Poetry Is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning.
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Why don’t we write poetry like Beowulf any longer?
Beowulf, the Old English epic poem, uses a characteristically Germanic style of poetry in which the number of strong beats per line is what counts. Instead of counting syllables, strong beats alone ...
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What term describes enjambment alluding to a taboo word?
In the schoolyard rhyme "Miss Susie" the taboo word is spoken aloud, so I'm not sure that it qualifies as a mind rhyme. Likewise, in the case of a subverted rhyme the expected word isn't spoken.
I ...
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6answers
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What are the rules in composing a Haiku? (aside from the syllable count)
Aside from the syllable count what else do I need consider when writing a Haiku?
I'm referring to the English imitation of a Haiku.
I have been told that the first two lines should be descriptions ...
12
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3answers
635 views
What does the grave accent mark on words mean?
What exactly does the grave accent mean in English?
An example from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30:
The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan
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5answers
527 views
What does “trostle” mean?
In the poem Pi, by Wislawa Szymborska, there is this line:
in which we find how blithe the trostle sings!
A Google search for trostle turns up a few hits, mostly as people's last names. Urban ...
9
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1answer
260 views
What's the point of omitting the “e”, as in “sceptered” going to “scepter'd”, in English poetry?
These are a few of my favorite lines of Shakespearean poetry:
Methinks I am a prophet new inspir’d,
And thus expiring do foretell of him:
His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
For ...
8
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3answers
476 views
Difference between “dawn” and “realize”
I encountered a word dawn and I have a feeling I understood the meaning in context. For example,
1) It dawned on him that she had loved him.
means
2) It entered his consciousness that she ...
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3answers
874 views
Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
I recently read the beautiful poem by Samuel Coleridge. Why did he call it a rime? I looked up rime on the dictionary, and it means a thin layer of ice; so was the name playing around with the rhyme ...
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What is the meaning of “pole to pole” here?
In the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley (Youtube) I failed to grasp the meaning of the line "black as the pit from pole to pole":
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from ...
8
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7answers
515 views
Term for poetry that mimics what it describes
I'm blanking on the term for when a verse mimics that which it describes - for example, a poem talking about a confusing encounter would become confusing itself - each time I search for it I keep ...
8
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1answer
178 views
Why are identical rhymes inferior in English poetry?
From “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath:
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
In English poetry, a perfect rhyme has identical vowels but different onsets, like come ...
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What is the difference between a “stanza” and a “verse”, as applied to English literature?
What is the difference between 'stanza' and 'verse' in English Literature (Poetry)? I've read one of my classmate's essays and the word 'verse' cropped up - I thought that the word 'verse' was usually ...
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1answer
431 views
What do you call a poem or song that sets up a rhyme and then ignores it?
Here is a line from the song "Popular" in the musical Wicked. I am trying to explain what we call the anticlimax of the last three lines, where a rhyme is expected but not delivered.
When I see ...
5
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2answers
822 views
Is this an example of litotes?
In Macbeth's Tomorrow speech
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace
from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our
yesterdays have lighted ...
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3answers
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Meaning of “The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you, / But that is much”
What did the poet mean by the following lines?
The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you,
But that is much.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay
I am not able to understand the meaning ...
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3answers
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What do you call the “narrator” of lyric poem?
In a narrative poem, the entity telling the story is called the narrator. The narrator is different from the author, in that the author is the real person who wrote the poem, while the narrator is a ...
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“The world forgetting, by the world forgot.”
This is from Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard, also appeared in the movie Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind(2004).
Could anyone parse this sentence for me? Where's the predicate? What does "the ...
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5answers
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What does “high” add to the meaning of this sentence of Tagore's poem?
Do not seat your love upon a precipice
because it is high.
What is the meaning of the word high in this sentence?
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2answers
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Why present perfect in “When the night has come”?
In the song “Stand by Me”, we see a sentence like “when the night has come.”
I was taught that in a when clause, we use the past tense, yet the present perfect has been used in the sentence cited ...
4
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2answers
245 views
Sing Song - nursery poem definitions
My wife was reading me this poem for our kids' homeschool
A city plum is not a plum; A dumb-bell is no bell, though dumb; A statesman's rat is not a rat; A sailor's cat is not a cat; A soldier's ...
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1answer
176 views
Human Face Divine
I recently read that there is a grammatical construct known as a Miltonic Structure, after John Milton. It said that the structure consists of an adjective + noun + adjective, like "human face divine" ...
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0answers
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Older pronunciations of the “-ity” suffix [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Rhyming conventions of Early Modern English
Andrew Marvell's poem To His Coy Mistress from the mid-1600's follows an AABBCCDD[...] rhyming pattern. Therefore, it is ...
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3answers
179 views
Contexts where a comma means “and”
A comma is commonly used as a short form of the word and in newspaper headlines. In what other contexts is this convention common?
This question came to mind as I was trying to parse the following ...
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3answers
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“Poems” or “poetry”
Can poems and poetry be used interchangeably, or is that incorrect usage? In normal conversation, they are used as synonyms often.
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Is cruel standard use as a noun in poetry? Are there terms for non-standard English specifically in regard to use in poetry?
I hope this question isn't off-topic.
I heard a madrigal with the following verse which bothers me somewhat, grammatically.
Cruel, wilt thou persever?
Peace to leave ever?
Peace shalt thou have and ...
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2answers
476 views
Syntax in poetry
Could you please explain why the syntax in the following stanza is wrong?
Surrounded
by that sturdy assertiveness
that walled England the din
of traffic in my mind quietens,
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1answer
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Is there a “correct” way to perform scansion in poetry?
Is there a foolproof or "rigorous" way to accurately and repeatably perform scansion in English poetry? It seems highly subjective at times.
For example, I can pretty easily grasp the iambic ...
2
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3answers
426 views
Is “e'er” a true English word?
Are poetic contractions, such as "e'er", "o'er" and "ne'er" (and other less common ones), English? As in officially recognized?
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1answer
156 views
Should I use period pronunciation when reading poetry aloud? [closed]
I find that when I read older poetry, the rhyme scheme is sometimes broken and I assume that the problem comes from changes in pronunciation over time. For example, Poe keeps up a pretty impressive ...
2
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4answers
251 views
Can bacon or beans suggest some sort of alcohol?
I just read this poem:
The Englishman
by G.K. Chesterton
St George he was for England,
And before he killed the dragon
He drank a pint of English ale
Out of an English flagon.
For ...
2
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2answers
143 views
Changed upon the blue guitar?
I had seen the following excerpt from this poem in a rhetoric workbook a while ago as an example of a word construction:
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
...
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1answer
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How does one tell the difference between long and short syllables?
Currently in the process of playing with Limericks and the meter they use usually requires a meter of long followed by two short syllables or vice versa.
My question, how do you differentiate? Is it ...
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1answer
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What does “And she promises the earth to me…” mean?
I like the famous song. But I can't understand what does "to promise the earth" mean. Does she want to give the Earth to him? I suspect native English speakers find it a strange question. Maybe I ...
2
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3answers
170 views
Loathe. The atypical use of the verb [closed]
I have a quick question about the atypical grammar of mine. I am a poet using iambic pentameter. The question is whether the following is grammatically correct:
I she loathes.
That I loathe.
...
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2answers
171 views
“time and time over” meaning
What does "time and time over" mean ? I encountered this verse in a Philip Larkin poem.
they come, they wake us time and time over.
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2answers
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“so death swings open on its hinge” [closed]
Missing dggggg kkdf sjjjg hhg happy trim test gert sre beet
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3answers
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Difference between meter and rhythm in poetry
What is the difference between meter and rhythm in poetry? The explanations found from googling were highly confusing.
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2answers
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1answer
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Meter in Clare's “I am”
I've determined that almost all of John Clare's "I am" is in iambic pentameter. But I'm having trouble identifying the meter of the following line:
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems
My ...
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1answer
355 views
Iambic Tetrameter?
God and my right shall me defend.
I have said this motto a fair few times in my head a number of times and it seems as though iambic tetrameter is the meter that fits best
The way I see it is,
...
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2answers
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How to cite Shakespearean Blank Verse or Free Verse in an MLA Paper [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to quote multiple lines of verse inline
If I am using a quote that is only one line, I would not need a / between lines. But, when do I use a / - for free verse or ...
1
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1answer
247 views
Meter in Tennyson's *Maud*
How should Tennyson's Maud be read? I.e. what is its meter? Here are the first four lines:
I HATE the dreadful hollow behind the little wood,
Its lips in the field above are dabbled with ...
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3answers
644 views
What does “noon hour” mean?
I came across the following sentence in a book. I wonder how should I interpret "noon hour":
"And how shall you rise beyond your
days and nights unless you break the
chains which you at the ...
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1answer
293 views
How to describe narrated action?
Let's say we have a poem that has a first-person point of view and then goes like:
I have eaten the cookies
Now, when I write about this poem and want to describe the action in the poem, would ...
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1answer
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Common Literary Techniques for Drama Texts?
Right now we're studying a piece on drama (Disclosure: This is for school, but not necessarily for an essay or homework - It's just further study on other literary techniques that are used within ...
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1answer
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Is there a technical term for when verbs in a sentence appear as if they have been swapped around? [closed]
Is there a technical term for when verbs in a sentence appear as if they have been swapped around as in the example here?
'her fingers creased in gold [and] her body ringed in folds'
In this ...
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2answers
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What is the stylistic device used in this poem?
I am not sure if there is a kind of stylistic device in below poem sentence.
The king’s horses are purebloods, his barns cut stone; roans, blacks, dapples, bays; the granite reds, greys, blues.
...
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0answers
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using the word found in a poem [closed]
I have the line:
Whereupon the new found its gallows.
In this case, could found double as "found having come upon" and "found having outfitted or equipped" and be used without having to used ...
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4answers
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What's the word for something that's too direct and plain rather than poetic?
When someone writes poetry that's almost like plain English sentences, what may we call that?
Consider this, for example. This is an example of that plain, stated as it is, poetry (completely made ...
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4answers
354 views
Why is this considered a “romantic” poem? [closed]
In Willam Blake's poem, what makes it a romantic poem?
I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, ...
