AP Poetry Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds (usually at the beginnings of words).

Allusion

Reference to something/someone well-known outside the work.

Antithesis

Figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, ideas, clauses, etc.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing.

Assonance

Repetition of identical/similar vowel sounds.

Ballad Meter

Four line stanza (abcd) with four feet in lines 1 & 3 and three feet in lines 2 & 4.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Cacophony

Unpleasant combination of sounds.

Caesura

A pause that is greater than a normal pause (usually in the middle of a line).

Conceit

Fanciful expression that points to a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Consonance

Repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words.

Couplet

Two line stanza, ends in the same rhyme.

Devices of Sound

Techniques of deploying the sound of words (rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc.).

Diction

Use of words in a work.

Didactic Poem

Poem meant to teach a lesson.

Dramatic Poem

Poem that employs dramatic techniques to achieve poetic ends.

Elegy

Formal poem about the author's thoughts of death or something solemn.

End-Stopped

Line with a pause at the end.

Enjambment

Continuation of the sense/structure of one line to the next.

Extended Metaphor

Comparison that carries throughout the entire stanza/poem.

Euphony

Combination of words to sound pleasant.

Eye Rhyme

Rhyme that looks correct but isn't pronounced the same when spoken.

Feminine Rhyme

Rhyme that consists of two syllables - one stressed & one unstressed.

Figurative Language

Writing that uses figures of speech (metaphors, irony, etc.).

Free Verse

Poetry not written in traditional meter but is still rhythmical.

Heroic Couplet

Two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines where the thought is completed within the two lines.

Hyperbole

A deliberate exaggeration for a serious or comic effect.

Imagery

The images, sensory details, or figurative language of a work.

Irony

Contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end.

Lyric Poem

Short poem with a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings.

Masculine Rhyme

Rhyme that falls on stressed and concluding syllables of the rhyme words.

Metaphor

Comparison without the use of 'like' or 'as'.

Meter

Repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry.

Metonymy

Substitution of a term by naming an object closely associated with the word.

Mixed Metaphors

Combination of two incompatible metaphors which produces a ridiculous effect.

Narrative Poem

Non-dramatic poem that tells a story.

Octave

Eight line stanza.

Onomatopoeia

Word whose sound is their meaning.

Oxymoron

Pair of contrary terms into a single expression.

Paradox

Situation/action/feeling that appears to be contradictory yet turns out to be true.

Parallelism

Similar grammatical structure within a line or lines of poetry.

Paraphrase

Restatement of an idea that retains the meaning while changing the diction/form.

Personification

Give inanimate objects human characteristics.

Poetic Foot

A group of syllables, one accented & one or two unaccented.

Puns

Play on words that are similar in sounds but have different meanings.

Quatrain

Four line stanza.

Refrain

Group of words that is repeated in a poem (usually at the end of a stanza).

Rhyme

Close similarity of sound between accented syllables.

Rhyme Royal

Seven line stanza rhymed ABABBCC (10 syllable lines)

Rhythm

Recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Sarcasm

Type of irony where it seems a person is praising something but is actually insulting it.

Satire

Seeks to arouse disapproval of something by ridicule.

Scansion

System for describing the meter of a poem.

Sestet

Six line stanza.

Simile

Comparison using 'like' or 'as'.

Sonnet

Fourteen line iambic pentameter poem.

Stanza

Repeated grouping of three or more lines.

(Rhetorical) Strategy

Management of language for a specific effect.

Structure

Arrangement of materials within a work.

Style

Mode of expression in language.

Symbol

Something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.

Synecdoche

A form of metaphor; when it mentions a part, it signifies the whole.

Syntax

Ordering of words into patterns or sentences.

Tercet

Three line stanza (end in same rhyme).

Terza Rima

Three line stanza rhymed aba.

Theme

Main idea/thought.

Tone

How the author expresses their attitude.

Understatement

The opposite of hyperbole; deliberately represents something as being less than it really is.

Villanelle

Nineteen line poem divided into 5 tercets & a final quatrain.