1.

Alliteration The repetition of initial sounds in consecutive

or nearly consecutive words
2. Allusion A reference in the work to literature, history,
mythology, famous people, characters, or
events outside of the work. Adds depth by
making a subtle or implicit connection.
3. Anapest 2 unaccented syllables, 1 accented syllable
(lemonade)
Antoinette is an ______
4. Anaphora The repetition of words or phrases at the
beginning of consecutive lines or sentences
5. Apostrophe A direct address to an absent or dead person, or
to an object, quality or idea that are oftentimes
personified
6. Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds
7. Aubade A poem about the separation of lovers. A very
emotional moment or experience.
Traditionally, the separation is at dawn.
8. Audience There may be an audience, a person or group,
specified by the speaker. The audience may also
be general
9. Ballad A song, or a poem with song-like qualities.
Ballads will oftentimes have refrains lines that
repeat throughout the poem.
10. Blank Verse Lines in unrhymed iambic pentameter
11. Cacophony Harsh, clashing word sounds. It is also called
dissonance.
12. Caesura A pause in a line of poetry that is brought about
by punctuation or the natural rhythm of the
language
13. Cinquain 5 lines
14. Colon Designates importance of what is to follow
15. Comma Continues the thought
16. Conceit Another name for an extended metaphor. A
conceit is a "more-startling" metaphor (drop of
dew and the human soul). The conceit can also
be the controlling image. The conceit is
prevalent in metaphysical poetry.
17. Consonance The repetition of consonants
18. Couplet 2 lines
19. Dactyl 1 accented syllable, 2 unaccented syllables
(possible)
Deborah is a ______
20. Dash Off-sets for emphasis
21. Diction An author's choice of words. Consider with
diction: clarity (literal or abstract),
appropriateness (informal, formal, colloquial,
etc.) to the character or occasion, connotative
and denotative meanings, depth and
complexity, tone and mood
22. Dimeter 2 feet
23. Dramatic
Monologue
A poem that has a definite speaker who speaks
to a particular person. The listener does not
respond, but the listener can influence or have
an effect on the speaker
24. Elegy An elegy is a poem about death, mourning, or
somber reflection. It is oftentimes about a
particular person who has died. Another term
for an elegy is a dirge.
25. Ellipsis A pause or an omission. Note- An _______ is
also a rhetorical device wherein there is an
omission of words, but they are understood
(The other just as fair)
26. End mark Period (finality, separation, end), question
mark, exclamation point
27. End rhyme Repetition of the same sound at the end of a
line (despair, care)
28. The English
sonnet
Has 3 quatrains and an ending couplet. They
rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The first
two quatrains set the theme or situation,
answered or furthered by the third quatrain,
and summarized for finalized by the ending
couplet.
29. Enjambment The continuation of one line of a poem to the
next line. It may continue the grammatical
structure and/or the thought
30. Euphony Pleasing, calm, melodious word sounds
31. Extended
metaphor
A metaphor that is repeated or continuous
through stanzas or the entire poem.
Depending on its use, an extended metaphor
could also be considered a controlling image if
it dominates the entire work
32. Feet Building block of the metrical pattern in a
poem
33. Feminine
rhyme:
Repetition of the same sound at the last
unaccented syllable (receive, believe)
34. Free Verse A poem "free" of regular meter and rhyme. The
poem may have irregular line lengths or
fragments, and non-conventional uses of
grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. It
is "free" of conventions, yet very deliberate in
its use of words and form
35. Heptameter 7 feet
36. Heptet 7 lines
AP Lit: Poetry Terms
Study online at quizlet.com/_npzhj
37. Heroic
Couplet
Couplets in iambic pentameter ending in a
masculine rhyme
38. Hexameter 6 feet
39. Hyperbole Obvious exaggeration or overstatement, not
intended to be taken literally
40. Iamb 1 unaccented syllable, 1 accented syllable
(enough)
Irene is an iamb
41. Imagery The use of figures of speech to create vivid
images that appeal to one of the senses, a
"picture in words"
42. Initial
rhyme:
Rhyme at the beginning of the line (fought,
caught)
43. Internal
rhyme:
Rhyme that occurs within the line (The stars
that shine because you're mine)
44. Inversion Changing the normal or grammatical sequence
in a line. ________ is used to place emphasis
on a word or idea, or it is used for rhyme,
rhythm, or meter.
45. Irony The incongruity between "what is" and "what is
expected"
46. The Italian
sonnet
Divided into an octave or octet (8 lines) and a
sestet (six lines). The rhyme scheme differs, but
a common pattern is abba, abba, cde, cde. The
octave is more uniform in rhyme scheme than
the sestet. The octave will present the theme,
problem, or situation which is then answered or
resolved in the sestet.
47. Litote Affirming with a negative (He is not unfriendly.
She is no fool)
48. Lyric A poem that deals with emotions, feelings,
thoughts.This is a general category. Poems of
all kinds can contain lyrical elements.
49. Masculine
rhyme
Repetition of the same sound on the last
accented syllable (forlorn/torn)
50. Metaphor A direct comparison of two dissimilar objects. A
metaphor may be developed over more than one
line.
51. Meter The patterned repetition of stressed and
unstressed syllables
52. Metonymy Using an attribute of something as an
association of the entirety (Washington for the
federal government)
53. Monometer 1 foot
54. Mood The prevailing emotional atmosphere in the
poem, scene, or the entire literary work
55. Narrative A ______ poem tells a story. In can be all of a
story or part of a story. The Odyssey is an
example of a narrative poem.
56. Octameter 8 feet
57. Octet (Octave) 8 lines
58. Ode A poem that celebrates. It can be a poem of
praise for a person, an object, or an event
59. Off rhyme,
slant rhyme,
near rhyme:
Inexact, but close rhyme (ill, all)
60. Onomatopoeia A word formed from the imitation of
natural sounds (boom, splat, whoosh)
61. Paradox An apparent contradiction that contains
some overriding truth (the one with the
greatest perception is the blind man)
62. Pastoral Originally, a celebration of the simple,
rustic life of shepherds. It has evolved to
refer to any rural theme, idealizing the
uncomplicated country life. Also can be
referred to as idyllic.
63. Pathetic
Fallacy
Something in nature that has human
emotions
64. Pentameter 5 feet
65. Personification Non-human objects human characteristics
66. Poetry: Literature in its most intense, most
imaginative, and most rhythmic forms.
Poetry differs from prose most basically in
being written in lines of arbitrary length
instead of in paragraphs. In general,
poetry's richness in imagery, particularly in
metaphor, results in a far greater
concentration of meaning than is
ordinarily found in prose.
67. Quatrain 4 lines
68. Repetition Words, sounds, phrases, lines, or elements
of syntax that repeat. It can emphasize and
it can also trivialize the intended meaning
69. Rhyme Scheme Representation of the pattern of rhyme in a
poem expressed with use of the alphabet
70. Rhyme: The repetition of like sounds
71. Scansion the analysis of the meter of a poem
72. Semi-colon Joining of two or more similar thoughts
73. Sestet 6 lines
74. Sestina A poem of six six-line stanzas (sestets)
with an ending tercet (three-line stanza).
There is an intricate repetition using the
ending words in each sestet, changing the
order in each successive sestet. Three of the
ending words also are the ending words of
the tercet.
75. Sight rhyme: Words that look like they should rhyme but
don't (seen, been)
76. Simile Using "like" or "as" predominately, a simile is
the direct comparison of two dissimilar objects.
A simile will be within one line.
77. Sonnet A fourteen line poem. The two most recognized
types of sonnets are English (Shakespearean,
Elizabethan) and Italian (Petrarchan).
78. Speaker As in prose, the speaker in a poem can be first
person or third person. First person speakers
may be identified or simply referred to as "I".
The third person speaker may be objective or
may have some personality (persona). Do not
assume that the speaker in a poem is the poet.
79. Spondee 2 accented syllables (fat cat) Sue-Ann is a
______
80. Stanza A section or division in a poem
81. Subject The subject matter of poems can be everything
from the majestic to the trivial. Throughout the
ages, poets have been concerned with the
matters of the human condition: life's
complexities, love, hate, despair, jealousy,
courage, loneliness, etc. Generally, writers prior
to the 19th century dealt with the existence of
the individual in relation to a spiritual universe;
from the 19th century on, concerns moved to the
individual in relation to nature, science, the
industrial world, society, psychology, and the
loss of humanity.
82. Symbol A symbol differs from a metaphor in that it is
that object plus much more. A symbol may carry
multiple meanings
83. Synecdoche Using one part of an object to represent the
entirety ("Wheels" in reference to a car)
84. Synesthesia Using multiple sensory descriptions ("sweet
sound")
85. Tercet 3 lines
86. Terza Rima A series of three-line stanzas (tercets) with a
defined, "interlocking" rhyme scheme (aba, bcb,
cdc,etc.). Most are written in iambic pentameter
but, whatever the meter, the established meter
remains the same throughout the poem. Shorter
poems written in terza rima can end in a
couplet.
87. Tetrameter 4 feet
88. Tone : The attitude of the writer - think "tone of voice"
89. Trimeter 3 feet
90. Trochee 1 accented syllable, 1 unaccented syllable (lip
stick)
Tanya is a ______
91. Understatement Something is purposely represented as
being far less important than it actually is.
92. Villanelle A nineteen line poem with 5 three-line
stanzas and an ending quatrain. The
rhyme scheme is most often aba, aba, aba,
aba, aba, abaa. The villanelle also
contains a refrain, the repetition of the
first and third lines of the first stanza.