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Verse:
Poetry consisting of iambic pentameter lines without rhyme at
the end. An iambic pentameter line is a verse line of five iambic feet. For
example, the following lines are iambic pentameter lines each consisting of
five iambic feet. The last word of any of these lines does nof rhyme with the
last word of any of the consecutive lines. (see Iamb; Foot; Heroic Couplet) :
How can I live without thee, how forgo Thy sweet converse and
love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create
anther Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no, no! I feel
The link of nature draw me; flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone
thou art, and from thy state Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
(Milton :
Paradise Lost, Book IX)
Aphorism:
A terse expression of a universal truth. Example:
"Wives are young men's mistresses; companions for
middle age; and old men's nurses."
(Bacon: "Of
Marriage and Single Life")
Use of aphorism reflects the depth of an author's
personal experience. It is different
from a proverb: a proverb is an anonymous expression of a general truth while
an aphorism is one's personal experience. Proverbs are traditional but
aphorisms are individual. "Man proposes, God disposes", is an example
of a proverb.
Archaism:
A word or a style of expression which has already been
outdated. For example:
Lord, thou hast examined me and knowest me. Thou knowest all, whether I sit down or rise
up; thou hast discerned my thoughts from afar.
Thou hast traced my journey and my resting places, and art familiar with all my paths.
(The Bible, "Psalms"- 139) Here the words
"thou" for you, "knowest" for know, "hast" for
has and "art" for are, are archaic words. A modern writer uses it to
add gravity to his meanings. Coleridge uses it in many lines of "The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner". For example: He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound without the recurrence of
consonant sounds (which would make a rhyme). Loöe and dove is a case of rhyme
as both vowels and consonants are repeated. But there is an assonance in write
and ride as a vowel sound ("ai") is repeated. For one more example
notice the repetition of "o" in the following lines of Keats'
"To Autumn":
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the
light wind lives or dies;
Like alliteration, assonance also imparts musical effects to
the language in which it is used.
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