Download Poetry Terminology

AP English
Poetry Terminology
Alliteration
Allusion
Anaphora
Antithesis
Apostrophe
Assonance
Cacophony
Concrete diction
Connotation
Couplet
Denotation
Diction
English/Shakespearean
Sonnet
Epic
Epigram
Euphony
Figure of speech
Hyperbole
Inexact Rhyme
Internal Rhyme
Italian/Petrarchan
Sonnet
Listener (internal
audience)
Metaphor
Metonymy
The repetition of identical consonant sounds (most often the
sounds at the beginning of words) in close proximity
Unacknowledged references and quotations that authors make
while assuming the readers will recognize the original sources
and relate their meaning to the new context.
The repetition of the same word or phrase throughout a work or
section of a work. The effect is to lend weight and emphasis.
A rhetorical devise of opposition, in which one idea or word is
established, and then the opposite idea or word is expressed.
The addressing of a discourse to a real or imagined person who
is not present; also a speech to an abstraction.
The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words in
close proximity.
Meaning “bad sound,” but by no means bad, it refers to words
combining sharp or harsh sounds and rhythms.
Words that describe exact and particular conditions or qualities.
The meanings that the words suggest; the overtones of words
beyond their bare dictionary definitions.
Two lines that may be unified by rhyme or, in biblical poetry, by
content.
The standard, minimal meaning of a word, without implications
and connotations.
Word choice, types of words, and the level of language.
A sonnet form developed by Shakespeare, in iambic pentameter,
composed of three quatrains and a couplet, with seven rhymes
in the pattern a b a b, c d c d.
A long narrative poem elevating character, speech, and action
A short and witty poem, often in couplets, that makes a
humorous or satiric point.
“Good sound;” Word groups containing consonants that permit
an easy and pleasant flow of spoken sound.
An organized pattern of comparison that deepens, broadens,
extends, illuminates, and emphasizes meaning, and also that
conforms to forms such as metaphor, simile, and parallelism.
A rhetorical figure of speech in which emphasis is achieved
through exaggeration.
Rhymes that are created from words with similar but not
identical sounds.
The occurrence of rhyming words within a single line of verse.
An iambic pentameter poem of fourteen lines, divided between
the first eight lines (the octave) and the last six (the sestet).
A character or characters imagined as the audience to whom a
poem or story is spoken, and as a result one of the influences on
the content of the work.
“Carrying out a change;” A figure of speech that describes
something as though it actually were something else, thereby
enhancing understanding and insight.
A figure of speech in which one thing is used as a substitute for
another with which it is closely identified.
Octave
Overstatement
Paradox
Parallelism
Pastoral
Persona
Personification
Quatrain
Rhyme
Rhyme scheme
Satire
Sestet
Simile
Sonnet
Speaker
Stanza
Synecdoche
Syntax
Understatement
The first eight lines of an Italian sonnet, unified by topic,
rhythm, and rhyme. In practice, the first eight lines of any
sonnet.
A rhetorical figure of speech in which emphasis is achieved
through exaggeration.
A figure of speech embodying a contradiction that is
nevertheless true.
A figure of speech in which the same grammatical forms are
repeated.
A traditional poetic form with topic material drawn from the
usually idealized vocabulary of rural and shepherd life.
The narrator of a story or poem, the point of view, often an
independent character who is completely imagined and
consistently maintained by the author.
A figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed
to non-human things or abstractions.
(1) A four-line stanza or poetic unit. (2) In an English or
Shakespearean sonnet, a group of four lines united by
rhyme.
The repetition of identical or closely related sounds in the
syllables of different words, almost always in concluding
syllables at the ends of lines.
A pattern of rhyme, usually indicated in prosodic analysis by the
assignment of a letter of the alphabet to each rhyming sound.
An attack on human follies or vices, as measured positively
against a normative religious, moral, or social standard.
(1) A six-line stanza or unit of poetry. (2) The last six lines of an
Italian sonnet.
A figure of speech, using “like” with nouns and “as” with
clauses.
A poem of fourteen lines (originally designed to be spoken and
not sung) in iambic pentameter.
The narrator of a story or poem, the point of view, often an
independent character who is completely imagined and
consistently maintained by the author.
A group of poetic lines corresponding to paragraphs in prose;
stanzaic meters and rhymes are usually repeating and
systematic.
A figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole, or a whole
for a part.
Word order and sentence structure. A mark of style is a writer’s
syntactical patterning (regular patterns and variations).
A figure of speech by which details and ideas are deliberately
underplayed or undervalued in order to create emphasis-a form
of irony.