AP Lit Unit 1 Poetry Section 2

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable.

Approximate Rhyme (near rhyme)

A term used for words in a rhyming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but are not perfect rhymes.

Caesura

A rhythmical pause in a poetic line or a sentence, often occurring in the middle of a line.

Blank Verse

Poetry with a meter, but not rhymed, usually in iambic pentameter.

Canto

A sub-division of an epic or narrative poem comparable to a chapter in a novel.

Couplet

Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme.

Dactyl

 A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables.

End Rhyme

Rhymes that occur at the ends of lines.

End-Stopped Line

A line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation.

Enjambment

Moving over from one line to another without a terminating punctuation mark. A line which has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line — the opposite of an end-stopped line.

Feminine Rhyme

A rhyme in which the stress is on the penultimate (second from last) syllable of the words.

Foot

The basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables.

Free-Verse

Non-metrical verse. Poetry written in free verse is arranged in lines, may be more or less rhythmical, but has no fixed metrical pattern or expectation.

Half Rhyme

Consonance on the final consonants of the words involved. NO preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common.

Heroic Couplet

Poems constructed by a sequence of two lines of (usually rhyming) verse in iambic pentameter.

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable.

Internal Rhyme

A rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme-words occur within the line (usually in the middle).

Masculine Rhyme (single rhyme)

A rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words (rhyme, sublime).

Meter

Regularized rhythm; an arrangement of language in which the accents occur at apparently equal intervals in time.

Octave

(1) An eight-line stanza. (2) The first eight lines of a sonnet, especially one structured in the manner of an Italian sonnet.

Perfect Rhyme (aka Exact rhyme)

Repetition of the same stressed vowel sound as well as any consonant sounds that follow the vowel. The later part of the word or phrase is identical sounding to another.

Quatrain

(1) A four-line stanza. (2) A four-line division of a sonnet marked off by its rhyme scheme.

Refrain

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

Rhyme

The repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work. Lyricists may find multiple ways to rhyme within a verse.

Rhyme Scheme

Any fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas.

Scansion

The process of measuring verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern.

Sestet

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

Spondee

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented.

Terza Rima

A three-line stanza form borrowed from the Italian poets. The rhyme scheme is: aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable.

Stanza

A group of lines whose metrical pattern (and usually its rhyme scheme as well) is repeated throughout a poem.