AP Lit poems

What is alliteration?

The repetition of initial consonant sounds (e.g., wild and woolly).

What is assonance?

The repetition of vowel sounds (e.g., mad as a hatter).

What is consonance?

The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words (e.g., stroke of luck)

What is onomatopoeia?

Words that imitate sounds (e.g., buzz, murmur).

What is euphony?

Euphony is smooth, pleasant sound

What is cacophony?

cacophony is harsh, discordant sound

What is meter in poetry?

The pattern of stressed (/) and unstressed (˘) syllables in a line.

What is iambic meter?

A foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (˘ /), e.g., be -fore.

What is trochaic meter?

A foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (˘ /), e.g., be -fore.

What is iambic pentameter?

A line with five iambs (˘ /) per line (e.g., Shakespeare’s sonnets).

What is scansion?

The process of analyzing a poem’s meter by marking stressed/unstressed syllables.

How can sound reinforce meaning in poetry?

Through devices like alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia that echo the poem’s subject.

What are phonetic intensives?

Sounds that subtly suggest meaning (e.g., gl- words like gleam imply brightness).

What is tone color?

The emotional effect created by sound choices (e.g., soft sounds for calmness).

What is mimetic language?

When sound imitates action (e.g., "The murmuring of innumerable bees").

What is a stanza?

A grouped set of lines in a poem (e.g., couplet, quatrain).

What is a sonnet?

A 14-line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme (Shakespearean or Petrarchan).

What is a villanelle?

A 19-line poem with two repeating rhymes and refrains (e.g., "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night").

What is free verse?

Poetry without regular meter but often using other patterns (imagery, repetition).

What is concrete poetry?

Poems where the visual shape reflects the subject (e.g., a poem about a tree shaped like a tree).