certain meter.
Foot: A rhythmic unit in a line of poetry usually consisting of two or three syllables.
Lamb: A foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. This is the most common type of foot in poety.
Iambie Pentameter: A meter in which each line consists of five feet eah of which has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. This the most common meter in poetry.
Meter: A way of describing rhythm by finding patterns of stresses in words. The meter also measures the rhythm.
Spondee: A foot with two stressed syllables.
Stress: Emphases on a particular syllable of a word.
Trochee: A foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
Labels: Meterical, Rythmic, tools, writing
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-Prose-
Prose [Lat. prosa oratio=straightforward, or direct, speech]
meaningful and grammatical written or spoken language that does not utilize the metrical structure, word transposition, or rhyme characteristic of poetry or verse; it is, however, raised above the level of lifeless composition or commonplace conversation by the use of balance, rhythm, repetition, and antithesis. In literature, prose is the usual mode of expression in such forms as the novel, short story, essay, letter (epistle), history, biography, sermon, and oration. ~Answers.com
(My Example of a Prose)
Worn ...she was haggard taking a seat on the empty bench. There wouldn't be a bus by here again tonight. Swaying back and forth to the music that played in her mind. It mattered not if anyone approached or was near by watching, all that mattered to her was gone. There was nothing but the silence and a shell once called a body. Her gaunt, wrinkled fingers moved in the air, her boney wrists delicately floating, moving along the invisible keys. The old worn coat did its job in breaking the wind tonight but off with it and quickly removing the ribbon that held her long grey hair in place. Not another soul would hear what was making her stand, causing her to move, and twirl in her drawn, dingy yellow chiffon, with her messy hair tangling around her neck. She heard the sorrow that homed itself within. On she danced with tired, scuffed shoes and torn nylons rolled to her ankles. There was not a smile, there was not charm, she simply moved to be moving, she moved to forget until her mind was as blank as the picture being created with the non existing canvas, never really appearing, the visions, the notes simply flurried away. Copyrighted 2005 Cynthia E. Jones
My thoughts are that Prose is very different from Free Verse or Free Form. A Free Verse poem will still have some sort of structure and dynamic that will give the reader the idea they have been presented a poem. A prose may be poetically written without any structure, style or form in mind.
More thoughts ...Could it be possible the 'rules' are actually coming from the artist, or the artist is not writing with rules. This is often how I write before I even realize it and maybe most of my poems would be considered free verse. I do disagree with many writers that have stated too many 'poets' today are really writing prose and calling it a poem. A poem or poetry is just that and exactly what we make of it or intend it to be. I could certainly have a thought and write it poetically with only two simple lines. If it does not meet the rules of writing, is it not a poem to me?
What is art? I have always thought art is something that may strike controversy. If it has our attention and we are giving it our thought, perhaps it has done it's job, be it a poem or prose, it is something descriptive and artistically written.
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Personal Poetry
Whispers.. Darkness.. Purple Moon.. Military Woman.. Red, White, and Blue..
He
Lives.. She.. Undead Chant.. Time.. Life Storms.. How's
Mine?..
My
River.. Leading Light.. A Father's Love.. Our Moon.. When Autumn Fades.. And
I Weep..
My Love Letter.. Untold.. Perverse... Unclean.. My Sanctuary.. In The Spring..
Writing Tools Defined
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