Ap Lit Vocab

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Verse

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a line of poetry (and by extension, another word for poetry itself)

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meter

Back 2

the pattern created in a line by its structure of sounds an stressed syllables

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Accentual meter/ Strong Stress Meter

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refers to verse in which the number of stressed syllables per line remains constant, regardless of the number of total syllables.

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Syllabic meter

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refers to verse in which the number of total syllables per line remains constant, regardless of the number of stressed syllables

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Accentual-syllabic meter

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the most prevalent meter in english poetry; refers to lines of verse that maintain a specific number of stressed syllable per line as well as a more or less fixed number of total syllables

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Quantitative meter

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refers to lines of verse based on a syllable's length or duration in time. It is the basis of most Greek, Sanskrit, and Latin poetry but is rare in English

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Foot

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the basic unit of the accentual-syllabic line

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Caesura

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when poets use extra pauses between feet in a line

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Lamb

Back 9

A type of caesura; two syllables (unstressed, stressed)

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Trochee

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A type of caesura; tow syllables (stressed, unstressed)

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Dactyl

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Type of caesura; three syllables (stressed, unstressed, unstressed)

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Anapest

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Type of caesura; three syllables (unstressed, unstressed, stressed)

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Amphilbroch

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Type of caesura; three syllables (unstressed, stressed, unstressed)

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Spondee

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Type of caesura; two syllables (stressed, stressed)

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Lambic pentameter

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five lambs per line. This meter is often used in epics and other works on serious or majestic themes

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Blank verse

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unrhymed lambic pentameter

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Ballad

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alternating tetrameter and trimeter, usually lambic and rhyming. Much traditional folk poetry and song is in this form, which was revived in the Romantic period

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Free verse

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verse without fixed meter or rhyme, but using formal elements of patterned verse (ie assonance, alliteration) This meter has become very popular in the 20th century

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End-stopped

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this can be done to a line with a break at the end of it often marked with punctuation. The clause or sentence is concluded as the line ends.

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Enjambed

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when a clause or sentence in run over into the following line. This creates a hint of suspense or mystery in the thought express and usually emphasize the words the are carried over, lending them extra importance.

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Refrain

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A line that is repeated one or more times in a poem., often used to create a haunting or obsessive effect.

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Stanza

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Lines that are gathered into spatial segments on the page

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Cantos

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Very long or book-length poems are sometimes divided into larger segments called this (they are like chapters in a novel.

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Couplet

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The pairing of two rhymed lines (AA, BB etc)

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Tercet

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less common; a grouping of three lines that usually has one rhyme

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Terza rima

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A triple group of lines, but more complex than a simple tercet; consisting of interlocking triples (ie ABA BCB CDC etc)

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Quatrain

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a group of four lines, rhymed in various ways.

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Feminine rhyme

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occurs if the rhymed syllables are stressed before the final syllable i the line

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Masculine rhyme

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occurs if the rhymed syllables are the last in line

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End rhyme

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rhymes appearing at the end of lines of poetry

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Internal rhyme

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rhymes before the end of a line of poetry

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Assonance

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the repetition of vowel sounds not necessarily exactly rhyming

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Perfect rhyme

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Occurs when the rhyming vowel and consonants are exactly the same.

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Slant rhyme/Off-rhyme

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imperfect rhyme in which either the consonants or the vowels rhyme, but not both. (ie Death/Earth)

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Ottava rima

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In English, an eight-line stanza with lambic pentameter and the rhyme scheme ABABABCC

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Haiku

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A Japanese form that contains seventeen syllables arranged in groups of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively

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Limerick

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A five-line stanza with the rhyme scheme AABBA. The first and fifth lines may end with the same word.

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Villanelle

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A complex French form consisting of 19 lines divided into six stanzas. The first five stanzas are tercets; the last is a quatrain. The poem has tow rhymes and two refrains. Line 1 is repeated as lines 6, 12, and 18. Line 3 is repeated as lines 9, 15, and 19.

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Sestina

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A form consisting of six six-line (123456) stanzas followed by a three-line stanza. the same six words are repeated at the end of lines throughout the poe, in a predetermined pattern. In the first six stanzas, the end-world of the last line of one stanza rhymes with the fist line of the following stanza (ie 123456, 615243, 364125 etc). The final three-line stanza follows the end-word pattern of 531 or 135, and often the 2, 4 and 6 end-words are incorporated into the body of the stanza

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Sonnet

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A fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally in lambic pentameter. In some formulations, the fist eight lines pose a question or dilemma that is resolved in the final six lines.

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Octave

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First eight lines of a poem or an eight line stanza

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Sestet

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the final six lines of a poem or a six line stanza