List of basic poetry topics

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For a more comprehensive list, see the Glossary of poetry terms.

Poetry is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities, in addition to, or instead of, its ostensible meaning. Basic topics in poetry include:

Poetry Portal

1 Nature of poetry
2 Types of poetry
- 2.1 Common poetic forms
- 2.2 Periods, styles and movements
3 History of poetry
4 Basic elements of poetry
5 Famous poems and poets
6 Poetry lists
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Nature of poetry

Main article: Poetry

[edit] Types of poetry

[edit] Common poetic forms

[edit] Periods, styles and movements

For movements see List of poetry groups and movements.

[edit] History of poetry

Main article: History of poetry

[edit] Basic elements of poetry

Main article: Meter (poetry)

[edit] Methods of creating rhythm

Main articles: Timing (linguistics), tone (linguistics), and pitch accent

See also Parallelism, inflection, intonation, foot

[edit] Scanning meter

Main articles: Scansion and Systems of scansion

spondee — two stressed syllables together
iamb — unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
trochee — one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable
dactyl — one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables
anapest — two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable

The number of metrical feet in a line are described in Greek terminology as follows:

dimeter — two feet
trimeter — three feet
tetrameter — four feet
pentameter — five feet
hexameter — six feet
heptameter — seven feet
octameter — eight feet

[edit] Common metrical patterns

Main article: Meter (poetry)

Iambic pentameter (John Milton, Paradise Lost^[1])
Dactylic hexameter (Homer, Iliad;^[2] Ovid, The Metamorphoses)
Iambic tetrameter (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")
Iambic tetrameter (Aleksandr Pushkin, Eugene Onegin)^[3]
Trochaic octameter (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven")^[4]
Anapestic tetrameter (Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark";^[5] Lord Byron, Don Juan)^[6]
Alexandrine, also known as iambic hexameter (Jean Racine, Phèdre)^[7]

[edit] Rhyme, alliteration and assonance

[edit] Rhyming schemes

Main article: Rhyme scheme

[edit] Stanzas and verse paragraphs

Main article: stanza

2-line stanza: couplet or distich
3-line stanza: triplet or tercet
4-line stanza: quatrain
5-line stanza: quintain or cinquain)
6-line stanza: sestet
8-line stanza: octet

verse paragraph

[edit] Poetic diction

Main article: Poetic diction

[edit] Famous poems and poets

Main article: List of poets

William Shakespeare
Basho (芭蕉松尾）
Li Bai (李白)
Rainer Maria Rilke
Mikhail Lermontov (Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов)
Arthur Rimbaud
Robert Frost
Ignacy Krasicki, Fables and Parables
Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

[edit] Poetry lists

Main article: Glossary of poetry terms

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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