POETRY PRISM is an attempt to enable learners to appreciate poetry in its various forms. Let us make this world a better place by understanding, evaluating, creating poems that enable to reach in their hearts and to reach out to others.

1. POETRY
CREATIVE
CRY
VIVIDH

2. DARE TO BE
DIFFERENT

3. Father, father, mercy take
And I will no more verses make
-Isaac Watts

4. VERSE
Compositions written in meter

5. METER
Sequence of feet

6. FOOT
Specific sequence of
syllable type
Unstressed/Stressed

7. SYLLABLE
sound made from a single vowel, or
single vowel/consonant combination
note that syllables never have more
then one vowel sound in them.
e.g.: bit; a; un; as; dog; re; ist; bi

8. Monosyllabic:
dog there bike he
walk bounce
Disyllabic:
doc/tor Fri/day
o/ver chick/en

9. Trisyllabic:
hos/pit/al
yes/ter/day
de/tec/tive
Polysyllabic:
un/wa/ver/ing
pri/va/ti/zation

10. PROSODY
Study of meters and
forms of versification

11. RHYTHM
a recognizable
though variable pattern
in the beat of the stresses
in the stream of sound

12. METER
rhythm of stresses structured
into a recurrence of regular-
i.e. approximately equivalent-
units of stress pattern

13. A metric line is named
according to the number of feet
composing it
Monometer Dimeter Trimeter
Tetrameter Pentameter
Hexameter Heptameter
Octameter

14. IAMBIC
A light syllable followed by a stressed syllable
The cur few tolls the knell of par ting day

15. ANAPETIC
Two light syllables followed by a stressed syllable
The As syr ian came down like a wolf
on the fold

16. TROCHAIC
A stressed followed by a light syllable
There they are my fif ty men and wo men

17. DACTYLLIC
A stressed syllable followed by two light syllables
Eve, with her bas ket, was
Deep in the bells and grass.

18. PYRRHIC
Two short or unaccented syllables
Early 17th century via Latin from Greek purrhikhios (pous)
„pyrrhic (foot)‟, the metre of a song accompanying a war
dance, named after Purrhikhos, inventor of the dance.
“To a green thought in a green shade.”
The Garden: Andrew Marvell

19. SPONDAIC
Two syllables
with two successive stressed syllables
The word comes from the Greek
σπονδή, spondḗ, "libation”
Crý, crý! Tróy búrns, or élse let Hélen gó
Troilus and Cressida: Shakespeare

20. Iambic Pentameter
based on a normative sequence of
five iambic feet or iambs,
each consisting of a relatively unstressed
syllable followed by a relatively stressed
one

21. Iambic Pentameter
unstressed syllable
(represented with "×" above the syllable)
stressed one
(represented with "/" above the syllable)
"da-DUM" = "× /"

22. × / × / × / × / × /
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
× / × / × / × / × /
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Iambic Pentameter

23. POETIC LICENSE
The freedom to violate normal
conventions of language/ truth
The non-grammatical structures in
poetry (meter, rhyme, unorthodox word
choice and order, etc.)
Non-punctuated stream of consciousness
Distortions of historical fact

24. Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper,
Went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
When Jill came in how she did grin
To see Jack's paper plaster;
Mother vexed did whip her next
For causing Jack's disaster.
Jack and Jill

25. CAESURA
a complete pause in a line of poetry
To err is human; || to forgive, divine.
-Alexander Pope

26. ANACHRONISM
Greek ανά (ana: up, against, back, re-)
χρόνος (chronos: time)
chronological inconsistency in some
arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of
person(s), events, objects, or customs from
different periods of time

27. FIGURES OF SPEECH
Addition (adiectio)
repetition/expansion/superabundance
Omission (detractio)
subtraction/abridgement/lack
Transposition (transmutatio)
transferring

28. Schemes
(from the Greek schēma, form or shape)
Change in expected pattern of words
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tropes
(from the Greek tropein, to turn)
Change in general meaning of words
For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men

29. SHAKESPEARIAN SONNET
consists of 14 lines
each line containing ten syllables
written in iambic pentameter
[a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by
a stressed syllable is repeated five times]
The rhyme scheme a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g
[the last two lines are a rhyming couplet]

30. SONNET 116 by Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)
Admit impediments, love is not love (b)
Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)
Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)
O no, it is an ever fixèd mark (c)
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c)
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)
Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)
But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)
If this be error and upon me proved, (g)
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

31. PETRARCAN SONNET
Octave (two quatrains) forms the proposition which
describes a problem
a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a
Sestet (two tercets) proposes a resolution
c-d-e-c-d-e
c-d-c-c-d-c
c-d-c-d-c-d
The ninth line often marks a "turn" by signaling a change
in the tone, mood, or stance of the poem.

32. On His Blindness By Milton
When I consider how my light is spent (a)
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)
And that one talent which is death to hide, (b)
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)
My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b)
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a)
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d)
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)
And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

33. HAIKU
[previously called HOKKU]
Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki at the
end of the 19th century
Haiku in English often appear in three
lines to parallel the three phrases of
Japanese haiku

34. old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound

35. Just friends:
he watches my gauze dress
blowing on the line.
After an Affair
Merging Media, 1984
Alexis Rotella

36. meteor shower...
a gentle wave
wets our sandals
(HSA Newsletter XV:4, Autumn 2000)
Michael Dylan Welch

37. The ballade is a verse form typically consisting of
three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre
and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the
stanza is a refrain. The stanzas are followed by a
four-line concluding stanza (an envoi) usually
addressed to a prince. The rhyme scheme is therefore
usually 'ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC', where
the capital 'C' is a refrain.
BALLADE

38. A villanelle has only two rhyme sounds. The first
and third lines of the first stanza are rhyming
refrains that alternate as the third line in each
successive stanza and form a couplet at the
close. A villanelle is nineteen lines long,
consisting of five tercets and one concluding
quatrain.
VILLANELLE

39. A lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated
to someone or something which captures the
poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the
ode.
ODE

40. A lyrical verse concerning the romance of a
shepherdess
PASTOURELLE

41. SHAPE POEMS

47. Ampersand
A twisted shape poem
which is in the
shape of an ampersand,
which is an
abbreviated form of the
word and
by Patrick Winstanley

51. The Leaning Tower of
Pizza
A feast of fonts and a
punishing pun collide
in this collaborative
shape poem
about the authors' love
of Italian food
by Patrick Winstanley &
Hannah Flemington

52. Onomatopoeia Poems

53. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest
by Max Scratchmann
Thunk!
Buzzz!
Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!
Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!
Ow! Yow! Wow!
Owwwww!!!!

54. D & G
by Patrick Winstanley
David was a hot shot
With a slingshot
Swoosh
Whoosh
Thwack

55. Unique
Always remember that you're unique
Unequalled, uncommon, c’est magnifique
One of a kind, quite special and rare
Singular, original, not one of a pair
Special, the exceptional you embody
You're really unique, just like everybody

56. Love Of The Sea
by Paul Curtis
Oh my love how you remind me of the
sea
Not for being amazing, powerful and
dramatic
No, you remind me of the sea my
darling
Because when I’m close to you I feel sick

57. One Day My Prince Will Come
by Paul Curtis
Remember all you maidens
From the isle of dogs
Before you find a prince
You must kiss a lot of frogs

58. Rose's Are Red by Paul Curtis
Rose’s are red
Violet’s are blue
Daisy’s are white
Lily’s are too
Poppy’s are red
Iris’s are blue
Pansy’s are varied
Petunia’s are too

59. Ruby’s are red
Sapphire’s are blue
Pearl’s are white
Jasmine’s are too
Marigold’s are orange
Hyacinth’s are blue
Holly’s are scratchy
Heather’s are too

60. May’s are white
Fern’s are green
Ivy’s are variegated
And very often seen
Busy Lizzie’s
Colours are many
And Honeysuckle
Doesn’t wear any

61. All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with mirth; His praise
forth tell.
Come ye before Him and rejoice.

62. Roses Are Red
by Patrick Winstanley
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'm allergic
Atchoo, Atchoo