Literary Devices and Metrics in Poetry

Literary Themes

Recurring themes in literature include:

• Carpe diem (seize the day): Encourages embracing the present moment.
• Collige, virgo, rosas (girl, gather roses): Advises young women to enjoy their youth.
• Beatus ille (blessed is he): Praises a life of tranquility away from societal pressures.
• Golden Mean: Advocates for moderation and balance.
• Locus amoenus (pleasant place): Describes an idyllic and beautiful landscape.
• Ubi sunt? (where are they?): Reflects on the passage of time and the loss of past figures.

Metrics in Poetry

Metrics involve counting syllables in verses. Examples include:

• Trisyllabic
• Tetrasyllabic
• Hexasyllabic
• Heptasyllabic
• Octosyllabic
• Enneasyllabic
• Decasyllabic
• Endecasyllabic
• Dodecasyllabic
• Tridecasyllabic
• Alexandrine
• Pentadecasyllabic
• Octometer

An estribilo is a stanza repeated at intervals.

Synalepha combines the final vowel of one word and the initial vowel of the next into a single syllable.

Hiatus occurs when synalepha doesn't happen due to a pronounced vowel or pause.

Caesura and other breaks divide verses and stanzas for reading aloud.

Synaeresis combines two syllables into one metric syllable within a hiatus.

Diaeresis separates a diphthong to create an extra syllable.

Rhyme

Rhyme is the matching of sounds at the end of verses from the last stressed vowel. It can be consonant or assonant.

Minor art uses verses with a maximum of eight syllables (octosyllabic).

Major art uses verses with more than eight syllables (e.g., hendecasyllabic sonnets).

Stanza and Poem Structure

A stanza is a group of verses with a specific structure. Verses can be the same length (isometric, like a quatrain) or different lengths (heterometric, like a lira).

A poem is a combination of stanzas or an indefinite series of verses. Poems can have repeating stanzas (strophic poems, like romances) or fixed structures (sonnets, epistles).