AP Poetry Terms

Question 1

the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words

Answer 1

alliteration

Question 2

a reference in a work of literature to a historical or literary event, person, place or passage outside of the work

Answer 2

allusion

Question 3

a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in “Man proposes; God disposes.” Is a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness.

Answer 3

antithesis

Question 4

a figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present

Answer 4

apostrophe

Question 5

the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds

Answer 5

assonance

Question 6

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

Answer 6

ballad meter

Question 7

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Answer 7

blank verse

Question 8

a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones.

Answer 8

cacophony

Question 9

a 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

Answer 9

caesura

Question 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.

Answer 10

conceit

Question 11

the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words

Answer 11

consonance

Question 12

a two-line stanza, usually with end-rhymes the same

Answer 12

couplet

Question 13

the techniques of deploying the sound of words

Answer 13

devices of sound

Question 14

choice of words especially with regard to correctness, formality, clearness, or effectiveness

Answer 14

diction

Question 15

a poem which is intended primarily to teach a lesson

Answer 15

didactic poem

Question 16

a poem which employs a dramatic form or some element or elements of dramatic techniques as a means of achieveing poetic ends

Answer 16

dramatic poem

Question 17

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

Answer 17

elegy

Question 18

a line with a pause at the end

Answer 18

end-stopped

Question 19

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

Answer 19

enjambment

Question 20

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

Answer 20

extended metaphor

Question 21

a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate.

Answer 21

euphony

Question 22

rhyme that appears correct from spelling, but is half-rhyme or slant rhyme from the pronunciation

Answer 22

eye rhyme

Question 23

a rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed, as “waken” and “forsaken” and “audition” and “rendition”

Answer 23

feminine rhyme

Question 24

writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language) such as metaphor, irony, and simile. Figurative language uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning.

Answer 24

figurative language

Question 25

poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical

Answer 25

free verse

Question 26

two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit

Answer 26

heroic couplet

Question 27

a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration

Answer 27

hyperbole

Question 28

the images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work.

Answer 28

imagery

Question 29

the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning, or between what might be expected and what actually occurs

Answer 29

irony

Question 30

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

Answer 30

internal rhyme

Question 31

any short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings

Answer 31

lyric poem

Question 32

rhyme that falls on the stressed and concluding syllables of the rhyme-words

Answer 32

masculine rhyme

Question 33

a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term

Answer 33

metaphor

Question 34

the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. each unit is known as a foot

Answer 34

meter

Question 35

a figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself

Answer 35

metonymy

Question 36

the mingling of another metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous

Answer 36

mixed metaphors

Question 37

a non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or complex, long or short

Answer 37

narrative poem

Question 38

an eight-line stanza

Answer 38

octave

Question 39

the use of words whose sound suggests their meaning (such as "hiss," "buzz," or "zip")

Answer 39

onomatopoeia

Question 40

a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression

Answer 40

oxymoron

Question 41

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

Answer 41

paradox

Question 42

any structure which brings together parallel elements, be these nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, or larger structures to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance.

Answer 42

parallelism

Question 43

a restatement of an idea in such a way as to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form

Answer 43

paraphrase

Question 44

a kind of metaphor that give inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics

Answer 44

personification

Question 45

a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it

Answer 45

poetic foot

Question 46

a play on words that are identical or similar in sounds but have sharply diverse meanings

Answer 46

pun

Question 47

a four-line stanza with any combination of rhymes

Answer 47

quatrain

Question 48

a 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 stanza

Answer 48

refrain

Question 49

close similarity or identity between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse

Answer 49

rhyme

Question 50

a seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymes ababbcc, used by Chaucer and other medieval poets

Answer 50

rhyme royal

Question 51

the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables

Answer 51

rhythm

Question 52

a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it. Its purpose is to injure or to hurt.

Answer 52

sarcasm

Question 53

writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object by ridicule

Answer 53

satire

Question 54

a system for describing the meter of a poem by identifying the number and the type(s) of feet per line

Answer 54

scansion

Question 55

a six-line stanza

Answer 55

sestet

Question 56

a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with "like," "as," or "than."

Answer 56

simile

Question 57

normally a fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem

Answer 57

sonnet

Question 58

usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme

Answer 58

stanza

Question 59

the management of language for a specific effect

Answer 59

rhetorical strategy

Question 60

the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationships of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work

Answer 60

structure

Question 61

the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expressions of an author

Answer 61

style

Question 62

something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else

Answer 62

symbol

Question 63

a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole

Answer 63

synecdoche

Question 64

the order of and arrangement of words in a sentence; a sentence's grammatical structure, length, and type.

Answer 64

syntax

Question 65

a stanza of three lines in which each line ends with the same rhyme

Answer 65

tercet

Question 66

a three-line stanza rhymes aba, bcb, cdc, etc.

Answer 66

terza rhyme

Question 67

the main though expressed by a work

Answer 67

theme

Question 68

the manner in which an author expressed his or her attitude

Answer 68

tone

Question 69

the opposite of hyperbole; represents something less than it really is

Answer 69

understatement

Question 70

a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets and a final quatrain

Answer 70

villanelle