AP English Poetry Terms

Question 1

alliteration

Answer 1

the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words

Question 2

allusion

Answer 2

a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person or work

Question 3

antithesis

Answer 3

a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas. Balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness.

Question 4

apostrophe

Answer 4

figure of speech in which someone, some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present

Question 5

assonance

Answer 5

the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds

Question 6

ballad meter

Answer 6

a four line stanza rhymed abcd with four feet in lines one and three and three feet in lines two and four

Question 7

blank verse

Answer 7

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Question 8

cacophony

Answer 8

a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones

Question 9

caesura

Answer 9

pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and often greater than the normal pause

Question 10

conceit

Answer 10

an ingenious and fanciful notion or conception, usually expressed through an elaborate analogy, and pointing to a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things. May be a brief metaphor or the entire poem

Question 11

consonance

Answer 11

the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. Refers to words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowels that precede them are different.

Question 12

diction

Answer 12

use of words in a literary work; may be described as formal, informal, colloquial, or slang

Question 13

didactic poem

Answer 13

intended primarily to teach a lesson

Question 14

dramatic poem

Answer 14

employs a dramatic form or some element or elements of dramatic techniques as a means of achieving poetic ends

Question 15

elegy

Answer 15

a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death or another solemn theme

Question 16

end-stopped

Answer 16

a line with a pause at the end (comma, period, colon, semi-colon)

Question 17

enjambment

Answer 17

the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next

Question 18

extended metaphor

Answer 18

an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem

Question 19

eye/slant rhyme

Answer 19

looks like and feels like it should rhyme but it doesn’t

Question 20

feminine rhyme

Answer 20

a rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed

Question 21

internal rhyme

Answer 21

rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end

Question 22

metonymy

Answer 22

the substitution of a term naming an object. An object for the whole. Such as calling a king the crown.

Question 23

Oxymoron

Answer 23

form of paradox that combines. a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness

Question 24

paradox

Answer 24

situation or action or feelings that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least make sense

Question 25

synecdoche

Answer 25

form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole. “field hands” for manual laborers

Question 26

syntax

Answer 26

the ordering of words into patterns or sentences