Rhyme and Meter Assignment

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Character--creation and representation of fictional persons and entities

· protagonist--the main character the audience is expected to sympathize with. The protagonist Changes due to the Climax.

· antagonist--the main villain. This character causes the change in the protagonist and may be nature, another character, or internal.

· antihero--a central sympathetic character with significant personal flaws

· symbolic--caricature that is representative of certain kinds of people

· static--not growing or changing, an inactive personality

· dynamic--changing, growing, active

· flat--not well-developed

· round--well-developed

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Figures of speech--various expressive devices used in lieu of plain prose for vivid depiction

· allegory--parallel story with underlying moral or message

· analogy--extended comparison of things or events with other things and events

· irony--paradoxical events, ideas, or attitudes that are played off against each other

· sarcasm--making serious fun of things, ideas, people, or events

· satire--synthesis of heavily developed ironies and sarcasms

· metaphor--brief or extended comparison of something with something else

· metonymy--comparison/contrast of a part with the whole ("he gave up the sword" indicates leaving a life of war)

· personification--comparing inanimate things to people

· simile--something or someone is "as a" something else

· symbolism--using inanimate or imagined things to stand for real situations

· intangible--imaginary or "mental" symbols

· tangible--physical or "actual" symbols

· synecdoche--comparison of the whole with one or more of its parts (as in "the smiling year" to indicate springtime)

· understatement--a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Imagery--specific details used to describe characters, situations, things, ideas, or events

· hearing--images that make you hear sounds in your mind

· seeing--images that draw mental pictures

· smelling--images that bring the memories of odors and aromas to mind

· tasting--images that make you recall or imagine how something might taste

· touching--images that help you imagine how something might feel on your skin

· extrasensory--images that take you to an imaginary world of sensations

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Plot--a series of events or happenings that organize a text

· exposition—establishes character and setting prior to or as part of the conflict

· conflict--plot features that demonstrate human rivalries and difficulties

· climax--the highest point of tension in the conflict

· denouement--what happens as a result of the climax, the "fallout" or "payoff"

· external--conflicts that are active, perhaps physical or overtly expressed

· internal--conflicts that are passive, perhaps mental or covertly expressed

· foreshadowing--plot features that predict other events, like the climax or denouement

· complicated--characterized by many twists and turns

· implausible--fantastic plots that are not acceptable in the everyday sense of reality

· plausible--believable, everyday plots

· simple--arranged with few twists and turns

· reversal--The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist.

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

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Point of view--perspective of the controlling narrative voice

· first person--narrative voice that speaks with "I/we/us" pronouns

· limited omniscience--narrator who doesn't know everything

· objective--narrator who tries to tell story from an impersonal point of view

· omniscient--narrator who presumes to know the ultimate truth of the story

· reliable--narrator who can be trusted to tell the truth and be objective

· subjective--narrator who admits that personal factors have affected interpretation

· third person--narrative voice that uses "he/she/they" pronouns

· unreliable--narrator who cannot be trusted to tell the truth or be objective

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Setting--atmosphere, historical period, physical setting, or mood of text

· place--physical or psychical locations of events, things, characters, and historical times

· time--physical or psychical progression of events

· ahistorical--not grounded in any "real" historical period; imaginary or fantasy

· chronological--linear telling of events

· backward--starting at the end and working toward the beginning

· forward--starting at the beginning and working toward the end

· circular--a reflection that begins anywhere, goes to the end, to the beginning, eventually getting back to the start

· flashbacks--looking back into time

· historical--grounded in a "real" historical time period

· in media res--beginning more or less in the middle of events

· projections--looking forward into time

· fragmented--going back and forth in time with combinations of chronologies

· atmosphere--physical and external descriptions that help us better understand the setting

· mood--emotional and internal descriptions that help us better understand the setting

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

Theme--a major idea or message in the text

· controlling idea--the major theme of a work expressed as a universal truth of the human condition. This should be based upon a literal human situation and an abstract concept and should have the following three components:

• Abstract
• Complex
• Human Experience

· related ideas--sub themes that contribute to the development of the main idea.

· separate issues--ideas not directly related to the main idea or sub themes, but contribute to the success of the text.

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Types of Metrical Feet—the number of syllables and the stresses varies in the following forms:
• Iamb (Iambic) Unstressed + Stressed Two Syllables:

behold, amuse, arise, awake, return, Noel, depict, destroy, inject, inscribe, insist, employ, "to be," inspire, unwashed.

• Trochee (Trochaic) Stressed + Unstressed Two Syllables:

happy, hammer, Pittsburgh, nugget, double, incest, injure, roses, hippie, bubba, beat it, clever, dental, dinner, shatter, pitcher, Cleveland, chosen, planet, chorus, widow, bladder, cuddle, slacker, doctor, Memphis, "Doctor Wheeler," "Douglas County," market, picket

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Types of Metrical Feet—the number of syllables and the stresses varies in the following forms:
• Spondee (Spondaic) Stressed + Stressed Two Syllables:

football, Mayday, D-Day, heartbreak, Key West, shortcake, plop plop, fizz-fizz, drop-dead, dead man, dumbbell, childhood, goof-off, race-track, bathrobe, black hole, breakdown, love-song.

• Anapest (Anapestic) Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed Three Syllables:

understand, interrupt, comprehend, anapest, New Rochelle,

contradict, "get a life," Coeur d'Alene, "In the blink of an eye.“

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Types of Metrical Feet—the number of syllables and the stresses varies in the following forms:
• Dactyl (Dactylic ) Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed Three Syllables:

strawberry, carefully, changeable, merrily, mannequin, tenderly, prominent, buffalo, Bellingham, bitterly, notable, horrible, glycerin, parable, scorpion, Indianapolis, Jefferson

• Pyrrhus (Pyrrhic) Unstressed + Unstressed Two Syllables:

To a green thought in a green shade.

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Types of Line Length: Line length (below) multiplied by the number of syllables in the type of metrical foot (Iamb, trochee, spondee, Pyrrhus, Dactyl, Anapest) equals the syllables.
• Monometer One Foot
• Dimeter Two Feet
• Trimeter Three Feet
• Tetrameter Four Feet
• Pentameter Five Feet
• Hexameter Six Feet
• Heptameter Seven Feet
• Octameter Eight Feet

So, Iambic (2 syllables) Heptameter (7 Feet) would result in a line that is either 14 or 15 lines, but not 16 (Iambic Octameter).

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

How many syllables in the following examples?

• Dactylic Hexameter
• Trochaic Tetrameter
• Iambic Pentameter
• Anapestic Monometer
• Spondaic Dimeter
• Trochaic Heptameter
• Pyrrhic Trimeter
• Anapest Octameter
• Dactylic Pentameter
• Spondaic Tetrameter

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

How many syllables in the following examples?

• Dactylic Hexameter—3 syllables x 6 feet = 18, 19, 20.
• Trochaic Tetrameter—2 syllables x 4 feet = 8, 9.
• Iambic Pentameter—2 syllables x 5 feet = 10, 11.
• Anapestic Monometer—3 syllables x 1 foot = 3, 4,5.
• Spondaic Dimeter—2 syllables x 2 feet = 4,5.
• Trochaic Heptameter—2 syllables x 7 feet = 14, 15.
• Pyrrhic Trimeter—2 syllables x 3 feet = 6, 7.
• Anapest Octameter—3 syllables x 8 feet = 24, 25, 26.
• Dactylic Pentameter—3 syllables x 5 feet = 15, 16, 17.
• Spondaic Tetrameter—2 syllables x 4 feet = 8, 9.

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NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Stanza—a stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a story. Some different types of stanzas are as follows: �Couplets - couplets are stanzas of only two lines which usually rhyme�Tercets - tercets are stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a triplet.�Quatrains - quatrains are stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme.
• Sestet--a six-line unit of verse constituting a stanza or section of a poem
• Octave--an eight-line unit, which may constitute a stanza

NHS Glossary of Literary and Poetic Devices

• Blank verse—a poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
• Free verse—a poem without rhyme or meter
• Caesura—a strong pause within a line of verse
• Elision—the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry.
• Catalexis—an incomplete foot at the end of the line (doesn’t finish the iamb, trochee, etc.)
• Acatalexis—a complete foot at the end of the line (completes the iamb, trochee, etc.)
• Enjambment—the running on of sense from the end of one line of poetry to the next.

Application

In groups of 3, split the poem up and scan:

• Identify the meter and rhyme scheme.
• Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
• Highlight portions of the poem that break with the meter of the poem.
• Identify the lines that have an extra syllable.
• Connect 1-4 with the controlling idea.

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Excerpt From Poe’s The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,�Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,�While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,�As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.�"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;�Only this, and nothing more.“

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Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,�And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.�Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow�From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.�For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,�Nameless here forevermore.

Excerpt From Poe’s The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,�Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,�While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,�As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.�"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;�Only this, and nothing more.“

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Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,�And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.�Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow�From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.�For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,�Nameless here forevermore.

Application

• Identify the meter and rhyme scheme.
• Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
• Highlight portions of the poem that break with the meter of the poem.
• Identify the lines that have an extra syllable.
• Connect 1-4 with the controlling idea.

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Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;�Coral is far more red than her lips' red;�If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;�If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.�I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,�But no such roses see I in her cheeks; �And in some perfumes is there more delight�Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.�I love to hear her speak, yet well I know�That music hath a far more pleasing sound;�I grant I never saw a goddess go;�My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:�   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare�   As any she belied with false compare.

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;�Coral is far more red than her lips' red;�If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;�If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.�I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,�But no such roses see I in her cheeks; �And in some perfumes is there more delight�Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.�I love to hear her speak, yet well I know�That music hath a far more pleasing sound;�I grant I never saw a goddess go;�My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:�   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare�   As any she belied with false compare.

Application

• Identify the meter and rhyme scheme.
• Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
• Highlight portions of the poem that break with the meter of the poem.
• Identify the lines that have an extra syllable.
• Connect 1-4 with the controlling idea.

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