nsisting of a group of two or three syllables. Scanning or scansion is the process of determining the prevailing foot in a line of poetry, of determining the types and sequence of different feet.
Foreshadowing. The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature.
Free verse. Verse that has neither regular rhyme nor regular meter. Free verse often uses cadences rather than uniform metrical feet
Genre. Type of literature.
Irony. A mode of expression, through words (verbal irony) or events (irony of situation), conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. A writer may say the opposite of what he means, create a reversal between expectation and its fulfillment, or give the audience knowledge that a character lacks, making the character's words have meaning to the audience not perceived by the character.
Metaphor. Comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile. Example: "He is a pig" or "Thou art sunshine." The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of comparison. It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons as "fresh as a daisy," "tough as leather," "comfortable as an old shoe," "gay as a lark," "pretty as a picture." These are all recognizable similes; they use the words "as" or "like." A metaphor is another kind of comparison. It is actually a condensed simile, for it omits "as" or "like."
Meter. The rhythmic pattern produced when words are arranged so that their stressed and unstressed syllables fall into a more or less regular sequence, resulting in repeated patterns of accent (called feet). Feet are combined to make a line of poetry. The length, or measure, of a line is called the meter. The shortest line of poetry contains only one foot (monometer); one of the longest (octameter) consists of eight feet.
Ode. More complex in structure than most other forms, the ode is a poem of some length treating an elevated theme in a lofty, dignified manner. It has its origins in ancient Greece and was initially written to be delivered with musical accompaniment. There are 3 major types of modern odes. The Pindaric or regular ode, like Thomas Gray's Progress of Poesy: it is divided into three triads, each of which has a strophe, antistrophe, and epode. The second type of ode is called the homostrophic ode. Coleridge's Ode to France supplies a good example of the homostrophic ode as do Keats' Ode on Melancholy and Ode to a Nightingale . The third type of ode is called the irregular or Cowleyan ode (after the poet Cowley who used the form in the seventeenth century). As its name indicates, the irregular ode consists of a number of stanzas that are unlike in structure-that is, in the number of lines, length of lines, and rhyme scheme. More flexible obviously than the other two types, the irregular ode can be seen superbly used by William Wordsworth in Ode on the Intinations of Immortality.
Pathetic fallacy. The attribution of human traits to nature or inanimate objects. [Coined by John Ruskin in 1856.]
Sarcasm. A form of sneering criticism in which disapproval is often expressed as ironic praise.
Satire. A literary mode based on criticism of people and society through ridicule. The satirist aims to reduce the practices attacked by laughing scornfully at them--and being witty enough to allow the reader to laugh, also.
Setting. The total environment for the action of a fictional work. Setting includes time period (such as the 1890's), the place (such as downtown Warsaw), the historical milieu (such as during the Crimean War), as well as the social, political, and perhaps even spiritual realities.
Simile. The comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Related to metaphor. Example: "He eats like a pig."
Stanza. Every poem has a pattern, and it is the line which determines the pattern. The foot is the unit of the line; the measured line is the unit of the verse, or stan