AP Literature Poetry Quiz Terms

AP Literature poetry terms? Easy 100 on the test.

Speaker

The voice of the poem (Similar to narrator)

Verse

Line of poetry

Stanza

Paragraph of poetry

Refrain

A repeated line in poetry

Enjambment

When one line ends without punctuation, continuing onto the next line

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor carried throughout the poem

Conceit

A metaphor that compares two completely different things

Implied Metaphor

A metaphor made without explicitly saying it

Rhythm

The rise and fall of voice by stressed and unstressed syllables

Meter

The patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables

Anapest

duh-duh-DUH

Dactyl

DUH-duh-duh

Iamb

duh-DUH

Trochee

DUH-duh

Spondee

Two stressed units back to back

Pyrrhus

Two unstressed units back to back

Internal Rhyme

Rhyming at the end word with a middle word

Slant Rhyme

Words that are similar but don’t have an identical rhyme

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of rhyming from an end of a line to line

Couplet

Two consecutive rhyming lines

Quatrain

Four lines per stanza

Consonance

Repetition of the same sounds in a line of text

e.g Pitter-Patter, first and last, odds and ends

Sibilance

Have a hushing or hissing quality

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds across a line of poetry

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration

Synecdoche

Part of something to stand for a whole thing

Apostrophe

The poet adressing an absent person, abstract idea, or thing

Anastrophe

Inversion of the logical order of a sentence

Anaphora

The same word or words repeated at the beginning of two or more lines

Metric Pattern

The accents of the syllables in words of regular intervals.

e.g. Beat of music

Metric Feet

Unit of measurement for beat of poetry.

Scansion

The analysis of mechanical elements to determine meter.

Onomatopeia

Sound effects.

e.g. buzz, hiss, pop, CRASH, BOOM

Euphony

Compatible, harmonious sounds together. “Liquid.”

Cacophony

Harsh, inharmonious sounds together. “Plosives.”

Rhyme with End-stopped rhyme

A natural pause at the end, indicated by punctuation.

Antithesis

A figure of speech where opposing figures are balanced against each other.

Literary Allusion

Referring metaphorically to people, places, or things from other literature.

Understatement

Saying less than is true.

Paradox

A statement containing two seemingly contradictory words.

e.g. “She was too tired to sleep.”

Oxymoron

A compressed paradox.

e.g. “Mute cry.”

Metonymy

A word or phrase is substituted with another closely related term.

e.g. “A little rule, a little sway, / A sunbeam on a winter’s day / Is the entire proud

and mighty have / Between the cradle and the grave.”

Heroic Couplets

Two rhyming lines of iambic parameter. First ending has a short pause, the second has a long one.

Tercets

Three lines of poetry.

Terza Rima

Tercets linked together by a rhyme scheme.

Ballad Quatrain

Quatrains linked together by a rhyme scheme.

Sestet

Six lines of poetry.

Septet

Seven lines of poetry.

Octet

Eight lines of poetry.

Octava Rima

Eight iambic lines in a stanza together.

Rhyme Royal

A stanza form of seven pentameter.

Sonnets

Always fourteen lines of a iambic pentameter.

Narrative

Poetry that tells a story, beyond entertainment and information.

Epic

A long, narrative poem that tells of a hero or adventure with a description of moral, values, or customs.

Metrical Romance

A romantic tale told in poetry of chivalry, love, deeds, and bravery.

Ballad

A short story told in poetry and easily set to music.

Fable

A short story told in poetry depicting morals and animals.

Lyric Poetry

Poetry with the sole purpose of expressing an individual’s emotions. Usually short and musical.

Ode

A short poem of elaborate metrical form expressing exalted, dignified, or lyrical feelings that pay tribute to beauty.

Elegy

A poem with feelings of mourning, generally over a dead individual.

Aubade

A poem about dawn.

Pastoral

A poem about country life.

Dramatic Lyric

A poem where the speaker is speaking to one or multiple listeners that don’t reply.

Classical Poetry

Formal, highly structured, advanced vocabulary.

Romantic Poetry

Imaginative, deals with maturity, love, and adventure but falls into strict metrical patterns.

Realistic Poetry

Candidly covers real life in poetry, no glossing.

Psychological Poetry

Poetry of man’s inner thoughts, needs, and motivations.

Abstract Poetry

Highly symbolic and contains the poet’s personal views.

Heroic Meter

Iambic pentameter.

Long Meter

Iambic tetrameter.

Alexandrine

One line of iambic hexameter.