Poetry is like a song…

(That’s a simile. If you don’t know what a simile is, you will in a minute. Read on…)

Poetry Terms

•Figures of Speech- Tools that help to create images in a reader’s mind to help him understand a person or an idea

•Devices of Sound- Language tools that poets use to help their writing sound “cool”… also used to help highlight important ideas

Simile

•Figure of speech

• A direct comparison using like or as

•Example: Your nose is LIKE a button

•Example from a song:

Metaphor•Figure of speech

• An implied/indirect comparison

•Example: Her eyes were an inviting blue lake, and I wanted to dive in for a swim…

•Example from a song:

Personification•Figure of speech

• Human qualities attributed to inanimate objects or animals

•Words used to make something seem alive

•Example: The wind howled

•Example from a song:

Hyperbole•Figure of speech

• An extreme exaggeration to attain desired effect

•Example: My dad had a cow when he saw my grades

•Example from a song:

Imagery

•Use of sensory information to create mental pictures which reinforce common themes

•Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste

•Often occurs in groups- image clusters

•Example: Color imagery, Religious imagery

• Example from a song:

Symbolism• The use of a concrete object, name, place, event or character to represent an abstract idea

•Example: Red rose= love

River= a journey

•Example from a song:

Irony

• When the opposite of what’s expected occurs

•Example: You can’t get a job because you have TOO much education

•Example from a song:UGH!

Onomatopoeia

• Device of sound

• A word that sounds like the sound it describes

•Example: Buzz, honk, tweet

•Example from a song:

Assonance

• Device of sound

• The repetition of a vowel sound

•Example: My words like silent raindrops fell

Repetition of long “I” sound

Example from a song:

Consonance

• Device of sound

• The repetition of a consonant sound

•Example: Rubber baby buggy bumpers Repetition of “B” sound

Example from a song:

Alliteration

• Device of sound

• The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginnings of words

•Example: Tangled trail of tears Repetition of “T” sound

Example from a song:

Rhyme

• Device of sound

• The use of similar/identical sounds in a pattern

•Example: the cat in the hat ate a rat on a mat

•Example from a song:

Iambic Pentameter•The most common verse line in English poetry. It consists of five verse feet, with each foot an iamb-that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Shakespeare’s plays are written almost exclusively in iambic pentameter.

•Guess which famous English poet (and playwright) used this rhythm and meter often when he wrote?

•We can use these sound devices and their natural stressed

syllables, lack of stress syllables, and pauses to create

rhythm in poetry… one of which is