Poetry Terms for AP Literature and Composition List 1

alliteration

alliteration

the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words. EX. Gnus never know pneumonia is an example of alliteration since, despite the spellings, all four words begin with the “n” sound.

allusion

a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work. Ex. When T.S. Eliot writes, "To have squeezed the universe into a ball" in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," he is alluding to the lines "Let us roll our strength and all/ Our sweetness up into one ball" in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress."

antithesis

a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in: Man proposes; God disposes. Antithesis is a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness. EX: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong.

apostrophe

a figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present. Following are two examples of apostrophe: 

• Papa Above! Regard a Mouse. -Emily Dickinson 

• Death, Be Not Proud, though some have called thee/ Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;-- John Donne

assonance

the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. A land laid waste with all its young men slain repeats the same “a” sound in “laid,” “waste,” and “slain.”

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter (ten syllable lines unstressed/ stressed). Blank verse is the meter of most of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as that of Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them. To die- to sleep-

Pentameter– 5 foot line (10 syllables) 

cacophony

a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones. It may be an unconscious flaw in the poet’s music, resulting in harshness of sound or difficulty of articulation, or it may be used consciously for effect, as Browning and Eliot often use it. See, for example, the following line from Browning’s “Rabbi Ben Ezra”: Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast?

caesura

 a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and often greater than the normal pause. For example, one would naturally pause after “human” in the following line from Alexander Pope: To err is human, to forgive divine.

consonance

the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. The term usually refers to words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowels that precede them are different. Consonance is found in the following pairs of words: “add” and “read,” “bill and ball,” and “born” and “burn.”

couplet

a two-line stanza, usually with end-rhymes the same.

devices of sound

the techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry. Among devices of sound are rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. The devices are used for many reasons, including to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning.

diction

the use of words in a literary work. Diction may be described as formal (the level of usage common in serious books and formal discourse), informal (the level of usage found in the relaxed but polite conversation of cultivated people), colloquial (the everyday usage of a group, possibly including terms and constructions accepted in that group but not universally acceptable), or slang (a group of newly coined words which are not acceptable for formal usage as yet).

didactic poem

a poem which is intended primarily to teach a lesson. The distinction between didactic poetry and non-didactic poetry is difficult to make and usually involves a subjective judgement of the author’s purpose on the part of the critic or the reader. Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism is a good example of didactic poetry.

elegy

a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death. Examples include Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “ In Memoriam”; and Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

end-stopped

a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines. True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance,/ As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

enjambment

the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next. Milton’s Paradise Lost is notable for its use of enjambment, as seen in the following lines: . . . .Or if Sion hill Delight thee more,/ and Siloa’s brook that flow’d Fast by the oracle of God, . . . .

extended metaphor

an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem. In “The Bait,” John Donne compares a beautiful woman to fish bait and men to fish who want to be caught by the woman. Since he carries these comparisons all the way through the poem, these are considered “extended metaphors.”

euphony

a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate. Its opposite is cacophony. The following lines from John Keats’ “ Endymion” are euphonious: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

free verse

poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical. The poetry of Walt Whitman is perhaps the best-known example of free verse.

hyperbole

a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect. Macbeth is using hyperbole in the following lines: . . . .No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.