Strophe (or stanza)
A series of cola with a particular beginning and a particular close, possessing a unity of thought, structure, and style
Stich
A line of poetry.
Sometimes referred to as a colon. Usually correspond to a single verse in the Scriptures
Hemistich (unit or member)
Part of a line of poetry. Some authors refer to this as a “colon”
Bi-colon/tri-colon
a stich consisting of two and three members respectively
feet
the stressed units in a line of poetry, based on accents, not number of syllables.
meter
the number and arrangements of stresses in a line of poetry.
qinah
a meter having a 3:2 pattern; the first hemistich has 3 accents and the second has 2 accents.
acrostic
an alphabetic poem in which each stich or strophe begins with a successive letter of the alphabet; communicates completeness and order
synonymous
the units or stichs in question are saying the same thing or similar things
antithetic
the units in question are saying essentially opposite or contrasting things
emblematic
the units in question make a comparison (often using the word as)
climactic
stair-like parallelism; each succeeding unit or stich begins in the same way but advances the thought
synthetic
catch all category. the second line continues the thought of the first in some way that is not one of the classes above
chiasm (Chiasmus)
an inverted parallelism in which the members, stichs or bi/tri-cola form a cross.
The emphasis in a chiasm is on the middle unit or pair of units.
