AP Lit Terms

Tone

The author's implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author's style

Syntax

The ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns such as phrases, clauses, and sentences

Persona

A speaker created by a writer to tell a story or to speak in a poem. It is a separate self, created by and distinct from the author, through which he or she speaks

Speaker

The voice used by an author to tell a story or speak a poem

Free Verse

Poems characterized by their nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza. Uses elements such as speech patterns, grammar, emphasis, and breath pauses to decide line breaks, and usually does not rhyme (Open Form Poetry)

Stanza

A grouping of lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme

Rhyme Scheme

Describes the pattern of end rhymes and are mapped out by noting pstterns of rhyme with small letters

Couplet

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

Heroic Couplet

A couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter

Quatrain

A four-line stanza that is the most common stanzaic form in the English language and can have various meters and rhyme schemes

Sonnet

A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet

A sonnet that is divided into an octave, which typically rhymes abbaabba, and a sestet, which may have varying rhyme schemes

Octave

A poetic stanza of eight lines, usually forming one part of a sonnet

Sestet

A stanza consisting of exact six lines

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet

A sonnet organized into three quatrains and a couplet, which typically rhyme abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Villanelle

A type of fixed form poetry consisting of nineteen lines of any length divided into six stanzas: five tercets and a concluding quatrain

Elegy

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

Ode

A relatively lengthy lyric poem that often expresses lofty emotions in a dignified style

Pastoral

A work of literature that focuses on the relationship between humanity and nature in a rural environment

End Rhyme

The most common form of rhyme in poetry. The rhyme comes at the end of the lines

Internal Rhyme

Places at least one of the rhymed words within the line, as in “Dividing and gliding and sliding”

Masculine Rhyme

Describes the rhyming of single-syllable words, such as grade or shade. Also occurs when rhyming words of more than one syllable, when the same sound occurs in a final stressed syllable, as in defend and contend

Feminine Rhyme

Consists of a rhymed stressed syllable followed by one or more identical unstressed syllables, as in butter and clutter

Near Rhyme/Slant Rhyme/Approximate Rhyme

The sounds are almost but not exactly alike

Onomatopoeia

A term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes like buzz, rattle, bang, and sizzle

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable like “descending dew drops”

Assonance

The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same like “each evening”

Consonance

A common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds like home and same

Euphony

Refers to language that is smooth and musically pleasant to the ear

Cacophony

Language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce, may be unintentional in the writer’s sense of music or it may be used consciously for deliberate dramatic effect

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using the word like or as

Simile

A common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, than, appears, and seems

Implied Metaphor

A more subtle comparison, the terms being compared are not so specifically explained

Extended Metaphor

A sustained comparison where part or all of a poem consists of a series of related metaphors

Personification

A form of metaphor where human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things

Synecdoche

A kind of metaphor where a part of something is used to signify the whole like how ten ships are called “ten sails”

Metonymy

A type of metaphor where something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it

Hyperbole

A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true

Understatement

The opposite of hyperbole, refers to a figure of speech that says less than is intended

Paradox

A statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense

Oxymoron

A condensed form of paradox where two contradictory words are used together like “original copy”

Diction

A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning

Formal Diction

Consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; follows rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone

Informal Diction

Represents the plain language of everyday use and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words

Denotation

The dictionary meaning of a word

Connotation

Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word which derive from how the word has been commonly used and the associations people make with it

Rhythm

A term used to refer to the recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry

Stress/Accent

The emphasis, or accent, given in a syllable in pronunciation

Meter

When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem, determined by the type and number of feet in a line of verse

Foot

The metrical unit where a line of poetry is measured, usually consists of one stressed and one or two unstressed syllables

Line

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

Iamb

Consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Trochee

Consists of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

Anapest

Two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed one

Dactyl

One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones

Spondee

A foot consisting of two stressed syllables but is not a sustained metrical foot and is used mainly for variety or emphasis

Iambic Pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, the English verse form closest to the natural rhythms of English speech and therefor is the most common pattern found in traditional English narrative and dramatic poetry from Shakespeare

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 which reflects normal speech patterns and are often marked by punctuation

Enjambment/Run-On Line

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