Just a short, lighthearted blog for you today – we’ve compiled a mini dictionary of 5 new poetic or linguistic terms that you can drop into your next intellectual conversation about poetry. Enjoy.
Doggerel
A poetic form that is so bad it’s hilarious, often unintentionally. Research William McGonagall if this is your bag, you won’t be disappointed.
Palinode
This is a piece that retracts a statement or view that the poet has previously expressed. So if Sir Mix A Lot wrote a song about how much he likes skinny girls with tiny butts, that would kind of be a palinode. Kind of.
Lampoon/Invective
A poem that ridicules, mocks or attacks it’s subject. A bit like intellectual trolling.
Gnomic Verse
This gloriously named poetic form is actually nothing like it sounds like it should be. They are short poems with a moral or proverb embedded into them.
The seriousness is almost disappointing, isn’t it…
Hamartia
A fancier way of saying ‘tragic flaw’. Use to look smart in Shakespeare discussions.
Even if you don’t need to pop in buzz-words to look smart, isn’t it nice to know that ‘gnomic verse’ is a thing?! If you’ve enjoyed this mini-blog then please check out our archives and maybe consider following us – we’ve got a charity poetry collection going on sale very soon, ALL proceeds to Cancer Research UK, so any follows and support is much appreciated!
The Roar Poetry Anthology 