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AP Literature Poetry Terms Flashcards

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8311294607AlliterationThe repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood."0
8311294608AllusionA brief, intentional reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, event, or movement.1
8311294609AmphibrachA stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed syllables. (This is a metrical foot) Examples: "another," "uncommon," "instead of."2
8311294610AnapestA metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable. Examples: "underfoot" and "overcome" (Metrical Foot)3
8311294611AnaphoraThe repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect. Example: "I have a dream" repetition4
8311294612AntithesisContrasting or combining two terms, phrases, or clauses with opposite meanings. Example: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."5
8311294613ApostropheAn address to a dead or absent person, or personification as if he or she were present.6
8311294614ArchetypeA basic model from which copies are made; a prototype. AKA our basic knowledge from the unconscious7
8311294615AssonanceThe repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme. Example: "Try to light the fire"8
8311294616Blank VerseUnrhyming iambic pentameter, also called heroic verse. This 10-syllable line is the predominant rhythm of traditional English dramatic and epic poetry, as it is considered the closest to English speech patterns.9
8311294617CacophonyHarsh or discordant sounds, often the result of repetition and combination of consonants within a group of words. Example: "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"10
8311294618CadenceThe patterning of rhythm in natural speech, or in poetry without a distinct meter (i.e., free verse).11
8311294619CaesuraA stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.12
8311294620CatalexisOmission or incompleteness usually in the last foot of a line in metrical verse Ex: Take the bride and take the groom out, Slap the child and clear the room out. -- Take the bride and take the groom, Slap the child and clear the room.13
8311294621ChiasmusRepetition of any group of verse elements (including rhyme and grammatical structure) in reverse order, such as the rhyme scheme ABBA. Ex: "But many that are first / Shall be last, / And many that are last / Shall be first";14
8311294622Closed FormA type of form or structure in poetry characterized by regularity and consistency in such elements as rhyme, line length, and metrical pattern. Example: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though. He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.15
8311294623Common MeasureA quatrain that rhymes ABAB and alternates four-stress and three-stress iambic lines.16
8311294624ConceitAn often unconventional, logically complex, or surprising metaphor whose delights are more intellectual than sensual.17
8311294625ConcreteVerse that emphasizes nonlinguistic elements in its meaning, such as a typeface that creates a visual image of the topic.18
8311294626ConnotationThe associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning.19
8311294627ConsonanceA resemblance in sound between two words, or an initial rhyme. This can also refer to shared consonants, whether in sequence ("bed" and "bad") or reversed ("bud" and "dab"20
8311294628Controlling ImageAn image a poet uses to carry forward the sense of the poem.21
8311294629CoupletA pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length.22
8311294630DactylA metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables; the words "poetry" and "basketball"23
8311294631DimeterA line of verse composed of two feet. Example: "Some go local / Some go express / Some can't wait / To answer Yes,"24
8311294632Dirge25
8311294633DirgeA brief hymn or song of lamentation and grief; it was typically composed to be performed at a funeral.26
8311294634DissonanceA disruption of harmonic sounds or rhythms.27
8311294635Double EntendreA phrase or a figure of speech that might have multiple senses, interpretations or two different meanings or that could be understood in two different ways.28
8311294636Dramatic MonologueA poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader.29
8311294637ElegyIn traditional English poetry, it is often a melancholy poem that laments its subject's death but ends in consolation.30
8311294638End RhymeThe rhyming of the final syllables of a line.31
8311294639End-Stopped LineA metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break—such as a dash or closing parenthesis—or with punctuation such as a colon, a semicolon, or a period.32
8311294640EnjambmentThe running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped.33
8311294641EpicA long narrative poem in which a heroic protagonist engages in an action of great mythic or historical significance.34
8311294642EpigramA pithy, often witty, poem. Example: This Humanist whom no beliefs constrained Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained.35
8311294643EuphemismA polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant. Example: Croak = Death36
8311294644EuphonyThe use of words and phrases that are distinguished as having a wide range of noteworthy melody or loveliness in the sounds they create.37
8311294645Exact RhymeA form of rhyme between two words or phrases, satisfying the following conditions: The stressed vowel sound in both words must be identical, as well as any subsequent sounds. For example, "sky" and "high"; "skylight" and "highlight".38
8311294646ExplicationA relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem.39
8311294647External RhymeA pattern of words that rhyme on the "outside." edge of the poem - the last syllable in the last word of each line in a stanza.40
8311294648Eye RhymeRhymes only when spelled, not when pronounced. For example, "through" and "rough.41
8311294649Feminine RhymeThe rhyming of one or more unstressed syllables, such as "dicing" and "enticing."42
8311294650Figurative LanguageUsing figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive and impactful.43
8311294651FootThe basic unit of measurement of accentual-syllabic meter. Usually contains one stressed syllable and at least one unstressed syllable.44
8311294652Free VerseNonmetrical, nonrhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech.45
8311294653HaikuA Japanese verse form of three unrhyming lines in five, seven, and five syllables.46
8311294654Heroic CoupletA pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length written in iambic pentameter and features prominently in the work of 17th- and 18th-century didactic and satirical poets.47
8311294655HyperboleA figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration.48
8311294656IambA metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. Ex: "unite" and "provide"49
8311294657ImageThe ideas pictured in a reader's mind created by the writer.50
8311294658ImageryElements of a poem that invoke any of the five senses to create a set of mental images.51
8311294659In media resDescribes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle — usually at some crucial point in the action52
8311294660Internal RhymeRhyme within a single line of verse; When a word from the middle of a line is rhymed with a word at the end of the line.53
8311294661LimerickA fixed light-verse form of five generally anapestic lines rhyming AABBA. Example: "An infatuated man from Dover, was left by his imaginary lover. He pulled his hair, in sheer despair, forgetting a wig was his cover."54
8311294662LitotesA deliberate understatement for effect; the opposite of hyperbole.55
8311294663LyricOriginally a composition meant for musical accompaniment. The term refers to a short poem in which the poet, the poet's persona, or another speaker expresses personal feelings.56
8311294664Masculine RhymeA rhyme of final stressed syllables (e.g., blow / flow, confess / redress ).57
8311294665MeasureA poetic rhythm measured by temporal quantity or accent58
8311294666MeiosisThe use of understatement to highlight a point or explain a situation or to understate a response used to enhance the effect of a dramatic moment.59
8311294667MetaphorA comparison that is made directly. Example: John Keats's "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"60
8311294668Metaphysical PoetsA group of 17th-century poets whose works are marked by philosophical exploration, colloquial diction, ingenious conceits, irony, and metrically flexible lines.61
8311294669MeterThe rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.62
8311294670MetonymyA figure of speech in which a related term is substituted for the word itself. Often the substitution is based on a material, causal, or conceptual relation between things. For example, the British monarchy is often referred to as the Crown.63
8311294671Narrative BalladA popular narrative song passed down orally. In the English tradition, it usually follows a form of rhymed (abcb) quatrains alternating four-stress and three-stress lines.64
8311294672Near RhymeRhyming in which the words sound the same but do not rhyme perfectly. Example "shape/keep"65
8311294673OctaveAn eight-line stanza or poem.66
8311294674OdeA formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Its stanza forms vary.67
8311294675OnomatopoeiaA figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates its sense (for example, "choo-choo," "hiss," or "buzz").68
8311294676Open FormA type of structure or form in poetry characterized by freedom from regularity and consistency in such elements as rhyme, line length, metrical pattern, and overall poetic structure.69
8311294677OxymoronA figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect, such as "jumbo shrimp" and "deafening silence."70
8311294678ParadoxAs a figure of speech, it is a seemingly self-contradictory phrase or concept that illuminates a truth. "Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is."71
8311294679ParallelismThe use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.72
8311294680ParonomasiaA play on words; a pun.73
8311294681PentameterA line made up of five feet. It is the most common metrical line in English.74
8311294682PersonaA dramatic character, distinguished from the poet, who is the speaker of a poem75
8311294683PersonificationA figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as if it were a person76
8311294684ProsodyThe principles of metrical structure in poetry.77
8311294685PyrrhicA metrical unit consisting of two unstressed syllables, in accentual-syllabic verse, or two short syllables, in quantitative meter. EX: "To a green thought in a green shade."78
8311294686QuatrainA four-line stanza, rhyming.79
8311294687RefrainA phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem, especially at the end of a stanza.80
8311294688RepetitionA literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer.81
8311294689RhythmAn audible pattern in verse established by the intervals between stressed syllables.82
8311294690RhymeThe repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line.83
8311294691Rhyme SchemeThe ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.84
8311294692SatireA literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.85
8311294693ScansionThe analysis of the metrical patterns of a poem by organizing its lines into feet of stressed and unstressed syllables and showing the major pauses, if any.86
8311294694SestetA six-line stanza, or the final six lines of a 14-line Italian or Petrarchan sonnet.87
8311294695SonnetA 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme88
8311294696SpondeeA metrical foot consisting of two accented syllables. Example: With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.89
8311294697English SonnetA sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg90
8311294698Italian SonnetA sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abba abba and a sestet rhyming in any of various patterns91
8311294699Slant RhymeRhyming in which the words sound the same but do not rhyme perfectly. Example "shape/keep"92
8311294700Sight RhymeRhymes only when spelled, not when pronounced. For example, "through" and "rough.93
8311294701SimileComparison using like or as94
8311294702StanzaA grouping of lines separated from others in a poem. In modern free verse, the stanza, like a prose paragraph, can be used to mark a shift in mood, time, or thought.95
8311294703StressA syllable uttered in a higher pitch—or with greater emphasis—than others.96
8311294704SymbolSomething in the world of the senses, including an action, that reveals or is a sign for something else, often abstract or otherworldly.97
8311294705SynecdocheA figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole (for example, "I've got wheels" for "I have a car," or a description of a worker as a "hired hand")98
8311294706SynesthesiaIn description, a blending or intermingling of different sense modalities.99
8311294707TenorWhat's getting reimagined by the other part of the metaphor100
8311294708TetrameterA line made up of four feet.101
8311294709ToneThe poet's attitude toward the poem's speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader.102
8311294710TrimeterA line of three metrical feet.103
8311294711Triple RhymeA feminine rhyme involving one stressed and two unstressed syllables in each rhyming line.104
8311294712TrocheeA metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. EX: "garden" and "highway."105
8311294713True RhymeA form of rhyme between two words or phrases, satisfying the following conditions: The stressed vowel sound in both words must be identical, as well as any subsequent sounds. For example, "sky" and "high"; "skylight" and "highlight".106
8311294714UnderstatementA figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means; the opposite of exaggeration. The last line of Frost's "Birches" illustrates this literary device: "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches."107
8311294715VillanelleA French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain.108
8311294716VirguleSeparates lines of poetry that are quoted in run-on fashion in the text109
8311294717VoltaItalian word for "turn." AKA The climax of a sonnet.110

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