AP Lit Poetic terms

Acrostic

Poetry in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a word or message when read in a sequence.

Anapest

unstressed, unstressed, stressed

Apostrophe

is a direct address to someone who is not actually present in the text

Ballad

Poetry which has three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza of four or five. All stanzas end with the same one line refrain

Ballad stanza

consists of four lines with a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b. The first and third lines are tetrameter and the second and fourth are trimeter.

Blank verse

a poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

Burlesque

Poetry that treats a serious subject as humor.

Cacophony; Dissonance

harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony.

Cadence

Rhythm

Caesura

a strong pause within a line of verse

Canzone

Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza

Cinquain

Poetry with five lines. Line 1 has one word (the title). Line 2 has two words that describe the title. Line 3 has three words that tell the action. Line 4 has four words that express the feeling, and line 5 has one word which recalls the title.

Classicism

Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature.

Closed form poetry

has an established pattern, whether with length, meter, rhyme, imagery, syntax, or stanzas

Closed forms

Allow the reader more access to the organization of ideas expressed in the poem AND can be purposefully changed by the author, adding complexity to the meaning

Couplet

a rhymed pair of lines

Dactyl

contains three syllables with the stress on the first syllable

dramatic monologue

A type of poem which is spoken to the listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details about themselves.

Elegy

A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual

English/Shakespearean sonnet

consists of 3 quatrains and a couplet, usually rhyming abab cdcd efef gg

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Epic

An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure

Epigram

A very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain

Epitaph

a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.

Epithalamium (Epithalamion)

A poem written in honor of the bride and groom.

Examples of closed-form poetry

Ballad, haiku, epigram, sestina, sonnets, villanille

Explication

The interpretation or analysis of a text.

feminine rhyme (double rhyme)

occurs when the last two syllables of a word rhyme with another word

Foot

A metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Free verse

Poetry written in either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern

Haiku

a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.

Heptameter

7 feet

heroic couplet

Two consecutive lines of rhyming poetry that are written in iambic pentameter and that contain a complete thought.

Hexameter

6 feet

Horatian Ode

Short lyric poem written in two or four-line stanzas, each with its the same metrical pattern, often addressed to a friend and deal with friendship, love and the practice of poetry. It is named after its creator, Horace.

Iambic pentameter

One short syllable followed by one long one, repeated five times in a row. Example: la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH

Idyll

Poetry that either depicts a peaceful, idealized country scene or a long poem telling a story about heroes of a bye gone age.

If the AP exam asks for poetic forms, what does it mean?

Types of stanzas: regular stanza, Terza rima, heroic couplet, ballad stanza, limerick, rhyme (rime) royal, ottava rima, Spencerian, ballad, haiku, epigram, sestina, sonnets (both), villanille, etc

Irregular (Pseudo-Pindaric or Cowleyan) ode

Neither the three part form of the pindaric ode nor the two or four-line stanza of the Horatian ode. It is characterized by irregularity of verse and structure and lack of coorespondence between the parts.

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

Fourteen-line poem divided into two parts: the first is eight lines (abbaabba) and the second is six (cdcdcd or cdecde)

Italian sonnet

a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd

Lay

A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouveres.

Limerick

A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and have the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme and have the same rhythm

Litotes (understatement)

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite

Lyric

A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet

Masculine rhyme (single rhyme)

A rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words (rhyme, sublime)

Memoriam stanza

A quatrain in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abba -- named after the pattern used by Lord Tennyson.

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.

Narrative

a poem that tells a story

Octave

8 line stanza

octometer

8 feet

Ode

A lengthy lyric poem typically of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanza structure.

Open form

A type of structure or form in poetry characterized by freedom from regularity and consistency in such elements as rhyme, line length, metrical pattern, and overall poetic structure.

Open form poetry

Characterized by lack of pattern; content creates the form

ottava rima

an eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem

Pastoral

A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way.

Pentameter

five feet

Petrarchan

A 14-line sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet of cddcee or cdecde

Pindaric Ode

A ceremonious poem consisting of a strophe (two or more lines repeated as a unit) followed by an antistrophe with the same metrical pattern and concluding with a summary line (an epode) in a different meter. Named after Pindar, a Greek professional lyrist of the 5th century B.C.

Quatrain

A stanza or poem consisting of 4 lines. Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme wile having a similar number of syllables

quintet

a five line stanza

Refrain

A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.

Rhime Royal

A type of poetry consisting of stanzas having seven lines in a lambic pentameter

Rhyme

A rhythmic poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of 2 or more words, often at the end of a line

Rime Royal stanza

A stanza consisting of seven lines in lambic pentameter rhyming a-b-a-b-b-c-c. It is called so because king James used it

Rondeau

A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13 lines with two rhymes and with the opening phrase repeated twice as the refrain.

Septet

7 line stanza

Sestet

6 line stanza

Sestina

A poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy.

Shakespearean

A 14-line sonnet consisting of three quatrains of abab cdcd efef followed by a couplet, gg. Shakespearean sonnets generally use iambic pentameter.

Shifts typically contain certain words such as:

For,but,yet,ect

Sonnet

A lyric poem of 14 lines, commonly written with unconventional rhyme schemes

Spencerian Sonnet

a sonnet in which the lines are grouped into three interlocked quatrains and a couplet and the rhyme scheme is abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.

Sponsee/Spondaic

Consists of 2 stressed syllables. Compound words are examples. Ex: heartbreak, Childhood, Football

Tercets

3 line stanzas

Terza rima

A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line tercets.

Tetrameter

4 feet

Trochee (trochaic)

stressed, unstressed

Verse

A single metrical line of poetry

Villanelle

A 19-line poem consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes. The first and third lines of the first tercet repeat alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain.

Volta

the shift or point of dramatic change in a poem