Poetic Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of similar consonant sounds at word beginnings.

Allusion

Reference to external historical or literary elements in a work.

Antithesis

Contrasting words or ideas for emphasis, like 'Man proposes; God disposes.'

Apostrophe

Directly addressing absent or abstract entities in speech or writing. Ex. Papa Above! Regard a Mouse. -Emily Dickinson

Assonance

Repetition of similar vowel sounds in words.

Ballad Meter

Rhymed four-line stanza with specific feet per line. Ex. O mother, mother make my bed. O make it soft and narrow. Since my love died for me today, I'll die for him tomorrow.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, common in Shakespeare's works.

Cacophony

Harsh combination of sounds, used for effect in poetry. Ex. Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast?

Caesura

Pause in the middle of a verse line for emphasis. For example, one would naturally pause after "human" in the following line from Alexander Pope: To err is human, to forgive divine.

Conceit

Elaborate analogy drawing parallels between dissimilar things. Ex. occurs in John Donne's poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," in which he compares his soul and his wife's to legs of a mathematical compass.

Consonance

Repetition of similar consonant sounds in words. Ex. "add" and "read," "bill and ball," and "born" and "burn."

Couplet

Two-line stanza with matching end rhymes.

Devices of Sound

Techniques like rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia in poetry; deploy the sound of words to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning.

Diction

Word choice in literary works; 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

Poem primarily teaching a lesson.

Dramatic Poem

Poem using dramatic form or techniques. Ex. dramatic monologue

Elegy

Formal poem reflecting on death or solemn themes.

End-stopped

Line with a pause at the end, marked by punctuation. Ex. True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.

Enjambment

Continuation of sense and grammatical construction from one line to the next in poetry. Ex. . . . .Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God, . . . .

Extended Metaphor

Implied analogy carried through a poem.

Euphony

Pleasant word combinations in poetry. Its opposite is cacophony. Ex. 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.

Eye Rhyme

Rhyme based on spelling but not pronunciation. Ex. Examples include "watch" and "match," and "love" and "move."

Feminine Rhyme

Rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed. Ex. "waken" and "forsaken" and "audition" and "rendition."

Figurative Language

Use of figures of speech like metaphor and simile. uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning.

Free Verse

Non-traditionally metered but rhythmic poetry.

Heroic Couplet

two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit. ex. But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!

Hyperbole

Extravagant exaggeration for effect, serious or comic. ex. No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.

Imagery

Sensory details and figurative language in a literary work. the visual auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work or the images that figurative language evokes. When an AP question asks you to discuss imagery, you should look especially carefully at the sensory details and the metaphors and similes of a passage. Some diction is also imagery, but not all diction evokes sensory responses.

Irony

Contrast between actual and implied meanings, often using sarcasm.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme within a line, not just at the end. ex. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore' While I nodded, nearly napping. . suddenly there came a tapping . . . .

Lyric Poem

Short poem expressing thoughts or feelings by a single speaker.

Masculine Rhyme

Rhyme on stressed, concluding syllables like 'keep' and 'sleep'

Metaphor

Figurative comparison without 'as,' 'like,' or 'than'

Meter

Regular rhythmic unit repetition in poetry lines. emphasizes the musical quality of the language and often relates directly to the subject matter of the poem.

Metonymy

Substitution of closely associated term for the word ex. we commonly speak of the king as the "crown," an object closely associated with kingship.

Mixed Metaphors

Incongruous mingling of two metaphors ex. "I smell a rat. I see it floating in the air. I shall nip it in the bud."

Narrative Poem

Non-dramatic poem telling a story ex. epics or ballads

Octave

Eight-line stanza, often in Italian sonnets

Onomatopoeia

Words whose sound suggests their meaning ex. buzz, hiss, honk

Oxymoron

Paradoxical pairing of contrary terms. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness. Ex. "wise fool," "sad joy," and "eloquent silence."

Paradox

Contradictory situation or feeling that makes sense ex. Take me to you, imprison me, for I Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Parallelism

Similar grammatical structure in poetry lines ex. . . . .Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them. Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

Paraphrase

Restatement retaining meaning but changing form

Personification

Metaphor giving human traits to inanimate objects

Poetic Foot

Syllable group in verse with accented and unaccented syllables

Pun

Play on words with similar sounds but diverse meanings

Quatrain

Four-line stanza with any rhyme combination

Refrain

Repeated phrase or sentence in poem at intervals

Rhyme

Similar sound between accented syllables in verse lines

Rhyme Royal

Seven-line iambic pentameter stanza rhymed ababbcc

Rhythm

Stressed and unstressed syllable recurrence in poetry, lends both pleasure and heightened emotional response to the listener or reader.

Sarcasm

Praising with intent to insult or hurt

Satire

Writing ridiculing an object to evoke disapproval, usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correct vice and folly.

Scansion

Meter description by identifying feet per line

Sestet

Six-line stanza, often in Italian sonnets

Simile

Direct comparison using 'like,' 'as,' or 'than'

Sonnet

Fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem

Stanza

Grouping of three or more lines with same meter

Strategy

Language management for a specific effect in poetry- planned placing of elements to achieve an effect Ex. The rhetorical strategy of most love poems is deployed to convince the loved one to return to the speaker's love. By appealing to the loved one's sympathy, or by flattery, or by threat, the lover attempts to persuade the loved one to love in return.

structure

the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. The most common units of structure in a poem are the line and stanza.

style

the characteristic manner of expression of an author. Many elements contribute to style, and if a question calls for a discussion of style or of "stylistic techniques," you can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone, using the ones that are appropriate.

symbol

something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else. For example, winter, darkness, and cold are real things, but in literature they are also likely to be used as symbols of death.

synecdoche

a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole. For example, we refer to "foot soldiers" for infantry and "field hands" for manual laborers who work in agriculture.

syntax

the ordering of words into patterns or sentences. If a poet shifts words from the usual word order, you know you are dealing with an older style of poetry or a poet who wants to shift emphasis onto a particular word.

tercet

a stanza of three lines in which each line ends with the same rhyme.

terza rima

a three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc,etc. Dante's Divine Comedy is written in terza rima.

theme

the main thought expressed by a work. In poetry, it is the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work.

tone

the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. (Remember that the "voice" need not be that of the poet.) Tone is described by adjectives, and the possibilities are nearly endless. Often a single adjective will be enough, and tone may change from stanza to stanza or even line to line. Tone is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, and style.

understatement

the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is. For example, Macbeth, having been nearly hysterical after killing Duncan, tells Lenox,:"Twas a rough night."

villanelle

a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain. The villanelle uses only two rhymes which are repeated as follows: aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa. Line 1 is repeated entirely to form lines 6, 12, and 18, and line 3 is repeated entirely to form lines 9, 15, and 19; thus, eight of the nineteen lines are refrain.