Essential Literary Devices and Poetic Stanza Forms

Literary Devices (Figures of Speech)

These rhetorical devices are used to enhance expression and suggest sensory or emotional effects:

• Alliteration

  Definition: Repetition of a sound or sounds, often at the beginning of words, intended to suggest a sensory effect.

• Anadiplosis

  Definition: Repetition of the final word(s) of a line or clause at the beginning of the subsequent line or clause.

• Anaphora

  Definition: Repeating one or more words to initiate several consecutive verses or clauses.

• Antithesis

  Definition: A relationship established between two words or phrases that have opposite meanings.

• Apostrophe

  Definition: An invocation or direct address to an absentee person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object.

• Asyndeton

  Definition: The intentional suppression or omission of conjunctions (links) connecting words or sentences.

• Comparison (Simile)

  Definition: The explicit comparison of one thing with another, usually using words like "like" or "as."

• Lexical Field Cohesion

  Definition: The use of words belonging to the same semantic or lexical field.

• Ellipsis

  Definition: The omission of elements in a sentence that are easily interpreted from the context.

• Enumeration

  Definition: The accumulation of words or phrases to describe an object, state, or location.

• Epanadiplosis

  Definition: Repeating a word at the beginning and at the end of the same verse or clause.

• Epithet

  Definition: An adjective that emphasizes a quality already implicit in the name it modifies (e.g., "the dark night").

• Hyperbaton

  Definition: Alteration of the logical or conventional order of the elements within a sentence.

• Hyperbole

  Definition: Exaggeration in describing the qualities or actions of someone or something.

• Rhetorical Question

  Definition: A question posed for effect, which does not require or expect an answer.

• Metaphor

  Definition: Identifying one term with another based on a perceived similarity.

• Metonymy

  Definition: Designating something by another name based on a relationship of contiguity (e.g., using the container for the contained).

• Onomatopoeia

  Definition: A word that imitates the sound of the thing it names.

• Parallelism

  Definition: Repetition of the syntactic structure or order in two or more verses or clauses.

• Paronomasia

  Definition: A play on words that are paronyms (similar in sound but different in meaning).

• Periphrasis (Circumlocution)

  Definition: Using an explanatory phrase or description instead of naming a person, animal, or thing directly.

• Personification (Prosopopoeia)

  Definition: Attribution of human qualities or actions to irrational or inanimate things.

• Polysyndeton

  Definition: The constant and often unnecessary repetition of conjunctions (links).

• Synesthesia

  Definition: Attributing sensations perceived by one sense to another sense (e.g., "a loud color").

Poetic Forms and Stanza Structures

These structures define the number of lines (Art.), meter (sil.), and rhyme scheme (Rim. C/A).

• Two-Line Stanzas

  Couplet: 2 lines (Art.) + Rhyme (C.oA).

• Three-Line Stanzas

  Trio: 3 lines (Art.) + Rhyme (AAA or ABA).

  Triplet Chains (Tercets): 3 lines (Art.), Rhyme Scheme: ABA BCB CDC.

• Four-Line Stanzas

  Quarteto (Major Art): 4 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: ABBA.

  Serventesio (Major Art): 4 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: ABAB.

  Quatrain (Minor Art): 4 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: abba.

  Copla (Minor Art): 4 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: -a-a (Assonant rhyme on even lines).

  Cuaderna Vía: 4 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: AAAA (Monorhyme, typically 14-syllable lines).

• Five-Line Stanzas

  Quintet (Quinteto): 5 lines (Art.) + Rhyme (C.). Rules: No more than two consecutive lines rhyme; the last two do not form a couplet.

  Quintilla: 5 lines (Art.) + Rhyme (c.). (Typically minor art lines, following the same rules as the Quintet.)

  Lira: 5 lines (Art. 3x7sil. + 2x11sil.) + Rhyme Scheme: aBabB.

• Six-Line Stanzas

  Copla de Pie Quebrado (Broken Foot Stanza): 6 lines (Art. 1, 2, 4, 5 are 8 syllables; 3, 6 are 4 syllables) + Rhyme Scheme: Abcabc.

• Eight-Line Stanzas

  Ottava Rima: 8 lines (Art.) + Rhyme Scheme: ABABABCC.

• Ten-Line Stanzas

  Tenth (Décima or Espinela): 10 lines (8 syllables/art. 8sil.) + Rhyme Scheme: abbaaccddc.

• Fourteen-Line Stanzas

  Sonnet: 14 lines (11 syllables/11sil.) + Rhyme Scheme: Two Quatrains and Two Tercets (e.g., ABBA ABBA CDC DCD).

• Unfixed Stanza Forms

  Romance: Lines of 8 syllables (8sil.). Assonant rhyme on even lines (e.g., -a-a-a-a...).

  Silva: Variable lines (11sil. and 7sil.) + Variable Rhyme Scheme (e.g., ABBA-ab...).