Ap Lit - Poetry terms

Alliteration

repetition of the same sounds/letters, usually consonants, in a string of words

Assonance

repetition of similar/identical vowel sounds in neighboring words

ballad

narrative poetry which represents a single dramatic episode, often tragic/violent

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter (NOT free verse)

cacophony

harsh, dissonant sounds, usually clipped, explosive delivery, plosive consonants (like most swear words!)

cadence

rising and falling rhythm of speech, rise and fall of pitch at the end of a phrase

caesura

a pause in a line of verse, often coincides with end of sentence

conceit

elaborate metaphor, usually making unusual comparisons (If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head”

connotation

what a word suggests. think, “house” vs “home”

consonance

repetition of similar consonant sounds in words with difference vowel sounds. “hot foot”

couplet

two consecutive lines of poetry that have the same rhyme and meter

dactyl

metrical foot. one accented syllable followed by 2 unaccented. (“ACCennntedddd”)

dirge

funeral lamentation

dissonance

harshness of sound/rhyme

dramatic monologue

fictional character speaks to a silent audience of one or more people.

elegy

elaborate, formal lyric poem lamenting a death of a friend or a public figure

end-stopped line

when the end of a line coincides with he end of a sentence

enjambment

exactly the opposite of an end-stopped line - grammatical structure runs over the end of a line

epic

long, narrative poem about a hero

euphony

pleasant smoothness of sound.

extended metaphor

metaphor sustained for many lines/the whole poem

foot

basic unit of poetic meter

free verse

poetry that resembles normal speech.

heroic couplet

two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, with the thought usually completed in the two line unit.''Intrench'd before the town both armies lie, While Night with sable wings involves the sky.”

hexameter

a line containing 6 feet

iamb

foot with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. eg, “indeed” is pronounced “in-DEED”

image

language referring to the senses/perception

imagery

making pictures with words

in medias res

latin: “in the middle of things”, starting a narrative in the middle of action, just like the movie deadpool

lyric

unusually short poem expressing the poet’s emotions/thoughts. eg robert frost’s “fire and ice”

measure

an older word for meter

meter

the pattern of sound units(feet) which is more or less regular throughout the poem

octave

a stanza of eight line

ode

elaborate, formal lyric poem, usually a lengthy address to a person/entity. go read keats’ “ode to a nightingale”. best poem there is

pastoral

poetry concerning shepherds and country life

pentameter

5 feet in a line

persona

fictional “I” assumed by the writer

prosody

study of sound and rhythm in poetry (most boring job in existence)

quatrain

stanza of 4 lines

refrain

line/group of lines/phrase repeated at intervals throughout the poem. famous example from edgar allan poe, "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore"

rhyme

similarity of sound between two words.

masculine: one syllable

feminine: two syllable

slant: approximate rhyme

eye: spelling based. “though/through”

rhythm

patterned flow of sound in poetry

scansion

analyzing the meter in lines of poetry by counting and marking accented and unaccented syllables and dividing lines into feet (latin kids know)

sestet

six line poem/stanza

sonnet

14 line poem in iambic pentameter

stanza

a “paragraph” of a poem

stress

emphasis on a word/syllable

trochee

the opposite of an iamb. accented then unaccented. eg “garden” is pronounced “GAR-den” not “gar-DEN”

verse

poetry, but the word usually indicates more rigorous rhythm + meter

villanelle

5 stanzas of 3 lines, and a final stanza of 4 lines

volta

turn in the mood of a sonnet, usually between the octave and the sestet of the sonnet. (octave = 8 line stanza, sestet = 6 line stanza)