versification
Art of meter
Versification is the art or practice of composing verse—the techniques of arranging language into metrical patterns, rhyme schemes, and poetic forms.
The term also refers to a particular metrical style or the conversion of prose into verse: The versification of the Psalms produced many beloved hymns.
In literary criticism, versification analyzes how poets handle rhythm, meter, and sound.
Poem's line grouping
- coupletTwo successive verse lines
- quatrainFour-line poetic unit
- tercetThree-line verse unit
- octaveEight-note interval
sestet · refrain · volta · enjambment · caesura · strophe · antistrophe · envoi
Study of verse rhythm
- scansionAnalyzing verse rhythm patterns
- footLeg's lowest part
- iambTwo-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
anapest · dactyl · spondee · pyrrhic · pentameter · hexameter · tetrameter · trimeter
Matching initial consonants
- assonanceVowel sound repetition
- consonanceHarmonious sound combination
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- slant rhymeApproximate sound correspondence
internal rhyme · acrostic · anaphora · epistrophe · chiasmus · parallelism · repetition · onomatopoeia
Fourteen-line metered poem
- haikuJapanese seventeen-syllable verse
- limerickComedic five-line poem
- odeLaudatory verse form
- balladNarrative poem or song
elegy · epic · villanelle · sestina · rondeau · ottava rima · pastoral · aubade
Arranged elements forming whole
- revisionAltering to improve
- prosodyStudy of verse rhythm
- wordcraftSkill in using language
- lineationDivision into lines
diction · imagery · poetaster · rhymester · sonneteer · metrification · polishing · drafting
Emotion-centered artistic movement
- ModernismBreak from traditional forms
- SurrealismArt movement exploring dreams
- SymbolismArt emphasizing ideas over reality
- BaroqueOrnate artistic period
Pre-Conquest British Germanic peoples
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- PetrarchanSonnet style from Tuscany
- ShakespeareanOf the Stratford playwright
- SpenserianOf the Faerie Queene author
Persian · Arabic · Sanskrit · Chinese · Japanese · Welsh · Irish · troubadour
stanza
Poem's line grouping
octave · sestet · refrain · volta · enjambment · caesura · strophe · antistrophe · envoi · rhyme scheme
prosody
Study of verse rhythm
trochee · anapest · dactyl · spondee · pyrrhic · pentameter · hexameter · tetrameter · trimeter · dimeter
alliteration
Matching initial consonants
- assonanceVowel sound repetition
- consonanceHarmonious sound combination
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
slant rhyme · internal rhyme · acrostic · anaphora · epistrophe · chiasmus · parallelism · repetition · onomatopoeia
sonnet
Fourteen-line metered poem
ballad · elegy · epic · villanelle · sestina · rondeau · ottava rima · pastoral · aubade · epigram
composition
Arranged elements forming whole
lineation · diction · imagery · poetaster · rhymester · sonneteer · metrification · polishing · drafting · word choice
Romanticism
Emotion-centered artistic movement
- ModernismBreak from traditional forms
- SurrealismArt movement exploring dreams
- SymbolismArt emphasizing ideas over reality
Anglo-Saxon
Pre-Conquest British Germanic peoples
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- PetrarchanSonnet style from Tuscany
- ShakespeareanOf the Stratford playwright
Spenserian · Persian · Arabic · Sanskrit · Chinese · Japanese · Welsh · Irish · troubadour · oral
- poetrypoem, poems, poetry, verses, rhyme
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, rhythm, meter, beat
- poeticsrhyme, poetic form, stanza, meter, poetic devices
- sacred musichymns, hymn, anthem, anthems, gospel
- French poetryBaudelaire, Charles Baudelaire, Hugo, Victor Hugo, La Fontaine
- Bengali poetryfolk poetry, Bengal Renaissance
versificationprose
Unversified language
prose writing · prose fiction · narrative prose · essay writing · stream of consciousness
versificationfree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
formlessness · irregularity · prose poetry · stream of consciousness · artlessness
verse, reverse, version, diverse, universe, converse, advertise, versatile, invert