| A | B |
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| apostrophe | the addressing of someone or something usually not present (or incapable of response), as though present. |
| ballad stanza | consists of four lines with a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b. The first and third lines are tetrameter and the second and fourth are trimeter. |
| carpe diem | a Latin expression that means seize the day; such poems urge the reader (or the person to whom they are addressed) to live for today and enjoy the pleasures of the moment. A famous poem of this genre by Robert Herrick begins Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
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| elegy | a poem that mourns the death of an individual, the absence of something deeply loved, or the transience of mankind. |
| lyric | typically short poem expressing the thoughts or feelings of a single speaker |
| narrative poem | a poem that tells a story |
| ode | an exalted, complex rapturous lyric poem written about a dignified, lofty subject |
| pastoral | a poem, play or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepherds and shepherdesses. The term has also come to refer to an artistic work that portrays rural life in an idyllic or idealistic way |
| Petrarchan/Italian: | sonnet form divided usually between eight lines called the octave, using two rimes arranged a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, and six lines called the sestet, using any arrangement of either two or three rimes: c-d-c-d-c-d and c-d-e- c-d-e are common patterns. The division between octave usually corresponds to a division of thought. |
| Shakespearean/English: | sonnet form composed of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, riming a-b-a-b c-d-c-d e-f-e-f g-g. |
| sonnet | typically 14-line poem; from the Italian for little song |
| terza rima | three-line stanza form with an interlaced or interwoven rhyme scheme: a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c, d-e-d, etc. Used most famously for Dantes Inferno. |
| couplet | two-line stanza |
| heroic couplet | sometimes called a closed couplet; consists of two successive rhyming verses that contain a complete thought within the two lines. Most perfectly, it consists of iambic pentameter lines; its master was Alexander Pope |
| triplet/tercet | three-line stanza |
| quatrain | four-line stanza |
| quintet | five-line stanza |
| sestet | six-line stanza |
| septet | seven-line stanza |
| octave/octet | Eight-line stanza |
| parody | a comical imitation of a serious piece with the intent of ridiculing the author or his work. |
| satire | the use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society, individuals, and institutions, often in the hope that change and reform are possible. |
