AP English Literature and Composition Poetry Vocabulary Terms

Doggerel

This term is used to describe the lines whose subject matter is trite and whose rhythm and sounds are monotonously heavy (This is not considered to be real poetry)

Paraphrase

This term describes a prose restatement of the central ideas of a poem in your own words

Speaker

This is the voice used by the author of a poem

Verse

This term describes the rhythmic composition of the lines of a poem

Anagrams

This term describes words that are made from the same letters

Theme

This is the central idea or meaning of a poem

Lyric

This term describes a usually brief poem that expressions personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker

Narrative poem

This kind of poem tells a story

Epic

This kind of poem is usually long, and delves into the subject of a hero and important events

Cliché

This term describes an idea or expression that has become tired from overuse

Stock response

This term describes a predictable, conventional reaction to language, characters, or situations

Sentimentality

This term is used to describe the writing that exploits a reader by inducing responses that exceed what the situation warrants

Diction

The author’s choice of words or phrases

Poetic diction

The kind of diction that is elevated over ordinary language

Formal diction

This kind of diction is dignified and elevated

Middle diction

This kind of diction is less formal and spoken by most educated people

Informal diction

This kind of diction may use slang

Dialect

This is a kind of language that is spoken by definable groups of people from particular regions

Jargon

This word describes a category of language defined by a trade or profession

Denotations

The literal definition of a word

Connotations

The implied meaning of a word

Persona

A speaker created by the poet

Ambiguity

This term is the allowance of multiple interpretations

Syntax

The ordering of words into meaningful patterns

Tone

The writer’s attitude towards a subject

Dramatic monologue

A type of poem where a speaker addresses a silent audience audience in a way where they unintentionally reveal something about their character

Carpe Diem

This is a kind of poem that urges that love should not be delayed

Allusion

This is a brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature

Image

This is language that addresses the five senses

Figure of speech

This is a broad term that defines the way of saying one thing when they mean something else

Simile

A kind of figure of speech where two unlike words are compared using like or as

Metaphor

A kind of figure of speech where two unlike words are compared implicitly

Implied metaphor

This kind of figure of speech is a subtle comparison between two unlike things that aren’t specifically explained

Extended metaphor

This kind of figure of speech is a sustained comparison in which part or all of a poem consists of series of these comparisons

Controloling metaphor

This kind of figure of speech is a comparison that runs through an entire work and determines the form or nature of it

Pun

A play on words that relies on double-meanings or homophones

Personification

This is the attribution of human characteristics onto non-human things

Apostrophe

This is an address either to someone absent or something nonhuman

Hyperbole

This is an exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally

Understatement

A kind of hyperbole where something is lesser than it truly is

Paradox

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory, but turns out to be true

Oxymoron

A paradox where two contradictory words are used together

Symbol

Something that represents something else

Conventional symbol

Something that is recognizable to many people to represent certain ideas

Contextual symbol

Something that has a meaning beyond traditional ones

Allegory

A kind of work that is restricted to a single meaning as all aspects of it represent abstract ideas

Didactic poetry

This kind of poetry is meant to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson

Satire

A kind of work meant to ridicule something in order to expose or correct it

Cosmic irony

A kind of irony where God, destiny, or fate are used to destroy the hopes of a character

Ballad

A generational song that tells a story and is written down

Literary ballad

A narrative poem that is written to imitate the form of a ballad

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes

Alliteration

The repition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words

Assonance

The repitition of the same vowel sounds in nearby words

Rhyme

A way of creating sound patterns

Eye rhyme

A technique used to describe two words that look similar but do not sound similar

End rhyme

The use of similar sounding words at the end of lines

Internal rhyme

A kind of rhyme that is within a line

Masculine rhyme

A rhyme that consists of single-syllable words

Feminine rhyme

A rhyme that consists of a stressed syllable word surrounded by an unstressed syllable

Exact rhyme

A kind of rhyme that follows the same stresses, vowel sounds, and any sounds that follow the vowel

Near rhyme

A kind of rhyme where words sound similar but not exactly alike

Consonance

The identical consonant sound preceeded by a vowel sound

Rhythm

The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds

Stress of accent

This is the placement of emphasis on one syllable over another

Meter

The result of when a rhythmic pattern occurs in a poem

Prosody

All the metrical elements in a poem

Scansion

The measurement of the stresses in a line to determine its metrical pattern

Foot

The unit by which a line of poetry is measured

Rising meter

Moving from an unstressed sound to a stressed one

Caesura

The pause within a line

End stop

The use of a stop punctuation at the end of a line

Enjambment

Running from one line to another

Sonnet

A poem that consists of fourteen lines that are usually written in iambic pentameter

Epigram

A brief, witty poem

Elegy

A commemoration poem to someone dead

Ode

A poem that has a serious topic and formal tone