AP Lit Poetic Terms

Accent

The emphasis or stress given a syllable in pronunciation.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable.

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, place, thing, idea, or event in history or literature.

Ambiguity

A quality that allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation.

Apostrophe

An address to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something non-human that cannot be comprehended.

Assonance

The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same; emphasizes words in a line.

Ballad

Dramatic, condensed, and impersonal narratives.

Ballad Stanza

Narrative poem written in deliberate imitation of the language form and spirit of traditional ballads.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter lines; each line has 10 syllables with no rhyme.

Cacophony

Language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce.

Caesura

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

Connotation

Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word.

Consonance

A common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds.

Couplet/Heroic Couplet

Two consecutive lines that often rhyme and usually have the same meter.

Diction

Writers choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language.

Elegy

A mournful lyric poem written to commemorate someone who has died.

End-stopped line

A line of poetry that has a natural pause or concludes with punctuation.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or thought beyond the end of a line of poetry.

Epic

A long narrative poem recounting the adventures of a heroic figure or the history of a nation.

Epigram

A brief, witty, and often satirical statement or poem expressing a single thought.