POETRY TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. Line- Literally, a line of poetry

2. Stanza- A group of lines in a poem, like a “poem paragraph”, separated by a space

3. Rhyme- Words that sound the same at the end of the word (note that they do not need to be
spelled the same as long as they SOUND the same)

Example: ball, tall

Tinge, hinge
Speak, meek

4. Rhyme Scheme- The pattern created by the rhyming words at the END of lines in the poem,
use letters to label the rhyme scheme (A, B, C, etc. See below)
Remember: same sound=same letter
new sound=new letter

5. Rhythm- The beat of the poem

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the line of a poem

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

NOW PRACTICE:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, A
1. Number of And sorry I could not travel both B
Lines__________ And be one traveler, long I stood A
And looked down one as far as I could A
To where it bent in the undergrowth; B
2. Number of
Stanzas__________ Then took the other, as just as fair, C
And having perhaps the better claim D
Because it was grassy and wanted wear; C
3. On the right hand side, finish Though as for that, the passing there C
labeling the rhyme scheme Had worn them really about the same, D
for the poem.
And both that morning equally lay E
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Rhythm Practice: Use the four lines below to practice marking the rhythm pattern

Please listen to my voice above them all, / to show stressed syllables

So you, my friend, be spared the pain and grief ∪ to show unstressed syllables

Of failing, falling hard against that wall

Which makes a time of happiness so brief.