Possible figurative language on the AP Exam: Figurative Language is speech or writing that departs
from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning. Figurative language does not mean
exactly what it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend an
author's point.
Metaphor / Simile / Symbol / Personification / Hyperbole / Irony / Synecdoche / Metonymy
Possible Poetic Techniques on the AP Exam:
Imagery (Auditory, Visual, Olfactory, Gustatory, and Kinesthetic)
Diction
Denotation / Connotation
Understatement / Meiosis / Euphemism / Litotes
Tone (mood)
Rhyme Scheme
Enjambment and end-stopped lines
Speech / Soliloquy / Monologue / Dialogue
Repetition / Anaphora
Meter / Rhythm / Scansion
Alliteration / Assonance
Flashback / Exposition / Reflection
Foreshadowing / Red Herring
Allegory / Conceit / Extended Metaphor
Parody / Satire / Caricature
Juxtaposition / Antithesis / Oxymoron / Compare and Contrast / Foil
Paradox (Antithesis and Oxymoron are forms of paradox)
Allusion
Selection of detail
Shift or Turn
Protagonist / Antagonist / Foil
Hubris / Hamartia / Catharsis / Didacticism / Deus Ex Machina
Pathos / Bathos
Style: how the author tells a story (elements of structure, meter, diction, speech, voice, imagery, point of view,
repetition)
Syntax [periodic, inverted, interrupted]
Quatrain, Tercet, Couplet, Triplet, Heroic Couplet
Theme
Point of View: 1st and 2nd Person Limited and Omniscient
Structure (overall physical structure of the poem, stanza structure and length, enjambment, end-stopped lines,
shifts, rhyme scheme, punctuation, meter, flashback vs. chronological order, and syntax)
Anachronism
Apostrophe
Metonymy / Synecdoche
Social Commentary (Characterization of Society)
Euphony / Cacophony
Bildungsroman
Types of Poems on the AP Exam
Ballad
Originally sung, a ballad is a poem that tells a story similar to a folk tail or legend which often has a repeated refrain.
Dramatic monologue
A type of poem which is spoken to a listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details
about him/herself.
Elegy (Dirge)
A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual or thing.
Epic
A long, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure. The Odyssey and The Iliad are examples.
Epitaph
A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased. “Here lies a man of great wit…”
Free verse
Poetry written in unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern.
Blank verse
A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. The iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of speech.
Epithalamium
A poem written in honor of a bride. groom, or wedding.
Lyric
A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. Sonnets, elegies, and odes are all in the lyrical form. Any poem that is
neither dramatic nor narrative is lyric.
Narrative
A poem or piece of prose that tells a story.
Ode
A lengthy lyric poem typically of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanza structure. A poem
dedicated someone or something. It is a celebratory poem.
Pastoral
A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.
Idyll
A lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place.
Sonnet
A lyric poem that consists of 14 lines which usually have one or more conventional rhyme schemes. (Shakespearean is ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG)
Sestina
A thirty-nine line poem of six, six-line stanzas and a three-line stanza called an envoy. There is also repetition of end-lines
throughout.
Villanelle
A nineteen-line poem with five three-line stanzas and a concluding quatrain.