AP Literature Poetry Terms

Difficult & hard to remember terms only

Agent

The subject is the ____ of the verb.

The ____y of a poem is the subject of each predicate.

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun

Connotation

associations suggested by a word; implied meaning

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word

Metonymy

replacing an actual word or idea with a related word or concept

ex: “bow to the crown” in which “crown” refers to the “queen / king”

Synecdoche (a type of metonymy)

a whole is represented by one of its parts

ex: “nice wheels” in which “wheels” represents the “car”

Meter

a regular pattern of syllables in lines of poetry

ex: iambic pentameter (10 beats per line, unstressed & stressed alternate)

Stressed and unstressed syllables

in every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed or said with more force than the other syllable(s)

ex: unHAPpiness, NAthan

Mood

the atmosphere or feeling created by the text and accomplished through word choice; affected by syntax, setting, tone, and events

End Rhyme

when the last word of two different lines rhyme

Internal Rhyme

when a line of poetry contains a rhyme

“to the rhyming and the chiming of the bells”

Rhyme Scheme

a b a b c d c d - pattern of a poem’s end rhymes

slant rhyme

emily dickinson

two words do not rhyme exactly

“moon” and “on”

aliteration

the same consonant sound at the beginning of words

anaphora

repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the start of two or more sentence or clauses in a row

assonance

repetition of identical / similar vowels

consonance

the repetition of the same final consonant sound at the end or within words

“thick lick sick quick”

rhytym

the beat / pace of a poem

created by meter, line breaks, repetition, etc

caesura

the pauses and breaks within a line of poetry

end stopped

a pause comes at the end of a syntactic unit (sentence, clause, or phrase)

enjambment

the continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break

free verse / open form

no consistent meter or rhyme

do not conform to patterns

closed / fixed form

follows a pattern

seen in Shakespeare

lyric poetry

short poem with songlike qualities that expresses the speaker’s personal emotions and feelings

pacing

the speed or tempo of an author’s writing

tone

a writer’s attitude towards their subject matter

revealed through diction, fig. language, and organization

litote

type of understatement

denying the opposite of the statement

“you’re not wrong” instead of “you’re right”