AP Poetry/Literature Terms you need to know!!
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| 5225742430 | foot | basic metrical unit of poetry, such as an iamb or an anapest |  | 0 |
| 5350004286 | nom de plume | name adopted by a writer for professional use. | 1 | |
| 5227684162 | anaphora | the same expression (word or words) is repeated at beginning of two or more lines | 2 | |
| 5350015218 | epigraph | a quotation/motto placed at the beginning of a book,chapter or poem. | 3 | |
| 5225767612 | envoy | a controversial stanza appearing at the close of certain kinds of poems;serves to create a conclusion | 4 | |
| 5635051871 | antithesis | a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas. It is the balancing of one term against another | 5 | |
| 5635056684 | extended metaphor | a metaphor that continues over several lines or throughout an entire work | 6 | |
| 5228348541 | form | the external pattern or shape of the poem, describable without referencing the content | 7 | |
| 5228368362 | prose | normal language (narrative); not poetry | 8 | |
| 5228354868 | structure | the internal organization of a poem | 9 | |
| 5228381095 | soliliquy | dramatic speech where the internal thoughts of a character are uttered while they are only person on stage | 10 | |
| 5228413291 | bathos | sounding ridiculous when trying to sound smart | 11 | |
| 5225742431 | stanza | group of lines in a poem; poetry equivalent of a paragraph |  | 12 |
| 5225779719 | chiasmus | a pattern in which the end part is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. The ideas are presented in an "ABBA" pattern. | 13 | |
| 5635061200 | foil | a character who, through contrast, underscores the characteristics of another | 14 | |
| 5635064711 | carpe diem | (Latin phrase meaning seize the day) a common literary theme, especially in lyric poetry, which emphasizes that life is short and that one should make the most of present pleasure | 15 | |
| 5227877014 | meter | the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry | 16 | |
| 5635072401 | malapropism | the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar | 17 | |
| 5635075125 | hubris | excessive pride or self-confidence that leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or violate an important moral law, thus leading to his downfall | 18 | |
| 5635080150 | stream of consciousness | continuous flow of perceptions, thoughts, feelings and memories, usually in an unpunctuated or disjointed form of internal monologue | 19 | |
| 5227887701 | synesthesia | describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (EX: cool=sweet) | 20 | |
| 5227709382 | polysydenton | the repeated use of conjunctions (commas, semi-colons etc.) to link together a succession of words, clauses & sentences. | 21 | |
| 5225793332 | circumlocation | evasive or indirect language achieved by wordiness i.e. talking in circles | 22 | |
| 5227736804 | asyndeton | omission of connecting words in a list | 23 | |
| 5225800962 | broken rhyme | to break a word at the end of a line to make a rhyme, very rare | 24 | |
| 5227753996 | litotes | a type of irony or understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite | 25 | |
| 5635084610 | oxymoron | a self-contradictory combination of words | 26 | |
| 5227787229 | satire | mode of writing that exposes the failing of individuals, institution or societies to ridicule and scorn. | 27 | |
| 5227848667 | synecdoche | a type of metaphor in which a part of something is used to signify the whole | 28 | |
| 5225815400 | didactic | intended to teach | 29 | |
| 5225821592 | palindrome | writing that reads the same from left to right and from right to left | 30 | |
| 6439702340 | anadplosis | a kind of repetition in which the last word of a line is repeated as the 1st word of the following line. | 31 | |
| 5635086867 | monologue | a composition giving the discourse of one speaker | 32 | |
| 5635089131 | external monologue | monologue in which the character is speaking aloud to another character(s) | 33 | |
| 5635184662 | internal monologue | a stream of consciousness technique in which the thoughts of a character are revealed in long, unbroken informal form. Usually seeks to get below the verbal level in which images are used to represent sensations or emotions. (can appear to be illogical or associational) | 34 | |
| 5635092209 | idiom | use of words peculiar to a given language; an expression that cannot be translated literally | 35 | |
| 5635095560 | euphemism | a device in which indirectness replaces the directness of a statement, usually in an effort to avoid offensiveness | 36 | |
| 6154598683 | anastrophe | the reversal of standard or normal order of words in a sentence construction, for effect | 37 | |
| 5225742437 | monometer | one poetic foot per line | 38 | |
| 6439706207 | Anecdote | A detailed short narrative, detailing an interesting episode or event. | 39 | |
| 6154328544 | syllepsis | a construction where one word is understood differently in relation to 2 or more words in which is governs or modifies | 40 | |
| 6154346344 | anacuthalon | the failure - accident or deliberate- to complete a sentence according to the structural plan on which it started | 41 | |
| 6439713894 | anthropomorphism | the ascription of human characteristics to non-human objects (broader than personification) | 42 | |
| 5635099514 | colloquialism | an expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formal speech in writing | 43 | |
| 5635102095 | dialect | a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or punctuations; often associated with a particular geographical region | 44 | |
| 5824146473 | syllepis | a construction in which one word is understood differently in relation to two or more other words which it governs or modifies | 45 | |
| 5824156960 | syllogism | a logical argument that derives a conclusion from two propositions | 46 | |
| 5635107153 | motif | recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, actions etc. that tend to unify a work of literature | 47 | |
| 5225834953 | denouncement | the final unraveling of a plot, or solution to a mystery; the outcome/explanation | 48 | |
| 6154655540 | archetype | an image, descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion or folklore. | 49 | |
| 6154622317 | aphorism | a concise statement of principal or percept given | 50 | |
| 5225742438 | dimeter | two poetic feet in the line | 51 | |
| 5225742439 | trimeter | three poetic feet in the line | 52 | |
| 5225742440 | tetrameter | four poetic feet in the line | 53 | |
| 5225742441 | pentameter | five poetic feet in the line | 54 | |
| 5225742442 | hexameter | six poetic feet in the line | 55 | |
| 5225742443 | heptameter | seven poetic feet in the line | 56 | |
| 5225742444 | octameter | eight poetic feet in the line | 57 | |
| 5225742445 | nonometer | nine poetic feet in the line | 58 | |
| 5225742453 | end rhyme | rhyme that occurs at the end of lines |  | 59 |
| 5225742454 | masculine rhyme | one-syllable rhyme |  | 60 |
| 5225742455 | feminine rhyme | two-syllable rhyme |  | 61 |
| 5225742456 | internal rhyme | rhyme occurring within lines |  | 62 |
| 5225742457 | slant rhyme | approximate rhyme |  | 63 |
| 5225742458 | ballad | narrative poem, usually written in quatrains, basic rhyme scheme, ballad meter |  | 64 |
| 5225742459 | lyric | emotional poem, personal in nature |  | 65 |
| 5225742460 | ode | a single, unified strain of exalted lyrical verse, directed to a single purpose & dealing with or without theme; lyric poem addressing subjects of an elevated nature |  | 66 |
| 5635144981 | Ad hominem | an argument appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect; attacking a person's character rather than his position | 67 | |
| 5225742461 | elegy | formal poem setting forth meditations on death or another solemn theme; formal lyric poem written in honor of someone who has died |  | 68 |
| 5225742462 | Petrarchan | 14 line sonnet with an octave and a sestet |  | 69 |
| 5225742463 | Shakespearean | 14 line sonnet with three quatrains and a couplet |  | 70 |
| 5225742464 | villanelle | a 19 line fixed form poem consisting of 5 tercets; rhymed "aba" and a concluding quatrain rhyming "abaa"; with lines 1 and 3 of the 1st tercet which serves as refrains that alternate through line 15 and then appearing again in line 18 and 19 |  | 71 |
| 5824163459 | zeugma (zoyg-muh) | a technique in which one verb is used with multiple objects, so that the meaning of the verb is changed, complicated, or made both literal and figurative | 72 | |
| 5824178103 | non sequitur | an inference that does not follow from the premise | 73 | |
| 5225742465 | alliteration | repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words |  | 74 |
| 5225742466 | assonance | the patterning vowel sounds without regards to consonant sounds (repetition of vowel sounds) |  | 75 |
| 5635130708 | anachronism | assignment of something to a time when it was not in existence | 76 | |
| 6156382620 | parable | a brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some lesson or moral | 77 | |
| 5225742468 | conceit | a particularly clever extended metaphor |  | 78 |
| 5225742467 | cacophony | a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds |  | 79 |
| 5225742469 | euphony | the stylistic effect achieved when a passage is rhythmically graceful and avoids unpleasant sound combinations (pleasant sounds) |  | 80 |
| 6155276056 | Noble Savage | idea that primitive humans are naturally good and evil is a product of civilization | 81 | |
| 5225742470 | metaphor | comparison between unlike things |  | 82 |
| 5225742471 | synecdoche | a type of metaphor in which a part of something is used to signify the whole; referring to a part with the whole or vice versa EX: ("Russia won the gold medal") |  | 83 |
| 5225742472 | onomatopoeia | words which have a sound that reflects its meaning |  | 84 |
| 5635115070 | parallelism (parallel structure) | arrangement of similarly constructed clauses, sentences, or verses; a balance arrangement | 85 | |
| 5635111854 | ambivalence | mutually contradicting feelings or attitudes | 86 | |
| 5225742473 | iambic | pentameter most popular meter in English poetry | 87 | |
| 5225742474 | blankverse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | 88 | |
| 5225742475 | free verse | nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than other established poetic forms i.e. unrhymed verse with no standard meter |  | 89 |
| 5225847524 | canon | works generally considered by scholars,critics & professors to be the most important to read/study which make up the masterpiece of literature | 90 | |
| 5225742476 | caesura | a pause/break in a line of verse; grammatical pause |  | 91 |
| 6156403229 | Electra complex | the psychological conflict of a daughter's unconscious rivalry with her mother for her father's attention | 92 | |
| 5225858188 | black humor | use of the morbid & absurd for darkly comic purposes; sometimes called a tragic farce | 93 | |
| 6155282347 | epigram | a short poem with a witty turn of thought | 94 | |
| 5225742477 | enjambment | run-on line |  | 95 |
| 6156421025 | epistolary | written in the style of a letter or letters | 96 | |
| 6156416560 | epithet | a word used to point out a characteristic of a person or thing | 97 | |
| 6156425742 | Oedipus complex | the psychological conflict of a son's unconscious rivalry with his father for his mother's attention | 98 | |
| 6156435758 | scansion | the process of measuring metrical verse (that is the actual process of marking different parts of the meter) | 99 | |
| 6156368683 | continuous form | the form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of means | 100 | |
| 5225871359 | English Shakespearean Sonnet | rhyming "ababcdedefefaa" content usually parallels the rhyme scheme, with 3 quatrains and a conceding couplet, shift just before couplet, structured like Italian. | 101 | |
| 5225895345 | Italian Petrarchan Sonnet | A sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming "abbabba" and a sestent using any arrangement of 2 or 3 additional rhymes. A shift occurs after the 8th line. | 102 | |
| 6155285224 | prose poem | usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse | 103 | |
| 5225911357 | direct characterization | the writer tells the reader what a character is like. | 104 | |
| 5225915587 | indirect charcaterization | the writer tells the reader what a character is like through his/her dialogue and'or actions or through other characters | 105 | |
| 6155291072 | Bon Mot | a witticism | 106 | |
| 6156350349 | catharsis | describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy (Introduced by the ancient Greeks) | 107 | |
| 6156444031 | iamb | a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented followed by one accented syllable | 108 | |
| 6156454602 | iambic meter | a meter in which the majority of feet are iambs (the most common English meter) | 109 | |
| 6158398853 | sentimental poetry | poetry that attempts to manipulate the reader's emotions i order to achieve a greater emotional response than the poem really warrants | 110 | |
| 5225742478 | refrain | a repeated word, group of lines, lines are at a set position in a poem written with stanzas; repeated line or phrase |  | 111 |
| 5225742479 | haiku | Japanese form of poetry using 3 lines and 17 syllables, employs a nature word and a contrast leading to enlightenment |  | 112 |
| 6158414394 | heroic meter | iambic pentameter= called a heroic meter it is often used in heroic or epic poetry | 113 | |
| 5225742480 | limerick | humorous or nonsense poem with anapestic aa3bb2a3 form |  | 114 |
| 5225742481 | sestina | a poem with six stanzas of six lines and a final tercet, all stanzas having the same six words at the line-ends |  | 115 |
| 5225742482 | canto | a section (grouping of stanzas) in a long work of poetry |  | 116 |
| 5225742483 | consonance | repetition of consonant sounds, not necessarily at the beginning of words |  | 117 |
| 5225742484 | epic | a long narrative in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures, forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to their nation or race. |  | 118 |
| 5225742485 | hyperbole | extreme exaggeration |  | 119 |
| 5225742486 | understatement | presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is |  | 120 |
| 5225742487 | plosive | a "hard" consonant (such as T, K, P, D) |  | 121 |
| 6156359775 | Deus Ex Machina | any forced or artificial device introduced by an author to solve some difficult problem with the resolution of a plot | 122 | |
| 5635136726 | paean | a song of praise or triumph | 123 | |
| 5635156022 | dirge | a sad song sung at funerals; short lyric lamentation | 124 | |
| 5635138938 | aubade | a lyric poem about the morning serenade | 125 | |
| 5225742488 | allusion | reference to a commonly known historical, Biblical, or literary figure |  | 126 |
| 5225742489 | dramatic irony | the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does; irony in poetry, when the speaker's attitude differs from the poet's |  | 127 |
| 6282807391 | stanzaic form | the form of a poem written in a series of units having the same number of lines and usually other characteristics in common (ex: meter, rhyme scheme) |  | 128 |
| 5225742491 | tercet | three-line stanza | 129 | |
| 5225742490 | couplet | two successive lines, usually of the same meter,linked by rhyme. | 130 | |
| 5225742492 | quatrain | four-line stanza | 131 | |
| 5225742493 | cinquain | five-line stanza | 132 | |
| 5225742494 | sestet | six-line stanza | 133 | |
| 5225742495 | septet | seven-line stanza | 134 | |
| 5225742496 | octave | eight-line stanza | 135 | |
| 5225742497 | denotation | Literal meaning Dictionary definition of a word |  | 136 |
| 5225742498 | connotation | An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning |  | 137 |
| 5225742499 | apostrophe | the speaker addresses a dead (absent) person or an abstraction or inanimate object; A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. |  | 138 |
| 5225742500 | personification | the representing of non-human things or ideas as having human personalities, intelligence emotions or physical features. |  | 139 |
| 5225742501 | metonymy | A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty"). |  | 140 |
| 5225742502 | symbol | A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. |  | 141 |
| 5225742503 | allegory | A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. |  | 142 |
| 5225742504 | paradox | A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. |  | 143 |
| 5225742505 | sarcasm | the use of irony to mock or convey contempt |  | 144 |
| 5225742506 | blank verse | Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |  | 145 |
| 5225742507 | sentimental verse | emotional verse |  | 146 |
| 5225742508 | rhetorical verse | superficial language that really has little meaning |  | 147 |
| 5225742509 | didactic verse | a term for a poem that teaches, almost preaches. It often discusses the "proper" way to behave. The lesson being taught is more important to the writer than the artistic quality of the work |  | 148 |
| 6689737598 | characterization | The creation of imaginary persons by an author so that they seem lifelike. | 149 | |
| 6689742123 | indirect characterization | the writer shows the reader what a character is like through his/her dialogue and/or actions or through other characters. | 150 | |
| 6689746911 | deconstruction | a method of literary criticism which suggests that literary works do not yield fixed, single meanings because language can never say exactly what we intend it | 151 | |
| 6689766874 | Freudian Slip | a slip of the tongue that inadvertently reveals what's on the mind of the speaker. | 152 | |
| 6689769634 | genre | a category of literary composition. | 153 | |
| 6689771792 | grotesque | characterized by bizarre, unnatural distortion | 154 | |
| 6689774602 | invective | (noun or adj.) denunciation of some person or thing in abusive writing | 155 | |
| 6689781735 | loose sentence | A sentence that is grammatically complete before it ends. | 156 | |
| 6689784805 | Periodic Sentence | a sentence that is not grammatically complete until its end. | 157 | |
| 6689792799 | Fallacy | an argument constructed in a way that may appear logical and valid, but is ultimately faulty | 158 | |
| 6689799547 | complaint | A lyric poem in which the poet; (a) laments the unresponsiveness of his mistress (b) bemoans his unhappy lot and seeks to remedy it; or (c) regrets the sorry state of the world. | 159 | |
| 6689806447 | Pastoral | A poetic treatment of shepherds and rustic life. In modern context the term often means any poem of rural people and setting. | 160 | |
| 6689816992 | False Dichotomy | presenting only two options when more exist. | 161 | |
| 6689832798 | Post Hoc | A fallacy that confused correlation with causation. | 162 | |
| 6689833928 | Red Herring | A fallacy that attempts to misdirect a logical argument by introducing an irrelevant premise. | 163 | |
| 6689836054 | Straw Man | presenting an extreme version of a side of a debate in order to more easily argue against it. Includes falsely insinuating that all who hold to a certain position hold to the most extreme version of that position. | 164 |
