AP lit poem glossary vocab quiz

metonymy

A figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience

Spondee

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented (ex. true-blue)

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

A sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba and of a sestet using any arrangement of two or three additional rhymes, such as cdcdcd or cdecde

Free Verse

Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms

Allegory

a narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as it it were alive and present and could reply

Masculine Rhyme

A rhyme in which the repeated accent vowel sound s in the final syllable of the words involved (ex. dance-pants, scald-recalled)

Paradox

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements

Villanelle

A 19 fixed form consisting of 5 tercets rhymed aba and a concluding quatrain rhymed abaa, with lines 1 and 3 of the first tercet serving as a refrains in an alternating pattern through the line 15 and then repeated as lines 18 and 19

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole

Ode

A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.

Sestet

(1) A six-line stanza (2) The last six lines of a sonnet structured on the Italian model

Scansion

The process of marking lines of poetry to show the type of feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern.

Terza Rima

An interlocking rhyme scheme with the pattern aba bcb cdc, etc.

Assonance

The repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words (hat-ran-amber, vein-made)

Ballad

A fairly sort narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form (Ballad of Birmingham)

Feminine Rhyme

A rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or third last syllable of the words involved (ceiling-appealing, hurrying-scurrying)

End Rhyme

rhymes that occur at the ends of lines

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable(bar-ter)

Elizabeth/Shakespearean Sonnet

A sonnet divided into two parts: Three quatrains and a concluding couplet.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

Quatrain

A four line stanza

Alliteration

Repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (map-moon, kill-code, preach-approve)

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Parody

A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Lyric Poetry

A short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings

Elegy

A sad or mournful poem

Epigram

A witty saying expressing a single thought or observation

Oxymoron

a compact paradox in which two successive words seemingly contradict each other

Sestina

A poem with six stanzas of six lines and a final triplet, all stanzas having the same six words at the line-ends in six different sequences that follow a fixed pattern, and with all six words appearing in the closing three-line envoi.

Satire

A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice

Anaphora

Repetition of an opening word of phrase in a series of lines

Consonance

The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (book-plague-thicker)

Aubade

A poem about dawn; a morning love song; or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn

Dimeter

A metrical line containing two feet

Comic relief

A humorous scene or speech intended to lighten the mood

iamb

a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable

Tetrameter

A metrical line containing four feet

Metaphysical poetry

The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life

Parallel plot

A secondary story line that mimics and reinforces the main plot

Narrative poem

A poem that tells a story

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Euphony

A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds

Catharsis

A release of emotional tension

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Octave

8 line stanza

Tercet

3 line stanza

Soliloquy

A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

Refrain

A repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form

Allusion

A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history

Caesura

A speech pause occurring within a line

Internal Rhyme

A rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme words occur within the line

Didactic poetry

Poetry having as a primary purpose to teach or preach

Trimeter

A metrical line containing three feet