Poetry Terms: AP Lit and Comp

For AP test

Diction

The writer’s style of expression to create a tone or atmosphere (Ex: Instead of “the dark street”, it becomes “the dark, cold, hallow, street”). Focuses on the word choice instead of the appeal to the senses like imagery. Also covers sentence structure.

Syntax

Structure of sentences to create rhythm, emphasis, conveying mood. (Ex: I-It’s so c-c-cold!)

Structure

How elements in the story are assembled (Ex: Beloved jumping from present to past to reveal something)

Meter

Rhythmic structure of a verse or poem, adds musicality through stressed and unstressed syllables. (Ex: Shakespeare uses (da Dum da Dum da Dum) in this “shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY?”)

Juxtaposition

Placing two contrasting things or ideas side by side (Ex: The burning cold, the freeing confinement)

Metaphor

Describing something as another without using “like” or “as”. (Ex: She is a bird flying through the traffic *She is not a bird)

Simile

Describing something as another using “like” or “as”. (Ex: DJ Kaled is like a monster terrorizing the town)

Symbolism

An object, action, or event representing a larger idea or concept. Can range from a rose to something abstract like freedom. (Ex: Mister in Beloved representing manhood)

Allusion

Reference to a person, place, thing, or event outside of the text. (Ex: The dogs charged at the gate, going by in a blur like Usian Bolt”)

Imagery

Descriptions or sensory details that appeals to sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. (Ex: The rock was rough and harsh, and colored like cinnamon)

Point of View

Perspective with which the story is told, can be first, second, or third person, with the last having to subgroups being limited or omniscient perspectives. (Ex: The man walked to the corner, thinking about what he was going to eat for lunch)

Paradox

Statement or situation that contradicts itself or seems to go against common sense. (Ex: I am nobody, less is more, the sound of silence)

Conflict

Issue that is the center of the plot. This can be internal

Synecdoche

A part that represents a whole. (Ex: "All hands on deck!" is a synecdoche because "hands" stand in for the sailors of which they are physically a part.)

Irony

Contradiction between what is said or done, and what is actually meant or expected. Comes in many forms which can be verbal, situational, or dramatic irony. (Ex: In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus tries avoiding his fate but ends up fulfilling the prophecy anyway)

Satire

Making fun of a flaw in something with the intentions of correcting or bettering it. (Ex: Dr. Strangelove making fun of cold war politics and proliferation of nukes

Ode

Form of poetry that celebrates a person, thing, event, or idea in an elevated way. (Ex: Oh Lighthouse so tall, with perfect eye you guard us against the rocks)

Elegy

Poem of mourning. Melancholy, usually ends with acceptance. (Ex: “Now he is scattered among a hundred cities…The words of a dead man, Are modified in the guts of the living.”

(W.H. Auden, In Memory of W.B. Yeats)))

Eulogy

Speech of praise given at a funeral, unlike elegies which can happen at any time. Eulogy’s can also be elegies if it is a poem about the dead read at a person’s funeral

Pastoral

Poetic genre that focuses on the relationship between humans and nature, and the idealization of the countryside.

Dramatic Monologue

Speech by a single character which reveals their thoughts and emotions on events, things, and even other characters. (Ex: Hamlet)

Sonnet

14 line poem, often has a couplet at the end. Usually around line 8 sonnets have a “Volta”, or a shift in tone, argument, or focus. (Ex:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (a)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (b)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a)
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: (b)
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c)
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; (d)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c)
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; (d)

But thy eternal summer shall not fade (e)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; (f)
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, (e)
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: (f)
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (g)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g) )

Couplet

Pair of two lines that rhyme and usually have the same meter. Sonnets often end with these.

(Ex:

Summer is here, the weather is bright,
Filling our days with sunshine and light.

)

Rhyme Scheme

Pattern of rhymes in a poem, can be used to show connection between two lines. (Ex: AA BB form or AB AB)

Quatrain

A verse or poem with just four lines

Ballad

A poem meant to be sung that tells a story. Usually is made up of quatrains.

(Ex:

The wind howled loud, the night was deep,
A sailor bold did softly weep.
He longed for home, across the sea,
And dreamt of love, eternally.

)

Theme

Underlying message or meaning of the work of literature. (Ex: Oedipus Rex with it’s theme of fate and how one can not escape it)

Foil

A character that contrasts from another character to point out qualities or traits of the other character. (Ex: Wavering Hamlet and determined Fortinbras)

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of multiple words in a phrase. Used to draw attention to certain areas and provide emphasis. (Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.)

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words. Can be used to make a phrase more rhythmic or catchier.

(Ex:

“The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain”

)

Sibilance

Repetition of ‘s’, ‘sh’, or ‘z’ sounds

(Ex:

Sam slowly sipped his sweet tea by the shore.

)

Metonymy

Object is referred to by something closely associated with it, rather than its own name

(Ex:

“The White House decided to build a ballroom”. The word “White House” is acting as a stand-in for the word “president”

)