AP Glossary #3 Flashcards
Definition Poetic Device
A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.
Definition alliteration
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.
Example alliteration
“Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore”
Impact alliteration
It grasps the reader’s attention, making them focus on a particular line or section.
Definition Assonance
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.
Example Assonance
“From the molten-golden notes”
Impact Assonance
It guides which syllables should be stressed.
Definition Consonance
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.
Example Consonance
“Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door”
Impact Consonance
Consonance can give language a musical element, as well as emphasize sounds or words that resonate with the main ideas or themes of the work.
Definition Onomatopoeia
The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.
Example Onomatopoeia
Snap, rustle, boom, murmur
Impact Onomatopoeia
It can add excitement, action, and interest by allowing the reader to hear and remember your writing.
Definition Internal rhyme
When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.
Example Internal rhyme
“To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!”
Impact Internal rhyme
It can be used to make the writing more rhythmic. This could be a musical rhythm or a plodding rhythm, like footsteps. It could be used to create an erratic rhythm to evoke a sense of frenzy or skittishness.
Definition Slant rhyme
When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly – they are merely similar.
Example Slant rhyme
“I sat upon a stone, / And found my life has gone.”
Impact Slant rhyme
Slant rhymes make poetry and prose sound more cohesive. Repeating a vowel or consonant sound creates a pattern that’s pleasing to the reader’s ear.
Definition End rhyme
When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.
Example End rhyme
“Roses are red, violets are blue, / Sugar is sweet, and so are you.”
Impact End rhyme
Many poets use end rhyme because it creates a rhythm
Definition Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of a poem’s end rhymes.
Example Rhyme Scheme
The following lines have a rhyme scheme of a b a b c d c d:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? a
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. b
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. a
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. b
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines c
And often is his gold complexion dimmed d
And every fair from fair sometime declines c
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed d
Impact Rhyme Scheme
It creates a particular atmosphere and mood, and it can shape the way we respond to the themes in the poem.
Definition Stressed and unstressed syllables
In every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed, or said with more force than the other syllable(s)
Example Stressed and unstressed syllables
In the name “Nathan,” the first syllable is stressed. In the word “unhappiness,” the second of the four syllables is stressed.
Impact of Stressed and unstressed syllables
Together, they create a pattern that helps establish the meter, which is essential for scansion, the process of analyzing a poem’s rhythm.
Definition Meter
A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.
Example Meter
Shakespeare’s sonnet, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” has the following metrical pattern (da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM).
Impact Meter
It creates a regular pattern of sound in your poetry. This makes it sound “like poetry,” and can also give a kind of hypnotic power, irrespective of the words.
Definition Free verse
Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.
Example Free verse
William Carlos Williams’s short poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” is written in free verse. It reads: “so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow / glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens.”
Impact Free verse
The flexibility of free verse has influenced various literary movements and individual poets, shaping modern poetic expression.
Definition Iambic pentameter
Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Example Iambic pentameter
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Impact Iambic pentameter
The regular beat of iambic pentameter can create a pleasing rhythm in the reader’s ear and make the text more musical and memorable.
Definition Sonnet
A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.
Example Sonnet
William Shakespeare, “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun” (1609).
Impact Sonnet
Sonnets have played an important role in exploring themes such as love, beauty, and mortality.
Definition Polysyndeton
When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions. Normally, a conjunction is used only before the last item in a list.
Example Polysyndeton
“I walked the dog, and fed the cat, and milked the cows.” “Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or a carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things…he also shall be unclean.”
Impact Polysyndeton
The primary effect of polysyndeton is to slow readers down so they can take in all the information.
Definition Pun
When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way.
Example Pun
“My dog has a fur coat and pants!” “I was stirred by his cooking lesson.”
Impact Pun
Puns in writing are most often used in a humorous way, to elicit a “jokey” tone, but they can also be used to enhance a reader’s interpretation.
