Notes
Meter and lines
- Scansion marks stressed and unstressed syllables. Feet: iamb (u /), trochee (/ u), anapest (u u /), dactyl (/ u u), spondee (/ /).
- Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter. Breaks in meter add emphasis.
- Enjambment pushes past line breaks; a caesura is a pause inside a line; line-end words carry weight.
Forms
- Petrarchan sonnet: octave + sestet, volta at line 9. Shakespearean sonnet: three quatrains + couplet, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
- Villanelle (19 lines, two refrains), ghazal (couplets with a refrain word), ode (formal praise), dramatic monologue (one speaker, silent listener).
Figures and sound
- Conceit, apostrophe, paradox, metonymy, synecdoche and oxymoron add complexity.
- Euphony sounds smooth; cacophony sounds harsh. Always explain how sound supports meaning.
- In translation, ideas and images travel better than sound.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
EL-e-phant: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed.
The octave-sestet structure and ABBA rhymes mark it as Petrarchan.
"Sweet" and "sorrow" are opposite ideas joined together.
A part (hands) stands for the whole person.
A mid-line pause is a caesura.
Repetition echoes obsessive, circling emotion.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Read this original poem: "The harbor sleeps in silver light, / the boats are soft and still; / then thunder cracks the sky apart / and hammers on the hill. / The masts that swayed like sleeping reeds / now crack and clash and groan; / by dawn the sea is calm again, / but one boat drifts alone."
(a) Identify the shift in the poem and the line where it begins.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The poem shifts from calm to violence in line 3, beginning with "then thunder cracks the sky apart." A second, quieter shift comes in line 7 with "by dawn," returning to calm but with loss.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Explain how sound devices support the shift.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The opening uses euphony, with soft s and l sounds in "sleeps in silver light" and "soft and still." After the shift, cacophony takes over with harsh k sounds in "cracks," "crack and clash" and the heavy "hammers," so the sound itself becomes rough like the storm.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) What does the final line suggest about the poem's meaning?
Show the answer and scoring guide
"But one boat drifts alone" suggests that even when calm returns, the storm leaves lasting damage. The image of a single boat hints at loss, such as a sailor who did not survive, so the poem suggests that peace after disaster can hide what was lost.
Check off the points you earned: