Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Literary Device: Rhyme and Meter

In order to pass the "Poetry" section of the AP Literature and Composition exam, one should use necessary terms and (as the great Alaskan Governor would say) "verbage" in order to impress your reader. Here are some that may help:

End Rhyme- the rhyming of words that appear at the ends of two or more lines of poetry
".
...I am going to choke you,
Until you turn blue.
Or will you turn red?
I'll just choke you till you're dead..."

Approximate Rhyme- words that sound similar but do not rhyme exactly
"...he who likes slavery,
has no morals to live by..."

Refrain- a line or phrase repeated throughout a poem, sometimes with variations, often at the end of each stanza.
"... a dog that misbehaves,
deserves to be beaten
and also you,
deserve to be beaten..."

Meter- the basic rhythmic structure of a verse, and usually depends on acoustic properties of the spoken words, such as the length or stress of their syllables.
"
Iamb- a two-syllable metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable.
" I had a little dog,
It's fur was soft as wool;
It followed me around,
My home, my street, my school."

Trochee- Reverse of the iamb. A metrical foot of two syllables, one long (or stressed) and one short (or unstressed).
"Trochee/ trips from/ long to/ short"

Anapest- A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed).
"And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold"

Dactyl- a three-syllable metrical foot, consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables.
"Pic
ture your self in a boat on a river with

tan
gerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es"

No comments: