Ap English Poetry Terms

Front 1

Alliteration

Back 1

The repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words.

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Allusion

Back 2

A reference, implicit or explicit, to something in previous literature or history.

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Anaphora

Back 3

Repetition of an opening word or phrase in a series of lines.

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Apostrophe

Back 4

A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.

Front 5

Assonance

Back 5

The repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words.

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Caesura

Back 6

A speech pause occurring within a line marked or not by punctuation.

Front 7

Consonance

Back 7

The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words.

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Euphony

Back 8

A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds.

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Feminine Rhyme

Back 9

A rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or third last syllable of the words involved.

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Foot

Back 10

The basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables.

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Metaphor

Back 11

A figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. It may take one of four forms:
1.) the literal term and the figurative term are BOTH NAMED
2.)the literal term is named and the figurative term is implied
3.) the literal term in implied and the figurative term in named
4.) both the literal and the figurative terms are implied

Front 12

Meter

Back 12

The regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry.

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Metonymy

Back 13

A figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.

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Onomatopoeia

Back 14

The use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound; "boom", "click", or "plop".

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Oxymoron

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A compact verbal paradox in which two successive words seemingly contradict one another.

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Personification

Back 16

A figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.

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Rhyme Scheme

Back 17

Any fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas.

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Stanza

Back 18

A group of lines whose metrical pattern (and usually its rhyme scheme as well) is repeated through a poem.

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Synecdoche

Back 19

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.

Front 20

Synesthesia

Back 20

Presentation of one sense experience in terms usually associated with another sensation.