AP Poetic Terms List Part 2

• Epiphany


  A revealing moment in which the speaker experiences a deep realization about themselves
• Epistrophe


  A figure of repetition where a word or group of words is repeated at the end of successive lines
• Epithet


  A descriptive name or title
• Euphemism


  Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one
• Euphony


  Smooth, pleasant sounds that are pleasing to the ear
• Feminine Ending


  An unstressed extra syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter
• Fixed Form


  A traditional pattern that applies to the whole poem (limerick, villanelles, sestinas, and many others)
• Free Verse


  Poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical
• Heroic Couplet


  A pair of lines in rhymed iambic pentameter used mostly by Old English poets
• Hexameter


  A line containing six feet
• Hyperbole


  A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true
• Imagery


  Representation through language of sense experience
• Irony


  A situation or a use of language involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy
• Litote


  A deliberate use of understatement made by using a double negative
• Masculine Ending


  A stressed extra syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter
• Metaphor


  A figure of speech in which a direct comparison is made between two things essentially unlike
• Meter


  The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accented rhythm, syllabic quality, or the number of syllables in a line
• Metonymy


  An attribute substituted for something in terms of meaning
• Narrative Poem


  A poem that tells a story; has a regular rhyme scheme
• Octave


  An eight-line stanza
• Ode


  A rapturous lyric poem written about a dignified, lofty subject
• Onomatopoeia


  The use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound
• Oxymoron


  A compact paradox in which two successive words contradict each other
• Paradox


  A statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense
• Pastoral


  A poem characterized by a setting in spring or summer in the country/nature