AP Literature Poetry Terms

Rhyme

A correspondance in terminal sounds of units of composition or utterance (such as two or more words or lines of verses); The repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line, conventionally sharing all sounds following the word’s last stressed syllable

Slant Rhyme

Aka half rhyme, occurs when two words share similar but not identical sounds; vowels/consonant/stressed syllables are identical; this reminds me of parallel lines, they’re similar and slanted but they never meet, so they’re so similar that they’ll never exist together, yet they make identical sound

End Rhyme

A rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme between a word within a line and another either at the end or the same time within another line

Free Verse

Verse whose meter is irregular in some respect or whose rhyme is not metrical; doesn’t use strict meter or rhyme scheme; you’re free from conforming to a meter

Blank Verse

Unrhymed lambic pentameter verse, follows a regular meter; so unrhymed and regular, you might as well be left blank

Alliteration

The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

Assonance

Relatively close juxtaposition of similar sounds especially of vowels; the repetition of vowels without repetition of consonants used as an alternative to rhyme in verse; first three letters are relatively close in proximity, especially the letter ‘s’, which make similar sound, the repetition of these letters/consonants won’t be used

Consonance

Correspondance or recurrence of sounds especially in words at end of stressed syllables without the similar correspodance of vowels; differs with rhyme as it can occur at any part of the word, only focuses on consonant sounds

Conceit

Using two very unlikely objects to draw a comparison within a poem

Caesura

A stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause; que sera like the song has a brief pause in the song

Enjambment

Meaning “striding over”, the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next so that closely related words fall in different lines; the opposite of caesura, no break or pause in the lines

End-stopped line

Metrical line ending at grammatical boundary of breaking such as a dash or closing parenthesis- or with punctuation such as a colon, semicolon, or period; differs with caesura as it does NOT end with a phrase but instead with punctuation

Metonymy

a figure of speech in which a related term is substituted for the word itself; if you won a tony but you couldn’t make it to your figure of speech so you’re left with no choice but to substitute your word

Synecdoche

A figure of speech/trope that uses a part of something in place of the whole of something; ex: The USA won the olympics, the USA as a whole did not, but the people who competed on their team did

Narrative poem

used to tell a story, combines elements of story-telling

Lyric poem

short poem, often with songlike qualities, expresses the speaker’s personal emotions & feelings

Idyll

A simple descriptive work in poetry or prose that deals with rustic life or pastoral scenes or suggests a mood of peace and contentment; a narrative poem treating an epic, romantic or tragic

Metaphysical poem

Genre characterized by its use of elaborate metaphor, philosophical themes, intricate word play, incongruous imagery, complexity & subtlety of thought, frequent use of paradox and rigidity of expression commonly

Couplet

Two successive lines of verse forming a unit marked usually by rhythmic correspondance, rhyme, or the inclusion of a self contained utterance; ruin of consecutive lines that create a complete thought or idea

Dramatic monologue

Poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character; speaker’s character is revealed in a monologue usually addressed to a second person

Elegy

Expresses sorrows lamentation, especially for one who is dead; or a pensive/reflective poem that is nostalgic

Ode

lyric poem, usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying length of line and complexity of stanza forms

Sonnet

fixed verse form of italian origin, consisting of 14 lines that are typically 5 foot lambics rhymed according to a prescribed scheme

Octave/octet

eight line stanza/poem; the first eight lines of an italian sonnet

sestet

a stanza or poem of six lines (the last six lines of a sonnet)

Quatrain

A unit or group of four lines of verse

Tercet

A unit or group of three lines of verse

verse

a line of metrical writing; speech or writing distinguished from ordinary language by its distinctive patterning of sounds and especially by its rhythm

volta/turn

rhetorical shift that marks the change of a thought or argument in a poem