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Terms removed from definitions. Copied directly from Mr. Chau's Google Form terms list, with the exception of the pyrrhic foot.
alliteration
the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words. "Gnus never know pneumonia" is an example of this since, despite the spellings, all four words begin with the "n" sound.
allusion
a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work. When T.S. Eliot writes, "To have squeezed the universe into a ball" in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," he is referencing the lines "Let us roll our strength and all/ Our sweetness up into one ball" in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress."
antithesis
a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in "Man proposes; God disposes." This is a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness. The second line of the following couplet by Alexander Pope is an example of this: The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jury-men may dine.
apostrophe
a figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present. Following are two examples: Papa Above! Regard a Mouse. -Emily Dickinson Milton! Thou shouldst be living in this hour; England hath need of thee . . . -William Wordsworth
assonance
the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. "A land laid waste with all its young men slain" repeats the same "a" sound in "laid," "waste," and "slain."
ballad
A popular narrative song passed down orally. In the English tradition, it usually follows a form of rhymed (abcb) quatrains alternating four-stress and three-stress lines. Narrative in content, folk (or traditional) these are anonymous and recount tragic, comic, or heroic stories with emphasis on a central dramatic event. Beginning in the Renaissance, poets have adapted the conventions of the folk ____ for their own original compositions. ____ use informal diction and often address concerns of the community.
ballad meter
a four-line stanza rhymed abcb with four feet in lines one and three and three feet in lines two and four. O mother, mother make my bed. O make it soft and narrow. Since my love died for me today, I'll die for him tomorrow.
blank verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter. The meter of most of Shakespeare's plays, as well as that of Milton's Paradise Lost.
cacophony
a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones. It may be an unconscious flaw in the poet's music, resulting in harshness of sound or difficulty of articulation, or it may be used consciously for effect, as Browning and Eliot often use it. See, for example, the following line from Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra": Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast?
caesura
a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and often greater than the normal pause. For example, one would naturally pause after "human' in the following line from Alexander Pope: To err is human, to forgive divine.
carpe diem
In Latin, "Seize the day." The fleeting nature of life and the need to embrace its pleasures constitute a frequent theme of love poems; examples include Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time."
conceit
an ingenious and fanciful notion or conception, usually expressed through an elaborate analogy, and pointing to a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things. A ____ may be a brief metaphor, but it also may form the framework of an entire poem (an extended metaphor). A famous example of a ____ occurs in John Donne's poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," in which he compares his soul and his wife's to legs of a mathematical compass.
consonance
the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. The term usually refers to words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowels that precede them are different. ____ is found in the following pairs of words: "add" and "read," "bill and ball," and "born" and "burn."
couplet
a two-line stanza, usually with end-rhymes the same.
devices of sound
the techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry. Among devices of sound are rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. The devices are used for many reasons, including to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning.
diction
the use of words in a literary work. ____ may be described as formal (the level of usage common in serious books and formal discourse), informal (the level of usage found in the relaxed but polite conversation of cultivated people), colloquial (the everyday usage of a group, possibly including terms and constructions accepted in that group but not universally acceptable), or slang (a group of newly coined words which are not acceptable for formal usage as yet).
didactic poem
a poem which is intended primarily to teach a lesson. The distinction between ____ poetry and non-____ poetry is difficult to make and usually involves a subjective judgment of the author's purpose on the part of the critic or the reader. Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism is a good example of ____ poetry.
dramatic monologue
a poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader. Often the speaker's version of events is subject to doubt.
dramatic poem
a poem which employs a dramatic form or some element or elements of dramatic techniques as a means of achieving poetic ends. The dramatic monologue is an example.
elegy
a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet's meditations upon death or another solemn theme; a lament. Examples include Thomas Gray's "---- Written in a Country Churchyard"; Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam; and Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."
end-stopped
a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are ---- lines.
Example: True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance,
As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
enjambment
the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next. Milton's Paradise Lost is notable for its use of ----, as seen in the following lines: . . . Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God, . . .
extended metaphor
an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem. In "The Bait," John Donne compares a beautiful woman to fish bait and men to fish who want to be caught by the woman. Since he carries these comparisons all the way through the poem, these are considered "----"
euphony
a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate. Its opposite is cacophony. The following lines from John Keats' Endymion are ----: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
eye rhyme
rhyme that appears visually correct from spelling, but is half-rhyme or slant rhyme from the pronunciation. Examples include "watch" and "match," and "love" and "move."
feminine rhyme
a rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed, as "waken" and "forsaken" and "audition" and "rendition." ---- is sometimes called double rhyme.
figurative language
writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted) such as metaphor, irony, and simile. ---- uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. "The black bat night has flown" is figurative, with the metaphor comparing night and bat. "Night is over" says the same thing without ----.
free verse
poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical. The poetry of Walt Whitman is perhaps the best-known example of ----.
heroic couplet
two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit. See the following example from Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock: But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
Hyperbole
a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect. Macbeth is using ---- in the following lines: . . . No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.
Imagery
the image of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. ---- has several definitions, but the two that are paramount are the visual auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work or the images that figurative language evokes. When an AP question asks you to discuss ----, you should look especially carefully at the sensory details and the metaphors and similes of a passage. Some diction is also ----, but not all diction evokes sensory responses.
irony
the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning. Verbal ---- is a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning. ---- is likely to be confused with sarcasm, but it differs from sarcasm in that it is usually lighter, less harsh in its wording though in effect probably more cutting because of its indirectness. The ability to recognize ---- is one of the surer tests of intelligence and sophistication. Among the devices by which ---- is achieved are hyperbole and understatement.
internal rhyme
rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end. The following lines contain ----: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping. . suddenly there came a tapping . . . .
lyric poem
any short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings. Love lyrics are common, but ---- have also been written on subjects as different as religion and reading. Sonnets and odes are ----.
masculine rhyme
rhyme that falls on the stressed and concluding syllables of the rhyme-words. Examples include "keep" and "sleep," "glow" and "no," and "spell" and "impel."
metaphor
a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like "as," "like," or "than." A simile would say, "night is like a black bat"; a ---- would say, "the black bat night."
meter
the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. The ---- of a poem emphasizes the musical quality of the language and often relates directly to the subject matter of the poem. Each unit of ---- is known as a foot.
metonymy
a figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself. In this way we commonly speak of the king as the "crown," an object closely associated with kingship.
mixed metaphors
the mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous. Lloyd George is reported to have said, "I smell a rat. I see it floating in the air. I shall nip it in the bud."
narrative poem
a non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or complex, long or short. Epics and ballads are examples of ----.
octave
an eight-line stanza. Most commonly, ---- refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet.
ode
has its origins in classical antiquity. A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Its stanza forms vary.
onomatopoeia
the use of words whose sound suggests their meaning. Examples are "buzz," "hiss," or "honk."
oxymoron
a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness. Examples include "wise fool," "sad joy," and "eloquent silence."
paradox
a situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense. The following lines from one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets include ----: Take me to you, imprison me, for I Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
parallelism
a similar grammatical structure within a line or lines of poetry. ---- is characteristic of Asian poetry, being notably present in the Psalms, and it seems to be the controlling principle of the poetry of Walt Whitman, as in the following lines: . . . Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them. Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
paraphrase
a restatement of an ideas in such a way as to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form. A ---- is often an amplification of the original for the purpose of clarity.
pastoral
Poets writing in English drew on the ---- tradition by retreating from the trappings of modernity to the imagined virtues and romance of rural life, as in Edmund Spenser's The Shepheardes Calendar, Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," and Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." The ---- poem faded after the European Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, but its themes persist in poems that romanticize rural life or reappraise the natural world; some contemporary examples critique urbanization and centralization and convey unease about concentration of power.
personification
a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.
poetic foot
a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it. The most common type of feet are as follows: iambic u / trochaic / u anapestic u u / dactylic / u u pyrrhic u u spondaic / /
pyrrhic foot
a metrical foot of two unaccented syllables. The meter is common in classical Greek poetry, but most modern scholars do not use the term. Example: "To a green thought in a green shade." (unstressed in bold).
pun
a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings. ----s can have serious as well as humorous uses. An example is Thomas Hood's:" They went and told the sexton and the sexton tolled the bell."
quatrain
a four-line stanza with any combination of rhymes.
refrain
a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.
rhyme
close similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse. For a true ----, the vowels in the accented syllables must be preceded by different consonants, such as "fan" and "ran."
rhyme royal
a seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc, used by Chaucer and other medieval poets.
rhythm
the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables. The presence of these patterns lends both pleasure and heightened emotional response to the listener or reader.
sarcasm
a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it. Its purpose is to injure or to hurt.
satire
writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object by ridicule. ---- is usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correct vice and folly. ---- is often found in the poetry of Alexander Pope.
scansion
a system for describing the meter of a poem by identifying the number and the type(s) of feet per line. Following are the most common types of meter: monometer one foot per line dimeter two feet per line trimeter three feet per line tetrameter four feet per line pentameter five feet per line hexameter six feet per line heptameter seven feet per line octameter eight feet per line Using these terms, then, a line consisting of five iambic feet is called "iambic pentameter," while a line consisting of four anapestic feet is called "anapestic tetrameter." In order to determine the meter of a poem, the lines are "scanned," or marked to indicate stressed and unstressed syllables which are then divided into feet. The following line has been scanned: u / u / u / u / u / And still she slept an az ure- lid ded sleep
sestet
a six-line stanza. Most commonly refers to the second division of an Italian sonnet.
sestina
A complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoy contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the three lines.
simile
a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with "like," "as," or "than." It is easier to recognize a ---- than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit: my love is like a fever; my love is deeper than a well.
sonnet
Its origins are Sicilian; the word means "little song." Normally a fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem. The conventional Italian (Petrarchan) form is rhymed abba, abba, cde, cde and has an eight-line (octet) and six-line (sestet) division. The English, or Shakespearean, form is rhymed abab, cdcd, efef, gg and is divided into three quatrains (4-line sections) and a closing couplet.
stanza
usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme.
strategy (or rhetorical strategy)
the management of language for a specific effect. It is the planned placing of elements to achieve an effect. The ---- of most love poems is deployed to convince the loved one to return to the speaker's love. By appealing to the loved one's sympathy, or by flattery, or by threat, the lover attempts to persuade the loved one to love in return.
structure
the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. The most common units of ---- in a poem are the line and stanza.
style
the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author. Many elements contribute to it, and if a question calls for a discussion of ---- or of "---- techniques," you can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone, using the ones that are appropriate.
symbol
something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else. For example, winter, darkness, and cold are real things, but in literature they are also likely to be used to represent death.
synecdoche
a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole. For example, we refer to "foot soldiers" for infantry and "field hands" for manual laborers who work in agriculture.
syntax
the ordering of words into patterns or sentences. If a poet shifts words from the usual word order, you know you are dealing with an older style of poetry or a poet who wants to shift emphasis onto a particular word.
tercet
a stanza of three lines in which each line ends with the same rhyme.
terza rima
a three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc,etc. Dante's Divine Comedy is written in this form.
theme
the main thought expressed by a work. In poetry, it is the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work.
tone
the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. (Remember that the "voice" need not be that of the poet.) Described by adjectives, and the possibilities are nearly endless. Often a single adjective will be enough, and it may change from stanza to stanza or even line to line. ---- is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, and style.
understatement
the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is. For example, Macbeth, having been nearly hysterical after killing Duncan, tells Lenox, "'Twas a rough night."
villanelle
a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain. This form uses only two rhymes which are repeated as follows: aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa. Line 1 is repeated entirely to form lines 6, 12, and 18, and line 3 is repeated entirely to form lines 9, 15, and 19; thus, eight of the nineteen lines are refrain. Its origin is in Italian harvest songs. The 16th century French poet Jean Passerat first recorded the form as we know it today. Because of the repetition of lines inherent in the form, there is an absence of narrative possibility. That is, figural development is possible but no linear, forward movement of narrative is possible due to the recursive nature of the line repetition. The form, however, does allow for powerful recurrences of emotion, mood, and memory. Dylan Thomas's poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is an example of this unique form.
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