1. Tools of the poetic trade…

2. Tools a poet might employ to create an effect, an idea, a feeling…
Poetry: the art of expressing one’s thoughts in verse.
Prose: the ordinary language people speak and write.
Free Verse: an open form of poetry. Does not follow a rhythm or rhyme scheme. When spoken aloud, it can sound like prose.
Meter—the rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem—basically, the measured beats
Iamb (foot): basic unit of meter; unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable equals 1 iamb.
Iambic Pentameter— 5 iambs (beats); one line of 10 stressed and unstressed syllables

3. Sonnet—a poem of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter that follows a prescribed rhyme pattern
Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet—consists of an octave and sestet; the octave is an 8 line introduction that usually rhymes abba abba. The sestet is a 6 line response or contrast from the first 8 lines, and may rhyme cdecde, cdcdcd, or something similar. The change from one rhyme group to another signifies the change of subject matter.
English/Shakespearean Sonnet—consists of three quatrains (a stanza of 4 lines) and a concluding couplet; the rhyme scheme is usually abab cdcd efef gg
*Most common sonnet form*
Spenserian Sonnet—related to the English sonnet, consists of three quatrains of interlinking rhyme and a concluding couplet rhyming abab bcbc cdcd ee

4. Blank Verse: a poem written in iambic pentameter, but has no fixed number of lines and does not rhyme.
End-stopped: poetic device in which a pause occurs at the end of a line and is expressed with punctuation (comma, period, dash, etc.)
Caesura: (siz – yoor- a) a break inside a line of verse, usually made by any type of punctuation.
Enjambment: the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line break with no terminating punctuation at the end of the line. (opposite of end-stopped)

5. Simile: a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Metaphor: an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things NOT using the words “like” or “as.”
Personification: giving human characteristics to non-human things.
Alliteration: repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in stressed words or syllables
Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning or use—they sound like what they are!

6. Theme: overall main observation the author is trying to make about life or human nature: a complete sentence, not just one word.
Persona: a “second self” created by author through whom the poem is related; sometimes called the speaker, or narrator, of the poem—this is not necessarily the author’s voice speaking to us.
Imagery: descriptive & concrete details that appeal to the senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, or internal feelings; creates a picture in the mind.
Symbol: concrete object that is used to represent an idea.
Allusion: a reference to something historical or literary—background knowledge is necessary to understand the reference.