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AP Literature: Poetry Terms Flashcards

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8522157074alliterationrepetition of similar consonant sounds0
8522157075allusiona reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event person or work1
8522157076apostrophean address to either an absent person, some abstract quality, or nonexistent personage2
8522157077assonancethe repetition of similar vowel sounds3
8522157078ballada poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.4
8522157079blank verseunrhymed iambic pentameter5
8522157080cacophonya harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones6
8522157081conceitan ingenious and fanciful notion or conception, usually expressed through an elaborate analogy or extended metaphor and pointing to a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things.7
8522157082Metaphysical Conceit*a figure of speech that employs unusual and paradoxical images in comparison *used in 17th century *an intricate and intellectual device *usually sets up an analogy between one entity's spiritual qualities and an object in the physical world and sometimes controls the whole structure of the poem. For example, in the following stanzas from "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," John Donne compares two lovers' souls to a draftsman's compass: If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two, Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if the other do. And though it in the center sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home.8
8522157083The Petrarchan conceit* especially popular with Renaissance writers of sonnets * hyperbolic comparison most often made by a suffering lover of his beautiful mistress to some physical object—e.g., a tomb, the ocean, the sun. Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion, for instance, characterizes the beloved's eyes as being "like sapphires shining bright," with her cheeks "like apples which the sun hath rudded" and her lips "like cherries charming men to bite."9
8522157084couplet2 consecutive rhyming lines10
8522157085heroic coupletTwo rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter and used widely in eighteenth-century verse. See more at https://www.thoughtco.com/heroic-couplet-definition-414016811
8522157086mock heroic*imitating the style of heroic literature in order to satirize an unheroic subject. *used by Alexander Pope, especially in a Rape of the Lock * response to the deluge of epic, pastoral, heroic poems that were being written in the 17th century12
8522157087dictionauthor/poet's word choice13
8522157088didactic poema poem which is intended to teach a lesson14
8522157089dramatic poema poem which employs a dramatic form or some element of dramatic techniques (think theater drama)15
8522157090elegya formal poem that mourns the loss of someone, a lament for the dead16
8522157091enjambmentthe continuation from one line to the next with no pause17
8522157092epic poema long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero18
8522157093extended metaphoran implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem19
8522157094eye rhyme/slant rhymerhyme that appears correct from spelling, but is half-rhyme or slant rhyme from pronunciation20
8522157095free versepoetry which is not written in traditional meter or rhyme21
8522157096hyperboleexaggeration22
8522157097iambic pentameterfive sets of unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables. Hint: Shakespeare is famous for using this. Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-iambic-pentameter.html#ILmjQe2gELeRQ5cZ.9923
8522157098imageryanything that appeals to at least one of the five senses,24
8522157099internal rhymerhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end25
8522157100lyric poema short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings, usually identified by its musical/lyrical quality26
8522157101metaphora direct comparison27
8522157102narrative poema poem which tells a story or presents a narrative (epics and ballads are examples)28
8522157103octavean eight line stanza29
8522157104odea lyric poem written in the form of an address to someone or something, often elevated in style30
8522157105onomatopoeiathe use of words whose sound suggests their meaning31
8522157106oxymorona form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression32
8522157107paradoxa situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense33
8522157108personificationgiving inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics34
8522157109quatrainfour line stanza35
8522157110refraina group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza36
8522157111rhymecorrespondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry37
8522157112rhythmthe recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllable38
8522157113rhyme schemethe ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.39
8522157114sesteta six line stanza40
8522157115similea comparison of 2 seemingly unlike things using like, as or than41
8522157116sonneta fourteen line poem with a specific rhyme scheme42
8522157117speakerthe voice of the poem, not necessarily the poet43
8522157118stanzaa group of lines in a poem44
8522157119symbolsomething that represents something else45
8522157120syntaxthe ordering of words into patterns or sentences, sentence structure46
8522157121terceta stanza of three lines in which each lines ends with the same rhyme47
8522157122terza rimaa three line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc, etc48
8522157123thememain thought expressed by a work49
8522157124tonethe author's attitude toward the subject50
8522157125understatementa kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is51
8522157126villanellea 19 line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain. Line 1 is repeated in lines 6, 12, and 18 and line 3 is repeated in lines 9, 15, 19.52
8522157127meterstressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse or within the lines of a poem53

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