AP Literature Structure Terms Part 2

Masculine Rhyme (or single rhyme)

Masculine Rhyme (or single rhyme)

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

EX: fair and compare dog and log collect and direct

Meter

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

EX: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (iambic pentameter) The itsy, bitsy spider (iambic trimeter)

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 (or 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

EX: Hail, bounteous May, that dost <inspire>
Mirth, and youth, and warm <desire>!
Woods and groves are of thy <dressing>;
Hill and dale doth boast thy <blessing>.

trouble/bubble

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 stanziac form.

EX: The woods are lovely, dark and deep,But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. (Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost)

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. End rhymes have words that rhyme at the end of a verse-line. Internal rhymes have words that rhyme within it

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 (i.e., true-blue).

Stanza

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