Poetic Terms & Definitions AP

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more words in a line.

Allusion

Brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or stanzas.

Apostrophe

When the speaker addresses an absent person, an idea, or a thing.

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry.

Blank Verse

Poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines (usually iambic pentameter).

Caesura

A strong pause within a line of verse created by a punctuation mark or white space.

Conceit

A fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor.

Connotation

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Denotation

The dictionary meaning of a word.

Diction

The selection of words in a literary work to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values.

Enjambment

A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next.

Figurative Language

Language that conveys meaning beyond the literal level.

Imagery

Literal or figurative descriptions that appeal to the reader’s senses.

Juxtaposition

Placing two entities side by side to create dramatic or ironic contrast.

Meter

The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems.

Metonymy

Referring to something in terms of a closely-associated object.

Mood

The general feeling or atmosphere that a piece of writing creates within the reader.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe.

Oxymoron

The pairing of two or more words that present a contradiction.

Paradox

A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that may prove to be well founded or true.

Personification

The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities.

Repetition

The use of the same word or phrase multiple times.

Rhyme Scheme

The ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem.

Simile

A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though.

Speaker

The narrative voice of the poem, which may not be the poet.

Stanza

A dividing and organizing technique that groups lines in a poem together.

Symbol

An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself.

Synecdoche

Substituting a part for a whole.

Theme

The idea of a poetic work abstracted from its details and cast in the form of a generalization.

Tone

The implied attitude of the speaker toward the subject.

Tension

A balance maintained in a poem between opposing forces or elements.

Understatement

The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Hyperbole

The presentation of something as being bigger, better, or more important than it actually is.

Rhyme

The matching of vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words.

Free Verse

A type of poetry characterized by freedom from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme and meter.

Fixed Form

Poems that follow strict or definite patterns of lines, meter, rhyme, and stanzas.

Juxtaposition

Comparison or contrast achieved by placing two entities side by side.