| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
E
Ear Poetry
See concrete poetry for explanation.
Echo
The repetition of particular sounds, syllables, words or lines in poetry.
Echo Verse
A form of poem in which a word or two at the end of a line appears as
an echo constituting the entire following line. The echo, either the same
word or syllable or a homophone, often changes the meaning in a
flippant, cynical or punning response.
Echoism
See Onomatopoeia.
Eclogue
A brief pastoral poem, set in an idyllic rural place but discussing urban,
court, political, or social issues. Bucolics and idylls, like eclogues, are
pastoral poems in non-dramatic form. Examples are Alexander Barclay's
Eclogues, Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes Calender: April, Jonathan
Swift's "A Town Eclogue," and Andrew Marvell's "Nymph Complaining for
the Death of her Fawn."
Edda
Either of two collections of mythological, heroic and aphoristic Icelandic
poetry from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Eidillion or Eidyllion
See Idyll
Ekphrasis or Ecphrasis
In modern usage, the vivid literary description of a specific work of art,
such as a painting, sculpture, tapestry, church, and the like. Originally,
the term more broadly applied to a description in words of any
experience, person, or thing.
Elegiac
A dactylic hexameter couplet, with the second line having only an
unaccented syllable in the third and sixth feet; also, of or relating to the
period in Greece when elegies written in such couplets flourished, about
the seventh century B.C.; also, relating to an elegy.
Elegiac Stanza
A quatrain with the rhyme scheme abab written in iambic pentameter.
See also Distich.
Elegy
A Greek or Latin form in alternating dactylic hexameter and dactylic
pentameter lines; and a melancholy poem lamenting its subject's death
but ending in consolation. Examples in English include John Milton's
"Lycidas," Thomas Gray's "Elegy," Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Adonais,"
Alfred lord Tennyson's "In Memoriam," Matthew Arnold's "Thyrsis,"
Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Wreck of the Deutschland," and Walt
Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed." Ambrose
Pierce parodies Gray's poem in "Elegy."
Elision
Omission of a consonant (e.g., "ere" for "ever") or a vowel (e.g.,
"tother" for "the other"), usually to achieve a metrical effect.
Ellipsis
The non-metrical omission of letters or words whose absence does not
impede the reader's ability to understand the expression.
Emblem Poems
See Pattern Poetry
Emphasis
A deliberate stress of articulation on a word or phrase so as to give an
impression of particular significance to it by the more marked
pronunciation. In writing, emphasis is indicated by the use of italics or
underlining.
Enallage
The effective use of a grammatically incorrect part of speech in place of
the correct form, e.g., present tense in place of past tense, plural for
singular, etc.
Enargia
See under Ekphrasis
Enclosed Rhyme
An example of enclosed rhyme is abba. Enclosed rhyme quatrains are
used in the first two stanzas of an Italian sonnet.
Encomium
A speech or composition in high praise of a person, object or event.
End Rhyme
A rhyme occurring in the terminating word or syllable of one line of
poetry with that of another line, as opposed to internal rhyme.
End-stopped
A verse line ending at a grammatical boundary or break, such as a
dash, a closing parenthesis, or punctuation such as a colon, a semi-
colon, or a period. The opposite to an end-stopped line is a line subject
to enjambement.
English Sonnet
The Englished form of the Italian sonnet, developed by Sir Thomas
Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey with three quatrains and a
concluding couplet, with the scheme abab cdcd efef gg .
Englyn
The englyn is a traditional Welsh style of poetry based on rigid patterns
of rhyme. There are eight types of englynion. This style is thought to
have derived from the inscriptions on the Roman tombs in Wales. For
this reason, we will focus on the englyn milwr (soldier’s englyn). This
style consists of three seven-syllable lines that rhyme.
Enjambment
The continuation of a complete idea (a sentence or clause) from one line
or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause. An
example of enjambment can be found in the first line of Joyce Kilmer's
poem Trees: "I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as a tree."
Enjambment comes from the French word for "to straddle."
Envelope
A poetic device in which a line, phrase, or stanza is repeated so as to
enclose other material.
Envoi
As a piece of other poetic forms, the envoi is the name for the short
stanza at the close of a poem. It addresses an imagined or actual
person; it may also be used to comment on the earlier content of the
poem. It also repeats rhyme words or sounds used in the main body of
the poem.
Epanadiplosis
See Anadiplosis
Epanalepsis
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is repeated after
intervening matter.
Epanaphora
See Anaphora
Epic
An extended narrative poem with a heroic or superhuman protagonist
engaged in an action of great significance in a vast setting (often
including the underworld and engaging the gods). Examples of epic
poems are Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, John Milton's
Paradise Lost, William Wordsworth's The Prelude, Elizabeth Barret
Browning's Aurora Leigh, and T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."
Epic Simile
Extended comparison or cluster of similes or metaphors.
Epigram A brief witty poem. Randle Cotgrave (1611) translates
"Epigramme" as "An Epigram; a Couplet, Stanzo, or short Poeme,
wittily taxing a particular person, or fault; also, a title, inscription, or
superscription."
Epigraph
A quotation, taken from another literary work, that is placed at the
start of a poem under the title. For example, T. S. Eliot's "Gerontion"
begins with a quotation from Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure.
Epinicion
A song in celebration of triumph; an ode in praise of a victory in the
Greek games or in war.
Epistle
A verse epistle imitates the form of a personal letter, addressed to
someone in particular, often very personal and occasional, and
sometimes dated, with a location affixed. Alexander Pope's "Epistle to
Dr. Arbuthnot" can hardly be bettered.
Epistrophe
Successive phrases, lines, or clauses that repeat the same word or
words at their ends.
Epitaph
A burial inscription, often in verse. Philip Reder's Epitaphs (London:
Michael Joseph, 1969) collected authentic examples, largely from British
gravestones.
Epithalamium
A poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom.
Epithet
An adjective or adjectival phrase, usually attached to the name of a
person or thing.
Epitrite
Greek and Latin metrical foot consisting of short, long, long, and long
syllables / ~ ' ' ' / in any order.
Epizenxis
Repetition of a word several times without connectives.
Epode
A type of lyric poem in which a long verse is followed by a shorter one,
or the third and last part of an ode; also, the third part of a triadic
Greek poem or Pindaric verse following the strophe and the antistrophe.
Epopee
An epic poem, or the history, action or legend, which is the subject of
an epic poem.
Epos
An epic poem; also a number of poems of an epic theme but which are
not formally united.
Epyllion
A brief narrative work in classic poetry written in dactylic hexameter. It
commonly dealt with mythological themes, often with a romantic
interest, and was characterized by vivid description, scholarly allusion,
and an elevated tone.
Equivoke
An ambiguous word or phrase capable more than one interpretation,
thus susceptible to use for puns.
Eulogy
A speech or writing in praise of the character or accomplishments of a
person.
Euphemism
The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression to replace
one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant, for example,
"he is at rest" is a euphemism for "he is dead."
Euphony
A pleasing harmony of sounds.
Euphuism
An ornate Elizabethan style of writing marked by the excessive use of
alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes. The term derives from
the elaborate and affected style of John Lyly's 16th century romance,
Euphues.
Exact Rhyme
See Perfect Rhyme
Exemplum
A narrative that teaches a moral.
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor which is drawn-out beyond the usual word or phrase to
extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by using
multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas.
Eye Rhyme
Words rhyming only as spelled, not as pronounced, and hence not a
perfect or true rhyme. An example is "through" and "slough."
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
