Norton Guide to AP Literature: Techniques for Poetry Analysis

alliteration

the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds through a sequence of words

alliteration example

"cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise." Phillis Wheatley, " A Hymn to the Evening”

allusion

brief, often implicit and indirect reference within a literary text to something outside the text, whether another text (Bible, a myth, another literary work, a painting, a piece of music) or any imaginary or historical person, place, or thing.

allusion example

If he does not accept, he may end up where Jonah did.

anaphora

Figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases; repetition of the initial words over successive phrases or clauses

anaphora example

We passed the Fields of Grazing Grain--/We passed the Setting Sun--" from Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death—”

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds within non-rhyming words

assonance example

“The death of the poet was kept from his poems" from W. H. Arden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"

caesura

a strong pause within a line of verse

caesura example

"A noble life short. No Geat could have stopped her;" (from Beowulf, line 417)

connotation

what is suggested by a word, apart from what it literally means or how it is defined in the dictionary (often a feeling or associated meaning)

connotation example

“Odor" and "fragrance" literally mean the same thing, but good things have fragrance, bad things, odor.

consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words in a phrase or sentence

consonance example

“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,/ In the forests of the night;/ What immortal hand or eye,/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” from "The Tyger" by William Blake

end-stop line

to end a line with a punctuation mark, thus calling attention to the line as a structure within the poem

end-stop line example

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?/Thou art more lovely and more temperate:/" from "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare

enjambment

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

enjambment example

"And every fair from fair sometime declines,/By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;/But thy eternal summer shall not fade,/" from "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare

imagery

Any descriptive language used to evoke a vivid sense or image of something, which can include auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, or visual

imagery example

"Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago." from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

juxtaposition example

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness [...]" Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities

metaphor

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

metaphor example

“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." from Romeo and Juliet, Act 2.2 by William Shakespeare

personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

personification example

"Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin." from The Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

shift/ volta

the turn of thought or argument in a poem

sibilance

A type of alliteration in which the "s" sound is repeated. Sometimes the "s" sound is coupled with other soft sounds like "f," "th" or "z"

sibilance example

"Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots/Of gas-shells dropping softly behind./ Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling/ Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,/ But someone still was yelling out and stumbling" from Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

simile

a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things which most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also use other words that indicate an explicit comparison.

simile example

Eleanor Roosevelt's line, "A woman is like a teabag—you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."

speaker

A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in the poem

stanza

A group of lines in a poem

tone

A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels.