AP English Literary Terms: Poetry! Practice Test
27 Questions
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A quiz to help AP English Literature & Composition students study for the AP exam.
Questions and Answers
- 1.A literary work in which characters, events, objects, and ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings. One of the most popular examples from the 20th Century was George Orwell's Animal Farm, about farm animals vying for power. On the surface, it is an entertaining story that even children can enjoy. Beneath the surface, it is the story of ruthless Soviet totalitarianism.
- A.
Allegory
- B.
Fable
- C.
Parable
- D.
Symbol
- E.
Tall tale
- 2.Reference to a historical event or to a mythical or literary figure. Examples: (1) Sir Lancelot fought with Herculean strength. (Reference to the mythological hero Hercules). (2) "I have met my Waterloo," the mountain climber said after returning from a failed attempt to conquer Everest. (Reference to the Belgian town where Napoleon lost a make-or-break battle).
- A.
Metaphor
- B.
Allusion
- C.
Simile
- D.
Symbol
- E.
Synechdoche
- 3.Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring one after the other. Examples: (1) Give me wine, give me women and give me song. (2) For everything there is a season . . . a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.–Bible, Ecclesiastes. (3) To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream.–Shakespeare, Hamlet.
- A.
Alliteration
- B.
Assonance
- C.
Anaphora
- D.
Consonance
- E.
Onomatopoeia
- 4.Repetition of vowel sounds preceded and followed by different consonant sounds. Use of "bite" and "like" in a line of poetry would constitute this device. Examples: (1) There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.–Shakespeare. (2) But I am pigeon-livered, and lack gall to make oppression bitter. (3) John met his fate by the lake.
- A.
Euphony
- B.
Cacophony
- C.
Alliteration
- D.
Consonance
- E.
Assonance
- 5.A poetic form that has three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line unit called a couplet. The meter is iambic pentameter (except in Sonnet 145). The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
- A.
Villanelle
- B.
Sestina
- C.
Shakespearean Sonnet
- D.
Petrarchan Sonnet
- E.
Keatsean Sonnet
- 6.Lines of poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Most of Shakespeare’s plays are written in form. Robert Frost also routinely employs this technique.
- A.
Sonnet
- B.
Free verse
- C.
Slant rhyme
- D.
Lyric
- E.
Blank verse
- 7.A type of poetic foot characterized by this pattern of accented syllables: (Stressed + Unstressed). Examples: LOVE-ly;ONCE upON a MIDnight DREARy
- A.
Troche
- B.
Iamb
- C.
Dactyl
- D.
Anapest
- E.
Spondee
- 8.A term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse shown in scansion by two vertical lines ( || ). In most cases, technique is indicated by punctuation marks which cause a pause in speech: a comma, a semicolon, a full stop, a dash, etc. Punctuation, however, is not necessary for this technique to occur. Example: To err is human; || to forgive, divine.
- A.
Parallel structure
- B.
Caesura
- C.
Chiasmus
- D.
Apostrophe
- E.
Blank verse
- 9.The type of poetic foot used in this line: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day"
- A.
Trochaic
- B.
Dactylic
- C.
Spondaic
- D.
Iambic
- E.
Anapestic
- 10.An Italian verse form invented by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). It consists of a series of three-line stanzas in which Line 2 of one stanza rhymes with Lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza. The rhyme scheme progresses in the following pattern: aba, bcb, cdc, ded, efe, ghg, and so on.
- A.
Terza rima
- B.
Tercet
- C.
Iambic trimeter
- D.
Blank verse
- E.
Verse italiano
- 11.Carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next line without a pause. In the first four lines of "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning, this technique joins the second and third lines (I call / That) and the third and fourth lines (Pandolf's hands / Worked): That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
- A.
Run-on verse
- B.
Carry-over verse
- C.
Enjambment
- D.
Synecdoche
- E.
Metonymy
- 12.A lyric poem on a serious subject that develops its theme with dignified language, originally intended to be sung. Famous examples are by Keats and Shelley.
- A.
Sonnet
- B.
Villanelle
- C.
Ballad
- D.
Sestina
- E.
Ode
- 13.The repetition of words with different vowel sounds that have the same final consonants. Example: best, first.
- A.
Alliteration
- B.
Onomatopoeia
- C.
Assonance
- D.
Euphony
- E.
Consonance
- 14.The poetic form employed by the following poem is known as... She ruled in beauty o'er this heart of mine, A noble lady in a humble home, And now her time for heavenly bliss has come, 'Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine. The soul that all its blessings must resign, And love whose light no more on earth finds room, Might rend the rocks with pity for their doom, Yet none their sorrows can in words enshrine; They weep within my heart; and ears are deaf Save mine alone, and I am crushed with care, And naught remains to me save mournful breath. Assuredly but dust and shade we are, Assuredly desire is blind and brief, Assuredly its hope but ends in death.
- A.
Shakespearean Sonnet
- B.
Ode
- C.
Petrarchan Sonnet
- D.
Villanelle
- E.
Blank Verse
- 15.Stanza or poem of four lines. It usually has a rhyme scheme, such as abab, abba, or abcb.
- A.
Couplet
- B.
Tercet
- C.
Quatrain
- D.
Cinquain
- E.
Sestet
- 16.Words in a second clause or phrase that invert or transpose the order of the first clause or phrase. Here are examples: - I come from the rural north, from the urban south comes she. - John is a good worker, and a bright student is Mary. - A fop their passion, but their prize a sot.–Alexander Pope. Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike–Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
- A.
Inversion
- B.
Litotes
- C.
Reverse verse
- D.
Chiasmus
- E.
Epithet
- 17.Poetry that presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation. Sonnets, odes, and elegies are examples of these types of poems. William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Blake are among the poets who wrote them. Shakespeare's sonnets are considered this type of poem, although his verse plays are not; they tell a story. This type of poetry often has a pleasing musical quality.
- A.
Villanelle
- B.
Ballad
- C.
Lyric
- D.
Epigram
- E.
Blank verse
- 18.An extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. The sonnet often employs this device in order to draw an exaggerated comparison of a lover or a loving situation.
- A.
Conceit
- B.
Simile
- C.
Figure of speech
- D.
Synecdoche
- E.
Metonymy
- 19.A long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic figures. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the Old English poem Beowulf, are examples of this type of poem.
- A.
Novella
- B.
Poema larga
- C.
Sestina
- D.
Epic
- E.
Villanelle
- 20.A type of poetic foot characterized by this pattern of accented syllables (Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed). Example: MER-ril-ly
- A.
Iamb
- B.
Troche
- C.
Dactyl
- D.
Anapest
- E.
Spondee
- 21.A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person. Example: Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!, written for Abe Lincoln.
- A.
Epitaph
- B.
Elegy
- C.
Eulogy
- D.
Epigram
- E.
Epithet
- 22.Form of poetry that ignores standard rules of meter and rhyme in favor of the rhythms of ordinary conversation. In effect, this form liberates poetry from conformity to rigid metrical rules that dictate stress patterns and the number of syllables per line. French poets originated it in the 1880s, although earlier poems of Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and other writers exhibited characteristics. Although this form generally contains no metrical patterns and end rhymes, it may contain other types of patterns, such as cadence and repetition.
- A.
Free verse
- B.
Blank verse
- C.
Open verse
- D.
Unmetered rhyme
- E.
Lyric
- 23.Unit of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter. Following is an example: What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things (Lines 1 and 2, The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope)
- A.
Masculine rhyme
- B.
Blank verse
- C.
Terza rima
- D.
Epic couplet
- E.
Heroic couplet
- 24.Poem that presents a moment in which a narrator/speaker discusses a topic and, in so doing, reveals his personal feelings to a listener. During his discourse, the speaker intentionally and unintentionally reveals information about himself. The main focus of this device is this personal information, not the speaker's topic. It is a type of character study. Perhaps the most famous example in English literature is Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess."
- A.
Internal conflict
- B.
Dialogue
- C.
Rhetorical speech
- D.
Dramatic monologue
- E.
Apostrophe
- 25.In verse and poetry, this is the recurring pattern of stressed (accented, or long) and unstressed (unaccented, or short) syllables in lines of a set length.
- A.
Meter
- B.
Rhyme scheme
- C.
Scansion
- D.
Repetition
- E.
Iambic pentameter
- 26.Poem focusing on some aspect of rural life. It may center on the love of a shepherd for a maiden, on the death of a friend, or on the quiet simplicity of rural life. The writer of a this type of poem may be a highly educated city dweller who longs for the peace and quiet of the country or who extols the virtues of a shepherd girl.
- A.
Ode
- B.
Sonnet
- C.
Pastoral
- D.
Ballad
- E.
Sestina
- 27.The basic division of a Petrarchan sonnet; in other words, the way a Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet is conceptualized in order to make its statement.
- A.
3 quatrains + 1 couplet
- B.
4 tercets + 1 couplet
- C.
1 sestet + 1 octave
- D.
1 octave + 1 sestet
- E.
7 couplets
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