AP Lit Poetry Terms

Free Verse

Poetry that doesn’t follow a strict, predictive pattern of rhyme or meter.

Stanza

A grouping of lines that usually have a set pattern of meter and rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme

Describes the pattern of end rhymes.

Couplet

Two lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter.

Quatrain

A four-line stanza.

Sonnet

A fixed form of lyric poetry that has 14 lines.

Petrarchan Sonnet

“abbaabba” “cdcdcd”

Octave

A poetic stanza of 8 lines that usually form one part of a sonnet.

Sestet

A stanza consisting of exactly 6 lines.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Organized into 3 quatrains and a couplet, which typically rhyme abab cdcd efef gg.

Villanelle

A type of fixed form of poetry that consists of 19 lines of any length divided into 6 stanzas.

Elegy

A mournful, contemplative lyric poem written to commemorate someone who is dead, often ending in consultation.

Ode

A lengthy lyric poem that often expresses lofty emotions in a noble style. It touches on serious topics such as truth, art, freedom, justice, and meaning of life.

Pastoral

A literary mode that idealizes rural life.

End Rhyme

The rhyme that comes at the end of the lines.

Internal Rhyme

Places at least one of the rhymed words within the lines.

Masculine Rhyme

A type of rhyme that occurs when the final syllable of a word is stressed, creating a strong and definitive sound at the end of a line of poetry.

Feminine Rhyme

Consists of at least two words, each having a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Near Rhyme (Slant Rhyme/ Approximate Rhyme)

The sounds are almost but not exactly alike.

Rhythm

The recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.

Stress/ Accent

Emphasis of a given syllable in pronunciation such as italics or bold words.

Meter

When a rhythmic pattern of stressed recurs in a poem.

Foot

The metrical unit by which lines are measured.

Line

A sequence of words printed as a separate entity on the page.

iamb

One unstressed followed by one stressed syllable.

Trochee

One stressed followed by one unstressed syllable.

Anapest

Two unstressed followed by one stressed syllable.

Dactyl

One stressed followed by two unstressed syllables.

Spondee

Two stressed syllables in a row.

iambic pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry that has five iambic feet per line.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter. It is close to the natural rhymes of English speech.

Caesura

A pause within a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line.

End-Stopped Line

A poetic line that has a pause at the end.

Enjambment/ Run-On Line

When one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning.