AP lit poetry terms

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole. Referring to your car as "my wheels" "Let two more summers wither in their pride/'ere we may think her ripe to be a bride" (R&J) Meaning: let two more years

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it. "The crown" referring to the monarch, "she has a very fine hand" to refer to her handwriting.

Hyperbole

Extravagant exaggeration for the sake of emphasis. "I'll die if I don't pass this class" "You could have knocked me over with a feather." "Fired the shot heard round the world." (Emerson)

Spondaic Foot

(usually compound words.) base-ball, man-made

English or Shakespearean sonnet

3 quatrains and one couplet = 14 lines. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d plus e-f-e-f-g-g. The sonnet usually introduces the topic in quatrain 1, elaborates in quatrain 2, starts coming to a conclusion in quatrain 3 and has concluding point in the couplet.

Analogy

A form of reasoning in which similarities are inferred from a similarity of two things in certain particulars (the implication that if two things agree with each other in some respect, they will probably agree with each other in further respects.)

Villanelle:

A highly specialized French verse form with 19 lines divided into 5 tercets and 1 quatrain. Two rhymes or repeated lines predominate. With the rhyme scheme aba aba aba aba aba abaa, line 1 is repeated exactly in lines 6, 12, and 18, while line 3 is repeated exactly in lines 9, 15 and 19. Refer to Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," in which the repeated lines develop meaning over the course of the poem without seeming trite or repetitive.

Allusion

A reference to a memory of tradition that all speakers of language have in common, such as to well known figures of history, to lines of characters in the classics or the Bible, to characters or events in mythology. They are a means of reinforcing the ideas of ones own work with the emotion of another work or occasion. "So might I/Have sight of Proteus rising from the sun;/ Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed born." (Mythology) "In Bacchic glee they file coward Fate, Moloch's uninitiate..." (Melville) "The president of the company is only a Charlie McCarthy; the Bergen of the outfit is the general manager"

Apostrophe

A rhetorical figure in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person/place/concept etc. outside of the poem itself. "O death, I will be they plagues; /O grave, I will be thy destruction" (Hosea). " Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll!" (Byron)

Masculine Rhyme:

A rhyme in which only the last, accented syllables of the rhyming words correspond exactly in sound; most common kind of rhyme

Feminine Rhyme:

A rhyme in which two consectutive syllables of the rhyme-words correspond, the first syllable carrying the accent. Double rhyme. Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,/O the pain, the bliss of dying! (Alexander Pope, "vital Spark of Heavenly Flame")

Euphemism

A word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant. "Pass away" as a euphemism for death

Paradox

An assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense, but that yet may be true in fact. "No one sees so well as the man who is blind." "Munitions of peace" "The more a man learns, the less he knows" Lines for a Christmas card: "May all my enemies go to hell, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel" (Hilaire Belloc)

Epithet

An especially vivid adjective expressing some quality or attribute of a person or thing; a meaningful or significant appellation. "rosy-fingered dawn" "The faithful Penelope" "Richard the Lionhearted"

Understatement

Emphasis by greatly minimizing event statements, which say less than expected or possible; often used for ironic effects." "The late unpleasantness"

Rhyme Position

End or internal

Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

It contains an octave (8 lines) and Sestet (6 lines) = 14 lines. The rhyme scheme is a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a plus c-d-e-c-d-e or c-d-c-d-c-d.

Rhythm(detailed definition)

In normal English speech, some words and syllables are stressed and some are not, (to-mor-row). This fact makes it possible to establish a beat with the sounds of words. As in music, recurrent beat forms a rhythm. In poetry, the basic rhythms result from the repetition of regular patterns of accented and unaccented syllables. Rhythm is not something artificially imposed upon a poem; it grows out of the ideas and feelings expressed in the poem and, ideally, complements them perfectly. It intensifies a mood and reinforces the reader's emotions. Just as the background music of a movie or TV play changes as the action shifts from a gun battle to a love scene, so the rhythm of a poem fits the mood—now slow and sad, now fast and gay.

Rhyme Scheme:

Pattern in which rhyme appears. "a" is the symbol for the first sound; "b" is the symbol for the second sound, etc.

Rhythm

Repeated beats

Refrain

Repeated phrases

Rhyme

Repeated word sounds

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words or at the end of words. "The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burn'd on the water; the poop was beaten gold..." (Shakespeare) "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor" (Poe)

Assonance:

Repetition of vowel sounds within words: "I watch the green fields growing, For reaping folk and sowing, For harvest time and mowing, A sleepy world of dreams." (Swinburne)

Rhyme(detailed definition)

Rhyme is made up of words that are similar or alike in sound. Absolute rhyme is words with the same vowels but different beginning consonants. (E.g., tree, free)

End rhyme

Similarity or likeness at the end of two or more lines of poetry. (Little Miss Muffet/Sat on a tuffet)

Internal Rhyme

Similarity or likeness in two or more words within the same line of poetry. (Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep)

Pastoral

although many forms of literature fit this category, its setting is a created world marked by constant summer and nature.

Synaesthesia

The combination of two or more senses to create a powerful sensory effect. "And now the orchestra is playing yellow Cocktail music..." (Fitzgerald)

Antithesis

The placing of two strongly opposed notations close together in parallel construction so that the reader feels the contrast and is stirred by it. "Born a serf, he died a king" "The sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts"

Imagery

The use of the five senses to create an image or picture in the reader's perception. The representation through language of sense experience. "The gray sea and the long black land; And the yellow half moon large and low."

Sonnet

There are several types of sonnet. They usually have 14 lines and a set meter and rhyme. Sonnets are examples of formal lyric poetry. Two of the most common types of sonnet are the

Verbal Irony

Use of an expression in which the intended implication is the opposite of the literal sense of the word. Dramatic irony is a discrepancy between what the speaker says and the author means. Irony of the situation is irony of coincidence. "This Mudville Milton..." (the conflict between the inglorious connotation of Mudville and the glorious connotation of Milton, produced an effect of the ludicrous.)

Symbol

a figure of speech in which something (object, person, situation or action) means more than what it is. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood." (Frost)

Dirge

a poem or song of lament, usually a commemoration for the dead.

Ballad

a simple poem, usually created for singing, dealing with a dramatic episode.

Aubade

a song written to praise the coming of the dawn

Simile:

an expressed comparison: expression of resemblance between two objects normally unlike: usually used with like and as. "The whistle of a boat calls and cries unendingly like some lost child in tears and trouble." (Sanburg) "Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart." (Wordsworth)

Metaphor

an implied comparison; unlike objects are said to be the same. "Her eyes are stars" "Night's candles are burnt out..." (Shakespeare) "My vigor is a new minted penny, which I cast at your feet. Gather it up from the dust that its sparkle may amuse you." (Lowell)

Personification

attribution of human qualities to abstract or inanimate objects: "Panic held us by the palm of her hand" "And jocund day stands tiptoe in the misty mountain top" (The mountains "look down" on the sea; volcanoes "vomit" fire.)

Iambic Foot

de-light The most natural, and hence the most frequently used rhythmic pattern in English poetry is the iambic. An iambic foot, (a foot is the single unit of the stress pattern which when repeated, forms a pattern—the rhythm) is composed of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable.

Octameter

eight foot line

Pentameter

five foot line

Tetrameter

four foot line

Slant Rhyme (Half Rhyme):

imperfect, approximate rhyme. In the mustardseed sun By full tilt river and switchback sea Where the cormorants scud In his house on stilts high among beaks... (Dylan Thomas, "Poem on his birthday")

Anapestic

in-ter-weave

Light Verse

is for fun. There are many types of light verse. A very common example of light verse is the limerick.

Lyric Poetry

is usually about common human experiences, things like love, death, love of nature, etc. It looks at common things in a new way and expresses the personal thoughts in a new way and expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of the poet in a song-like way. The words of lyric poetry usually create vivid images, and it is full of symbols.

Dramatic Poetry

is usually written for the stage, although not always. Characters speak, revealing their inner thoughts and personalities. Suspense and conflict are interwoven. It can be either narrative or lyric.

Free Verse

is written with no meter or rhythm or rhyme. As its name implies, it has a very free style with no set structure. Much modern poetry is written in free verse.

Dactylic Foot

jus-ti-fy

Monometer

one foot line

Trochaic

ox-en

Elegy

poems that mourn the death of an individual, the absence of something deeply loved. Or the transience of mankind. The tone is solemn and dignified, and the poem laments the loss of something dear to the poet personally or to mankind in general.

Alliteration:

repetition of initial consonant sound: "The white foam flew and the furrow followed free" (Coleridge) "She is as in a field a silken tent At midday when a summer breeze Has dried the dew and all the ropes relent" (Frost)

Heptamater

seven foot line

Hexameter

six foot line

Narrative Poetry

tells a story, usually through action and simple, direct language. Included in narrative poetry are:

Onomatopoeia

the accordance of sound with sense; writers produce imitative effects by using words which suggest the sound as well as meaning: moan...buzz...shriek...hiss...murmur...tinkle...clash...clattered...rumble... crack...sputter The owl screeched and the cricket cried." (Shakespeare)

Trimeter

three foot line

Dimeter

two foot line

Blank Verse

where the lines are written in a rhythmic meter but have no end rhyme.

Epic Poems,

which are usually about a hero. Epics are usually very long poems.

Folk Ballads,

which were early stories which were sung, and