Glossary of Poetic Terms
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| Haibun |
Japanese form, pioneered by the poet Basho, and
comprising a section of prose followed by haiku. They are frequently
travelogues - as in Basho's The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel
(1688). In the best examples, the prose and haiku should work together
to create an organic whole.
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| Haiku |
Miniature Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables - five
syllables in first line, seven in second and five in the last. No rhyme or
meter
scheme is employed when writing haiku. The aim of the haiku is to create something greater than the sum of the
parts e.g.
Reflections
Today your surface
Is a mirror where the sky
Bends to see itself.
Traditionally Haiku were used to capture aspects of nature and often
feature a seasonal component known as a 'kigo'. See
Japanese forms.
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| Half
Rhyme |
Occurs with feminine or three-syllable words where the
initial accented syllables rhyme but the unaccented syllables don't e.g.
'nearly' and 'clearing' or 'wilderness' and 'building'.
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| Harlem Renaissance |
African American literary movement which
occurred in the 1920s and 1930s. Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen were
leading players.
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| Head
Rhyme |
See
alliteration.
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| Hemistich |
Half a line.
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Hendecasyllabics |
Usually refers to a classical line in which the first
foot is a trochee or a spondee, the second is a dactyl and the third and
fourth are trochees. This meter was frequently used by the Roman poet
Catullus.
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Heptameter |
A line of poetry containing seven metrical 'feet'. An
example of anapestic heptameter is The Lacking Sense by Thomas
Hardy.
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| Heptastich |
A seven line stanza.
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| Heptasyllabic |
A seven syllable line.
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| Heroic
Couplet |
Pair of rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter.
John Dryden and Alexander
Pope used Heroic Couplets extensively in their work.
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| Heroic line |
Another term for iambic pentameter. See
meter.
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| Heroic
Poetry/Verse |
See
epic.
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| Heteronym |
Term coined by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa to
describe an alter ego through which poets/authors can create work.
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| Hexameter |
A line containing six metrical 'feet'. An example of
an iambic hexameter is the last line of each stanza of
The Faerie
Queene by Edmund Spenser.
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| Hexastich |
A six line stanza. See
sestet.
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| Hir a Thoddaid |
Welsh syllabic verse form.
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| Hokku |
See Haiku.
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| Homeric |
In the style or manner of the Greek poet
Homer.
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| Homeric epithet |
Homer commonly combined adjectives and nouns
to create compound adjectives e.g. 'wine-dark sea'.
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| Homeric simile |
See
epic simile.
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| Homograph |
Two or more words which share the same
spelling but are pronounced differently and have different meanings e.g.
'tear' and 'tear'.
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| Homonym |
Two or more words which share the same
spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings e.g. 'pole' and
'pole'.
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| Homophone |
Two or more words which are pronounced the
same but have different spelling and meaning e.g. 'saw' (to cut) and
'sore' (hurting). Many puns are based on homophones.
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| Homostrophic |
See
ode.
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| Hook |
The most memorable or most catchy part of a
song.
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| Horatian |
In the style or manner of the Roman poet Horace.
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| Horatian
Ode |
See ode.
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| Hovering
Accent |
See
distributed
stress.
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| Hrynhent |
Form of skaldic (Scandinavian) meter.
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| Hudibrastic |
Verse written in the style of
Samuel
Butler's satirical poem Hudibras. Hudibras, a poem written in rhyming
octosyllabic couplets, concerns the exploits of a Presbyterian knight
called Sir Hudibras. See
mock heroic.
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| Huitain |
An eight line stanza - normally involving
three rhymes. Popular in 15th and 16th Century France.
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| Hyangga |
Form of Korean folksong.
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| Hymn |
Poem written in praise of God and usually sung in
Christian worship e.g.
Light
Shining Out of Darkness by William Cowper. Cowper collaborated
with John Newton to write the Olney Hymns (1771-72).
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| Hymnal Stanza |
A four line iambic stanza with an a-b-a-b or
a-b-c-d rhyme schme. Also known as
common measure.
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| Hymnodist |
A writer of hymns.
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| Hyperbole |
Exaggeration for dramatic effect e.g. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe:
'Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?'
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| Hypercatalectic |
Line possessing an extra syllable after the last, normal
foot of the meter. Such lines can also be known as hypermetrical or
extrametrical. |
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