Anaphora
Poetic device in which the same, or similar, words are used to begin successive phrases for rhetorical/poetic effect
Andromeda
A princess in ancient Greek mythology. Andromeda's mother angers the god Poseidon, and Andromeda herself is chained to a rock and offered as a sacrifice to the monster of the sea, but is ultimately saved by the hero Perseus.
Apostrophe
A poetic device in which a narrator directly addresses an absent/abstract person or thing
Aurorean
Like or of the dawn
Beadsman
A pauper who prays on behalf of wealthy patrons
Beldame
An old woman
Censer
An ornament used for burning incense
Chameleon Poet
Keats describes the character of a poet as resembling that of a chameleon; the poet has no character and only reflects the environment in which he finds himself.
Dryad
A wood-nymph in ancient Greek mythology
Eremite
A hermit or social recluse, often spiritual or religious
Fane
A temple or shrine
Fans
Wings
Fragrant zone
A belt made of flowers
Gleaner
One who gathers the grain left behind by reapers
Hippocrene
An ancient Greek fountain, sacred to the Muses and considered a source of poetic inspiration.
Iambic pentameter
A type of poetic meter composed of five pairs of "iambs" or "iambic feet." An iamb is a two-syllable pair in which the second syllable is stressed.
Negative Capability
The ability of an artist or thinker to exist comfortably in the presence of "uncertainties, Mysteries, [and] doubts," rather than trying to situate every phenomenon in an overarching logical or philosophical system. Keats describes his theory of "Negative Capability" in a letter to his brothers George and Tom, which was written on December 21, 1818.
Numbers
Verses of a poem
Petrarchan sonnet
A fourteen-line poem in rhyming iambic pentameter, beginning with an octet that follows a ABBA ABBA rhyme scheme and concluding with a sestet with a flexible rhyme scheme
Pinions
Feathers essential to flight, on the outer part of a bird's wing
Psyche
A Greek mortal-turned-goddess who married Cupid/Eros and was made immortal
Shakespearean/English sonnet
A fourteen-line poem composed in rhyming iambic pentameter. This type of sonnet begins with three quatrains (stanzas of four lines each) and concludes with a rhyming couplet.
Stanza
A division of a poem, often involving a fixed number of lines, a set type of meter, and a clear rhyme scheme
