AP Literature and Composition Unit 2 Terms

verse

A single line of poetry

Prose

written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure (not poetry)

Diction

word choice

Syntax

Sentence structure

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

Connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Conceit

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art, etc...

refrain

A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.

lyrical

expressing a poet's inner feelings; emotional; full of images; song-like

Narrative

The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.

Anthropomorphism

the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. (the perception of a divine being or beings in human form, or the recognition of human qualities in these beings.)

Personification

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

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.

Hyperbole

exaggeration

Understatement

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

visual imagery

descriptive language that appeals to the sense of sight

auditory imagery

use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sound

olfactory imagery

descriptive language that appeals to the sense of smell

tactile imagery

descriptive language that appeals to the sense of touch

gustatory imagery

descriptive language that appeals to the sense of taste

kinesthetic imagery

use of language to represent an experience pertaining to the movement of muscles, tendons, or joints

organic imagery

imagery relating to internal or emotional sensation: hunger, thirst, fatigue, fear.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Pun

a humorous play on words

Synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

cacophony

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

euphony

pleasant, harmonious sound

Rhyme

Repetition of sounds at the end of words

end rhyme

A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line

exact rhyme

Uses words with identical end sound

internal rhyme

a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.

slant rhyme

rhyme in which the vowel sounds are nearly, but not exactly the same (i.e. the words "stress" and "kiss"); sometimes called half-rhyme, near rhyme, or partial rhyme

meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

feminine rhyme

lines rhymed by their final two syllables

Stanza

a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse.

Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.

Tercet

three line stanza

Quatrain

A four line stanza

Quintain

5 line stanza

Sestet

six line stanza

Septet

seven line stanza

Octave

8 line stanza

terza rima

A three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc.

heroic couplet

a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter

Caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.

Enjambment

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

end-stopped line

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

blank verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

free verse

Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

Iamb

an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Trochee

stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

Spondee

Two stressed syllables

Dactyl (poetry)

stressed, unstressed, unstressed

Anapest

unstressed, unstressed, stressed

iambic pentameter

a poetic meter that is made up of 5 stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable

Ballad

A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

elegy

a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

Epic

A long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds

lyric poem

a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker

Ode Poem

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

prose poem

usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse

Shakespearean sonnet

a sonnet consisting three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg

Petrarchan sonnet

a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd