Elements of Poetry

Line/Verse
A line is the constituent of words organized together in which a poem is divided.

A one liner is monostich

Two liner is couplet

Three liner is tercet/triplet

Four liner is quatrain

Five liner is quintet

Six liner is sestet/sextet

Seven liner is septet/heptastich

Eight liner is octave

Nine liner is nonet

Ten liner is dizain

Fourteen liner is sonnet

Stanza

A stanza is a group of lines in poetry that have a particular length, meter, rhythm and rhyme. It is used for the division of the poem. An indentation, a line or a space can be used to separate a stanza from another. The ideas of a group of lines which form a stanza must have a point or subject matter.

Canto
Canto is used in a long narrative poem, such as an epic. It is the sub division of thoughts in a long poem, though longer and more expressive than stanza. It is very good to use in oral epics because it originated from the word, cantus, which means ‘song’.

Rhythm
Rhythm is derived from the Greek word ‘rhythmos’ which means measured motion. It is a poetic device that resonates with the flow of sound in a line of poetry. It emanates from the flow of words (stressed and unstressed syllables), pause in a line, phrase and clause that constitute lines of poetry.

Meter
Meter explains the sequence of beats and the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poem. It denotes the rhythmic structure of a line of a poem.

Types of Meter

One foot is monometer

Two feet is dimeter

Three feet is trimeter

Four feet is tetrameter

Five feet is pentameter

Six feet is hexameter

Seven feet is heptameter

Eight feet is octameter

Scansion

Scansion also known as scanning is the division of a line of poetry into the stressed and unstressed syllables.

Example: Hope is the Thing With Feathers (By Emily Dickinson)

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all

The bolded words in the poem are the stressed syllables.

Metrical Foot
Metrical foot is a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Examples of Metrical Foot

Iamb consists of a metrical foot that has an unstressed (unaccented) syllable followed by the accented syllable. Examples: concern, award etc.

Trochee is the opposite of iamb. It first has a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Examples: normal, John and, teacher etc.

Anapest refers to two unstressed syllables that are followed by a stressed syllable. Examples: comprehend, understand etc.

Dactyl is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Examples: obsolete, intimate, quarantine etc.

Spondee is a foot that has two stressed syllables.

Pyrrhic is a foot that has two unstressed syllables.

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