Poetry Terms – Prosody

Eye Rhyme
Words that appear similar, but don’t sound similar

Feminine Rhyme
Words with two syllables that rhyme
Masculine Rhyme
Words with one syllable that rhymes
Masculine Rhyme

Internal Rhyme
Rhyme occurring in one line or phrase

Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhyme (i.e. ABAB)

Pyrrhus
Two unaccented, short syllables

Iambic
A unstressed syllable followed by a stressed Syllable

Trochaic
A stressed syllable followed by a unstressed syllable

Spondaic
Two stressed syllables

Dactylic
One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

Anapestic
Two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable

Scansion
The metrical analysis of a verse

Elision
Omission of a sound or syllable when speaking

Synaeresis
Phonological process of combining the vowel sounds of a word into one syllable

Syncope
The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking.

Acephalous
Lacking a syllable or syllables in the first foot

Caesura
A break between words within a metrical foot. (A pause near the middle of a line)

Repetition
The action of repeating something that has already been said or written

Aposiopesis
The device of suddenly breaking off in speech.

Parallelism
The use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical, structure, sound, meter, meaning.

Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
Enjambment

End-stopped
Having a pause at the end of each line.
End-stopped

Ellipsis
The omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.
Ellipsis