AP Lit Literary Terms 1

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that in close proximity to one another; often used as a catch-all term for alliteration, assonance, and consonance

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in accented or important words that are in close proximity to one another

Caesura

A pause created by punctuation in the middle of a line of poetry rather than at the end of a line or stanza

Consonance

The repetition of final consonant sounds in accented or important words that are close to one another

End-stopped line

A line of poetry in which there is punctuation, indicating a pause, at the end of the line

Foot

The basic unit of measurement in determining the meter of a poem, made up of two or three syllables

Iambic Pentameter

A line of poetry made up ten syllables divided into five iambs (one accented syllable followed by an accented syllable); common meter in poetry, particularly sonnets

Meter

Means of measuring and describing rhythmic language; involved arranging the accents of language into apparently equal intervals of time; described by that type of foot and the number of feet in a line

Onomatopoeia

A word used to imitate a sound

Rhyme

The repetition of the accented vowel sound and any consonant sounds that follow it in two words within close proximity to each another

Internal Rhyme

Describes a pair of rhyming words where at least one word occurs within a line of poetry

External/End Rhyme

Describes a pair of rhyming words in which both words are placed at the ends of poetry

Approximate/Slant Rhyme

Describes words that almost, but do not quite rhyme

Rhythm

The natural rise and fall of language, particularly the wavelike recurrence of sound characteristic of poetry. A poem’s rhythm is determined by an authors use of meter and rhyme

Run-on line

A line of poetry with no natural speech pause(indicated by punctuation) at its end in which the words of one line flow directly into the words of the next line