AP Lit Poetry Quiz Review

Symbolism

Symbolism

Symbolism is the use of usually concrete objects to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant.

Personification

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Paradox

A literary device that emphasizes contradiction. Paradoxes are often written in a manner that imply a literal impossibility or contradiction, that, when viewed through figurative interpretation, indicate a possible, though complex situation.

Juxtaposition

The placement of two or more things side by side, often in order to bring out their differences.

Conceit

Elaborate and fanciful metaphor or analogy, or a witty and ingenious comparison between two things which do not naturally belong to each other. Comparing a woman to a red rose is not really a conceit, because the comparison is so well-established

Extended Figure

Or, extended Metaphor; A figure of speech (usually metaphor, simile, personification, or apostrophe) sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem. Emily Dickinson's "I felt a funeral in my brain" is an example of extended metaphor.

Assonance

Same internal vowel sound in a group of words, non-rhyming. "Who gave Newt and Scooter the blue tuna? It was too soon!" Need to be in conversation with rhythm.

Consonance

Same consonant sound in a group of words, non-rhyming. "Traffic figures, on July Fourth, to be tough." Need to be in conversation with rhythm.

Alliteration

Same beginning/stressed (consonant or vowel) sounds. "Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement."

Refrain

A regularly recurring phrase or verse, especially at the end of each stanza or division of a poem.

Apostrophe

Apostrophe is a figure of speech sometimes represented by an exclamation, such as "Oh." A writer or speaker, using apostrophe, speaks directly to someone who is not present or is dead, or speaks to an inanimate object. William Shakespeare makes use of apostrophe in his play Macbeth: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! Thave thee not, and yet I see thee still."

Enjambment

The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped. William Carlos Williams's "Between Walls" is one sentence broken into 10 enjambed lines: the back wings of the hospital where nothing will grow lie cinders in which shine the broken pieces of a green bottle

speaker

The speaker is the voice behind the poem the person we imagine to be speaking. It's important to note that the speaker is not the poet. Even if the poem is biographical, you should treat the speaker as a fictional creation because the writer is choosing what to say about himself/herself.

Free Verse

Nonmetrical, non-rhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech. A regular pattern of sound or rhythm may emerge in free-verse lines, but the poet does not adhere to a metrical plan in their composition.

Shift

The point at which the rhetorical angle or plot of the poem changes or is answered. Can often be observed by a change in structure, tone, or subject. Sometimes called the volta in a sonnet format.

Stanza

A grouping of lines separated from others in a poem. In modern free verse, the stanza, like a prose paragraph, can be used to mark a shift in mood, time, or thought.

Rhythm

Rhythm is a literary device that demonstrates the long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables, particularly in verse form.

Caesura

A rhythmical stop or pause used for effect in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.