Terms for poem and song analysis

Verse: What we call the lines of a poem/song. There are often several verses (lines) in a poem, which together form a ‘stanza’.

Stanza: group of (usually rhymed) verses forming a unit in some types of poems. There might be several stanzas in one poem/ song.

RHYME and RHYTHM:

Rhymes are usually found at the end of a verse. The last syllable of a verse often rhymes with the last syllable of the verse below (for example: ‘break’ rhyming with ‘take’, or ‘do’ rhyming with ‘too’). When there are end rhymes, we look for a rhyme scheme – a pattern in the end rhymes. This is generally indicated by using letters of the alphabet (for example: ababcc), indicating which verses rhyme with each other.

Alliteration: Words beginning with the same consonant (for example: She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore).

Free verse: Poetry without a strict use of rhyme and rhythm.

IMAGERYPersonification: Transferring human qualities to objects or abstracts. (The ocean danced in the moonlight, civilization is dying).

Simile (sammenligning): a simple comparison (using ‘like’- She is like a rose) or a comparison of degree (‘as...as’- She is as pretty as a rose).

Metaphor: Use of a word/phrase to indicate something different from the literal meaning. (She has a heart of stone/All the world’s a stage – Shakespeare)