The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms--drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Provides an authoritative guide to the most important terms in the study of poetry and literature.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliographical Abbreviations
• General Abbreviations
• Contributors
• A
• ACCENT.
• ACCENTUAL-SYLLABIC VERSE.
• ACCENTUAL VERSE.
• AIR.
• ALBA
• ALEXANDRINE
• ALLITERATION
• AMBIGUITY
• ANACOLUTHON
• ANACREONTIC
• ANADIPLOSIS
• ANALOGY.
• ANAPEST
• ANAPHORA
• ANTISTROPHE
• ANTITHESIS
• ANTONOMASIA
• APORIA
• APOSTROPHE
• ASSONANCE
• ASYNDETON
• AUDIENCE.
• B
• BALLAD
• I. Regional and Linguistic Variation
• II. Oral and Written Ballads
• III. Scholarship and Influence in Literary History
• BALLAD METER, HYMN METER.
• BEAT
• BIBLICAL POETRY.
• BLANK VERSE
• I. Italian
• II. English
• III. Spanish and Portuguese
• IV. German
• V. Scandinavian
• VI. Slavic
• BLASON
• BLUES.
• BROKEN RHYME
• BURLESQUE.
• C
• CAESURA
• I. Caesura vs. Pause
• II. Position
• III. Extra Syllables
• CANON.
• CARPE DIEM
• CATACHRESIS
• CATALEXIS
• CATALOG
• CHAIN RHYME
• CHIASMUS
• CHRISTABEL METER
• CLOSURE.
• COLON
• COMPLAINT
• COMPOSITION.
• COMPOSITION BY FIELD
• CONCEIT
• CONCRETE POETRY
• CONFESSIONAL POETRY
• CONSONANCE
• CONVENTION
• COUPLET
• CROSS RHYME
• D
• DACTYL
• DECASYLLABLE
• DECORUM
• DEIXIS.
• DEMOTION.
• I. Definition.
• II. Dramatic Poetry and Drama in Verse.
• III. Dramatic Poetry and Performance Theory.
• IV. Dramatic Poetry in the Theater.
• DEVOTIONAL POETRY.
• DIALOGUE.
• DICTION.
• DIMETER
• DOZENS.
• DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE.
• DRAMATIC POETRY
• DREAM VISION.
• E
• ECLOGUE
• EKPHRASIS
• ELEGIAC DISTICH,
• ELEGIAC STANZA
• ELEGY
• I. History
• II. Criticism
• ELISION
• ELLIPSIS
• ENCOMIUM
• ENGLISH PROSODY
• I. Old English
• II. Middle English
• III. Modern (after 1500)
• ENJAMBMENT
• ENVOI
• EPIC
• I. History
• II. Theory
• EPIGRAM
• EPITAPH (Gr., “writing on a tomb”)
• EPITHALAMIUM
• EPITHET
• EPODE
• EUPHONY
• EYE RHYME
• F
• FABLIAU
• FOOT (MODERN).
• FORM.
• FOURTEENER
• FREE VERSE
• I. History
• II. Form
• G
• GENRE.
• GEORGIC.
• H
• HAIKU, WESTERN
• I. Before 1910
• II. Through the Two World Wars
• III. Resurgence in the 1950s
• HEMISTICH
• HENDECASYLLABLE.
• HENDIADYS
• HEPTAMETER.
• HEROIC COUPLET.
• HEROIC VERSE
• HEXAMETER.
• HIATUS.
• HOMOEOTELEUTON
• HYMN.
• HYPERBATON.
• HYPERBOLE
• HYPOTAXIS AND PARATAXIS.
• I
• IAMBIC
• IDYLL
• IMAGE.
• IMAGERY
• I. Culture and Criticism
• II. Sense, Mind, and Language
• III. Imagery and Discourse
• INDETERMINACY.
• IN MEMORIAM STANZA.
• INTERNAL RHYME
• INVECTIVE.
• IRONY.
• ISOCOLON AND PARISON.
• K
• KENNING
• L
• LAMENT.
• LEONINE RHYME, VERSE.
• LETTER, VERSE.
• LIMERICK.
• LINE
• LITOTES
• LOVE POETRY
• I. Issues and Assumptions
• II. Thematic Overview.
• III. Conventions and Personae.
• LYRIC
• LYRIC SEQUENCE.
• M
• MADRIGAL
• MASCULINE AND FEMININE
• METAPHOR
• I. Critical Views
• II. History
• III. Recent Views
• IV. Current Debates
• V. Summary
• METER
• I. Four Categories.
• II. Debates About Meter
• III. Functions
• METONYMY
• MIMESIS
• I. Beginnings
• II. Plato
• III. Aristotle
• IV. Later Greek Views
• V. Legacy
• MOCK EPIC, MOCK HEROIC
• MONOLOGUE.
• N
• NARRATIVE POETRY
• I. History.
• II. Poetic Form and Narrative Poetry.
• III. Criticism.
• NARRATOR.
• NEAR RHYME,
• NONSENSE VERSE.
• O
• OCTAVE
• OCTOSYLLABLE.
• ODE
• ONOMATOPOEIA
• OTTAVA RIMA.
• P
• PALINODE.
• PANEGYRIC
• PARADOX.
• PARALIPSIS
• PARALLELISM
• PARODY.
• PARONOMASIA
• PASTORAL
• I. Ancient.
• II. Modern.
• PATHETIC FALLACY.
• PATTERN POETRY.
• PENTAMETER.
• PERFORMANCE
• I. Theory.
• II. History.
• III. Practice.
• PERIPHRASIS.
• PERSONA.
• PERSONIFICATION.
• POEM
• POET.
• POETICS, WESTERN
• I. Classical.
• II. Medieval and Early Modern.
• III. Romanticism to Modernism.
• IV. Postmodernism and Beyond.
• POETRY.
• POIĒSIS
• POINT OF VIEW.
• POLYPTOTON
• POLYSYNDETON
• PROSE POEM.
• PROSODY
• I. Introduction.
• II. Elements, Structure, System.
• III. Analysis.
• IV. Prose and Free Verse.
• V. Linguistic Prosody and Literary Studies.
• PROSOPOPOEIA
• PROVERB.
• PSALM
• PUN.
• PYRRHIC
• Q
• QUANTITY
• I. Concepts Ancient and Modern.
• II. Linguistic Basis
• QUATRAIN.
• R
• REFRAIN
• REPETITION.
• RHYME
• I. Origin and History of Rhyme in World Poetries.
• II. Rhyme in Western Poetries, Particularly in English.
• RHYME ROYAL.
• RHYME SCHEME
• RHYTHM
• I. Features of Rhythm.
• II. Rhythm versus Meter.
• III. Analysis of Rhythm.
• RICH RHYME
• RIDDLE.
• RIME RICHE.
• RONDEAU.
• S
• SAPPHIC
• SATIRE.
• SCANSION
• I. Definition and History
• II. Notation.
• III. Meter, Rhythm, and Scansion
• IV. Pros and Cons of Scansion.
• SCHEME
• SEPTET
• SESTET
• SESTINA
• SIGNIFYING
• SIMILE.
• SKELTONIC
• SLANG.
• SONG
• SONNET
• SONNET SEQUENCE
• SOUND
• I. Theoretical Overview
• II. Articulation, Acoustics, and Cognition
• III. Recent Approaches to Sound
• IV. Expressivity
• V. Sound Effects and Sound Patterning in Poetry
• VI. Conclusion
• SOUND POETRY
• SPEAKER
• SPENSERIAN STANZA
• SPLIT LINES
• SPOKEN WORD.
• SPONDEE
• SPRUNG RHYTHM.
• STANZA.
• STICHOMYTHIA
• STROPHE.
• STYLE.
• SUBLIME
• I. Classical.
• II. Enlightenment to Modern
• SYLLABIC VERSE
• I. System of Versification
• II. English
• SYMBOL
• I. In Culture
• II. In Poetry
• SYNAERESIS
• SYNAESTHESIA
• SYNCOPE
• SYNECDOCHE
• SYNTAX, POETIC
• T
• TERCET.
• TERZA RIMA.
• TETRAMETER
• I. Classical.
• II. Modern
• TONE
• TRIMETER
• TROCHAIC
• TROPE
• U
• UT PICTURA POESIS.
• V
• VARIABLE FOOT.
• VERISIMILITUDE.
• VERSE DRAMA.
• VERSE EPISTLE
• VERSE NOVEL.
• VERSE PARAGRAPH.
• VERSE SYSTEMS.
• VERSIFICATION.
• VERS LIBRE.
• VILLANELLE
• VIRELAI
• VISUAL ARTS AND POETRY.
• VISUAL POETRY
• I. Forms.
• II. Free Verse
• VISUAL RHYME.
• VOICE.
• VOLTA
• Z
• ZEUGMA