Glossary

Alexandrine: a verse line with twelve syllables. If the line has two syllables per foot, it is a hexameter (see below). These do not occur in The Sonnets but are seen with some frequency in the plays

Amphibrach: a metrical foot with three syllables, the first and last ones unstressed and the middle one stressed. These do not occur in The Sonnets but are occasionally seen in the plays.

Anapest: a metrical foot with three syllables, the first two unstressed and the last one stressed. These do not occur in The Sonnets, but are occasionally found in the plays.

Couplet: a portion of verse containing two lines.

Doggerel: loosely constructed verse, often of purposefully inferior quality.

Elision: the shortening of syllables in one or more words by the elimination of one or more vowels or consonants. Ne’er for never is a common use of elision in poetry.

Ellipsis: the omission of one or more words from a phrase that can be inferred from the context.

Enjambed line: a verse line that does not end with a pause, the sense continuing on to the next line.

Enjambment: the technique of using enjambed lines.

Epic caesura: A midline break that ends with an extra unstressed syllable. It is usually followed by a strong pause marked by punctuation in the original text. This does not occur in The Sonnets, but is seen in the plays

Feminine ending: a verse line with an extra, unstressed syllable at the end. In iambic pentameter, the feminine ending is an eleventh syllable.

Gloss: a brief explanation of a difficult word or expression (the root of the word “glossary”).

Hexameter: a verse composed of lines each with six metrical feet. In regular iambic hexameter, each foot is composed of an iamb made up of two syllables (see below) and each line has twelve syllables, making it an alexandrine (see above).

Iamb: a metrical foot with two syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed.

Iambic pentameter: a pentameter verse composed of iambs. In regular iambic pentameter, all the feet contain iambs, which have an unstressed first syllable and a stressed second syllable. A good poet, though, will use variations to keep iambic pentameter from sounding dull.

Irregular line: an irregular line has at least one variation from the standard verse form.

Midline break: a pause anywhere within a verse line. A pentameter line is long enough that it almost always requires at least one midline break, which usually occurs somewhere around the fourth to sixth syllable, but can occur anywhere in the line. (The technical term is the caesura, but as this is no easier to use than “midline break” I have avoided the term except for the epic caesura [see above].)

Octet: a portion of verse containing eight lines.

Pentameter: a verse with lines of five metrical feet, each foot is usually made up of two syllables (but irregular feet may contain more or fewer). A regular pentameter line has ten syllables.

Pyrrhic: a metrical foot with two syllables, both of which are unstressed (the opposite of a spondee).

Quatrain: a portion of verse containing four lines.

Regular line: a regular line has no variations from the standard verse form. For example, a regular iambic pentameter line has five iambs (ten syllables in total).

Scansion: the metrical analysis of verse. To scan a verse line is to read it according to metrical principles.

Sestet: a portion of verse containing six lines.

Spondee: a metrical foot with two syllables, both of which are stressed. In most spondees, there is a variable degree of stress on the two syllables, sometimes more on the first, sometimes more on the second, but the stress on the first syllable is always stronger than it would be in an iamb and the stress on the second syllable is always stronger than it would be in a trochee..

Tetrameter: a verse with four metrical feet, each foot is usually made up of two syllables (but irregular feet may contain more or fewer).

Trochee: a metrical foot with two syllables, the first stressed and the second unstressed (the reverse of an iamb).