Glossary of Poetic Terms

Initially a prayer or supplication used in formal and religious processions, the litany has been more recently adopted as a poetic form that catalogues a series. This form typically includes repetitious phrases or movements, sometimes mimicking call-and-response. These examples by Luis Chaves, Richard Siken, and Cory Wade are poems explicitly noted as litanies, while others such as Ginsberg’s “Kaddish” sustain the form’s elements throughout.