AP Lit Poetry Analysis Terminology, Mnemonic Devices, and Meters

alliteration

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds through a sequence of words

anaphora

repetition of words or phrases to create a powerful and poetic effect

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words with different endings (ex. "The death of the poet was kept from his poems", "black cat")

aubade

a poem in which the coming of dawn is either celebrated (as in Billy Collins's "Morning") or denounced as a nuisance (as in John Donne's "The Sun Rising")

blank verse

one of Shakespeare's favorite forms, iambic pentameter without rhyme

caesura

a pause introduced into the reading of a line by a mark of punctuation

conceit (metaphysical conceit)

from the Latin term for "concept," a poetic conceit is an often unconventional, logically complex, or surprising metaphor. Less conventional, more esoteric associations characterize the metaphysical conceit.

consonance

shared consonants between two proximate words

couplet

two lines of the same meter and length, usually rhyming

discursive poem

a poem structured like a treatise, argument, or essay

doggerel

crude verse, a drinking song

end-stopped line

a line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation

euphony

harmonious and pleasing to the ear (opposite: cacophony)

enjambment

the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break

free verse (the open form)

non-metrical verse (poem is arranged in lines and may be more or less rhythmical, but has no fixed metrical pattern)

heroic couplet

a pair of rhyming iambic pentameters (often used by Chaucer and the poets of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Alexander pope)

imagery

language that evokes any of the five senses

juxtaposition

two things placed close together for contrasting effect

limerick

humorous five-line poem

lyric poem

subjective poem marked by imagination and emotion; often composed in 1st-person point of view, expressing thoughts and feelings of a single speaker

elegy

type of lyric poem: mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead, dirge-song for the dead, same as requiem

ode

type of lyric poem: expressing a strong feeling of love or respect for someone or something

sonnet

type of lyric poem: poem of 14 lines, in iambic pentameter (the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet is composed of an octave and a sestet - 8 and 6, which may not be divided on the page. The octave usually presents the problem, and the sestet usually contains some sort of resolution. The octave's rhyme scheme is abbaabba and the sestet can rhyme cdecde or cdcdcd. The English or Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a couplet, which together rhym ababcdcdefefgg. In most of Shakespeare's sonnets, the quatrains build a progression, and the couplet contains the thesis or distilled message of the sonnet.)

villanelle

type of lyric poem: a 19 line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains

narrative peom

(story) relays a story and contains a plot and conflict; may include multiple characters and dialogue

ballad

type of narrative poem: a ballad stanza consists of four lines of which the first and third lines are iambic tetrameter and the second and fourth lines are iambic trimeter, with the second and fourth rhyming

dramatic monologue

type of narrative poem: also known as a persona poem; an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voice - a character, a fictional identity, or a persona

epic

type of narrative poem: a long, serious, poetic narrative about a significant event, often featuring a hero

satire

type of narrative poem: a poem in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule

onomatopoeia

a word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes (ex. buzz)

pantoum

A Malaysian verse form adapted by French poets and imitated in English. It comprises a series of quatrains, with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the next. The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the first and third lines of the first stanza.

paradox

a seemingly contradictory statement or idea, in order to highlight a deeper truth

pastoral

a work describing and idealizing the simple life of country fold, usually shepherds who live a painless life in a world full of beauty, music, and love

personification

a figure of speech that endows something nonhuman, such as an abstraction, with humanlike qualities

refrain

a phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem, especially at the end of a stanza

sestina

an elaborate verse structure in blank verse that consists of six stanzas of six lines each followed by a three-line stanza. The final words of each line in the first stanza appear in variable order in the next five stanzas and are repeated in the middle and at the end of the three lines in the final stanza.

stanza

a group of verse lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout a poem

tag

words used repeatedly throughout the poem to describe something

villanelle (definition 2)

a verse form consisting of 19 lines divided into six stanzas - five tercets (three line stanzas) and one quatrain (four-line stanza). The first and third lines of the first tercet rhyme with each other, and this rhyme is repeated through each of the next four tercets and in the last two liens of the concluding quatrain.

TP-CAST

Title: look for meaning and clues

Paraphrase: state the dramatic situation

Connotation: emotional overtones and meaning, poetic devices

Attitude: look for complexity and multiple attitudes

Shifts: explore gradual realizations and insights

Theme: what the poem says about the human experience

DIDLS

Diction: specific word choice and connotations

Images: understanding through the five senses

Details: facts included or omitted

Language: formal, clinical, jargon, informal

Sentence Structure (syntax): simple, complex, compound, fragmented

PPSSSTTT

Paraphrase: the dramatic situation, putting the story or poem into your own words

Purpose: the author's potential intent

Structure: make sure to include what the structure contributes to the meaning of the work

Shift: in point of view or tone - does the shift reflect differences in attitude or meaning?

Speaker: who is the speaker and to whom is he or she speaking and why? What is the narrative viewpoint?

Tone: emotional judgement/attitude toward the subject

Theme: a salient observation about life - is it implicit or explicit?

Title: significance of, irony of

Iamb (iambic meter)

u /

whose WOODS these ARE i THINK i KNOW

Trochee (trochaic meter)

/ u

DOU-ble DOU-ble TOIL and TROUble

Anapest (anapestic meter)

u u /

With the DEW | on his BROW | and the RUST | on his MAIL

Dactyl (dactylic meter)

/ u u

MER-ri-ly, MER-ri-ly, MER-ri-ly

Spondee (spondaic meter)

//

(The spondee is a strange little foot, consisting of two stressed syllables, and usually occurring in a line or more traditional feet. It emphasizes a particular part of the line)

And | and SIL-ence SOME STRANGE RACE

Line Lengths:

One foot: Monometer

Two feet: Dimeter

Three feet: Trimeter

Four feet: Tetrameter

Five feet: Pentameter

Six feet: Hexameter

Seven feet: Heptameter

Eight feet: Octameter

alexadrine

line of iambic hexameter (12 syllables), often with a caesura after the third iambic foot

Ask WHAT and HOW:

what = wisdom, an observation about life and about human experience

how = poetic devices and techniques