AP Lit POETRY TERMS
Sound Devices
—  Alliteration: Repetition of similar or identical initial
consonant sounds: the giggling girl gave me gum.
—  Assonance: Repetition of similar or identical vowel
sounds: The thin man grinned at the win.
—  Consonance: The repetition of similar consonant
sounds in groups of words: “add” and “read,” “bill”
and “ball.”
Other sound devices…
—  Cacophony: describes words that are harsh
sounding—crackle, dragon, crunchy, etc…
—  Euphony: describes words that are pleasant
sounding and melodious—flower, sea, happy,
pepper, etc…
Figurative Language
—  Simile: Comparison of two UNLIKE things using
“like” or “as”—The sea was like a monster.
—  Metaphor: Comparison of two UNLIKE things NOT
using “like” or “as”—The sea was a monster
thrashing around.
—  Hyperbole: An intentional exaggeration used for
effect—The teacher gave me so much information
that my brain hurt.
Figurative Language, Cont.
—  Personification: Giving human characteristics to a non-human
object or animal—The bear looked questioningly at me.
—  Types of Metaphors:
—  Synecdoche: Using a part to represent a whole or a whole to
represent a part--•All hands on deck.
—  Metonymy: Using a word we associate with something in
place of the actual word--The White House asked the
television networks for air time on Monday night.
—  These two are often confused!! Be careful. They are both
considered to be types of metaphors.
More figurative Language…
—  Conceit: In literature, a conceit is an extended
metaphor with a complex logic that governs a
poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing,
usurping and manipulating images and ideas in
surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a
more sophisticated understanding of an object of
comparison. This may be a brief metaphor, or it
may be consist of an entire poem.
And still more…
—  Extended metaphor: this is a metaphor where the comparison is carried
out through an entire stanza or even the whole poem. Ex:
"This night is the comfort,
Of a hug from mother to child.
It is the warmth and security,
Of love and compassion so tender.
This night is the nightmare,
The one that started it all.
It is what I fear most,
And the only thing I find serenity in."
Other terms…
—  Allusion: A reference to an historical event, place, or
mythological god or goddess. Biblical allusions are
quite common in the literary cannon.
—  Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which a character
or speaker addresses something or somebody who
cannot respond as though it/he can act.
More other terms…
—  Caesura: A pause near the end or middle of a line
of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line.
The pause is greater than a normal pause—”To err
is human, to forgive divine.”
—  Diction; the word choices used by an author/poet
—  Didactic poetry: poetry that is intended to teach a
lesson
Still more!! J
—  Dramatic poem: a poem where the dramatic form
is employed as a means of achieving dramatic ends
—  Elegy: A poem with a mournful subject throughout
(death, etc…)
—  End-Stopped Line: A line with a pause at the end.
Lines that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark. EX:
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
J
—  Enjambment: the continuation of the sense AND
grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the
next—Ex:
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Imagery
—  Imagery is writing that appeals to any of the five
senses. It helps create IMAGES in poetry and prose.
EX:
http://www.frostfriends.org/imagery.html
Meter
—  The repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. The meter of
a poem emphasizes the musical quality of the poem. AP Lit students
SHOULD KNOW AND BE ABLE TO ANALYZE THESE!!!
—  Poetic Feet:
Iambic
trochaic
u/
/u
Anapestic u u /
Dactylic
/uu
Pyrrhic
uu
Spondaic
//
Refrain
— 
A refrain is a word or group of words that is repeated in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza
EX: Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
Rhythm
—  Rhythm is the recurrence of stressed and
unstressed syllables. The presence of rhythmic
patterns should create pleasure and heightened
emotion in the reader.
Scansion
—  Scansion is the system for describing the meter of a poem by identifying
the number and types of feet per line. Common types:
—  Monometer
one foot per line
—  Dimeter
two feet per line
—  Trimeter
three feet per line
—  Tetrameter
four feet per line
—  Pentameter
five feet per line
—  Hexameter
six feet per line
—  Heptameter
seven feet per line
—  Octameter
eight feet per line
More terms…
—  Style: Style refers to the way the author expresses
language. This class is 100% style analysis!!
—  Syntax: The ordering of words into patterns or
sentences. The author’s use of syntax can tell us
about time period, mood, etc…
—  Theme: The theme is the message expressed in a
work. Subject is easy to find. What the author says
about the subject(message) often needs
interpretation!!
Still more!! J
—  Symbol: An object, color, person that represents
something much larger than itself.
EX: winter, cold = death, decay, etc…
-TONE: The manner in which an author expresses his
attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses
meaning. TONE is the result of DICTION, SYNTAX,
IMAGERY, ALLUSIONS, IRONY, STYLE, and
SYMBOLISM!
Rhyme
—  Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
—  Couplet: two-line rhyming stanza
—  Eye rhyme: rhyme that appears correct from the
spelling of the words but is actually a half-rhyme or
slant rhyme from the pronunciation. Ex: “watch”
and “match”
—  Feminine rhyme: a rhyme of two syllables, one
stressed and one unstressed. Ex: “waken” and
“forsaken” and “audition” and “rendition”
More Rhyme…
—  Masculine rhyme: rhyme that falls on the stressed
and concluding syllables of the rhymed words. Ex:
“keep” and “sleep” and “spell” and “impel”
—  Heroic Couplet: two end-stopped iambic
pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc, etc… with the
thought usually completed in the entire two-line
unit. Refer to The Rape of the Lock.
And more Rhyme…
—  Internal Rhyme: rhyme that occurs within a line,
rather than at the end of lines. EX: “Once upon a
midnight DREARY, while I pondered weak and
WEARY…”