The speaker could be

the poet

The speaker could be a fictional or nonfictional character created or represented by the poet

Speaker

“Cross” by Langston Hughes

My old man's a white old manAnd my old mother's black.If ever I cursed my white old manI take my curses back.If ever I cursed my black old motherAnd wished she were in hell,I'm sorry for that evil wishAnd now I wish her wellMy old man died in a fine big house.My ma died in a shack.I wonder were I'm going to die,Being neither white nor black?

Langston Hughes’s parents were a mixture of black and white, but they were predominately black. This poem was more likely written because of what Hughes saw around him, not his own personal experiences.

Suspense

Evokes curiosity

Makes you want to read more!

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;Only this, and nothing more.

This poem instantly grabs your attention because of the way that Poe writes the introduction.

Foreshadowing

Hints about what is coming next

Could be very direct, or ambiguous

Usually done with longer poems

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning

That's my last Duchess painted onthe wall, looking as if she were alive.I call that piece a wonder…..

Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive.

The speaker is showing a Duke negotiating a second marriage. Here, he is explaining what happened during his first marriage. Eventually, the Duke lets slip to the other man that he actually killed his first wife, because she, “couldn’t keep her smiles to herself.”

Rhyme

Definition: when the endings of words sound the same

Take a second to jot down some examples….

Types of Rhymes

Internal Rhyme

External Rhyme

Half Rhyme

Internal Rhyme

A rhyme that takes place with a line

Usually a word in the middle, and a word at the end are what rhyme

Internal Rhymes

“While all the night trough fog-smoke white”

“In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud”

- Samuel Coleridge

“Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December”

- Edgar Allen Poe

External Rhyme

When words at the end of a line rhyme

More common than internal rhyme

Jot down some of your own examples…

“I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud”

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Half Rhyme

Words that do not sound exactly the same, but are considered rhyming words

Usually because of a determined pattern

Sometimes because of pronunciation changes

Also called slant or approximate rhyme

“Hope” by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

Rhythm

A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Seems to flow naturally

“The Destruction of Sennacherib” by Lord Byron

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on the Galilee.

     

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

     

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

Meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Stressed and Unstressed Syllables

  ˘    / ˘  /   ˘   / ˘   / ˘      /Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Shall I compARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY?

Try saying it the opposite way—doesn’t quite sound right does it?

Metrical Foot

Anapest

Trochee

Dactyl

Iamb

Anapest

Two unaccented and one accented syllable

The AsSYRian came DOWN like the WOLF on the FOLD,

And his COhorts were GLEAMing in PURple and GOLD 

Trochee

One accented and one unaccented syllable

TELL me NOT in MOURNful NUMbers

Dactyl

One accented and two unaccented syllables

TYger TYger BURNning BRIGHT IN the FORests OF the NIGHT

Iamb

One unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable

There WAS a TIME when MEADow, GROVE, and STREAM

Tone

The attitude of the speaker

Some examples would playful, regretful, humorous, ironic, indignation…etc.

“Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries” by Hugh MacDiarmid

It is a God-damn lie to say that these

Saved, or knew, anything worth any man's pride.

They were professional murderers and they took

Their blood money and impious risks and died.

In spite of all their kind some elements of worth

With difficulty persist here and there on earth.

Theme

The central meaning of the poem

Think of some themes that might be covered in poetry….

“Lost” by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you, If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.

Free Verse

Has no regular rhythm, line length, and rarely has rhyme

Imitates the way you would speak normally

“Reflex” by Katherine Foreman

The taste of betrayalSlipped past indifference in unexpected delivery,Worse for the mark it finds.I offer up what I can,The self-desecrating altar blinded to consequenceHoping my sacrifice will please.I speak against the grain of my being,Roiling with disgust at more than self or inadequacyAs I see my own interests beneath my knees.

Mood

The feeling that the poem gives you

Details, images, objects, setting, all contribute towards creating the mood

“Infant Sorrow” by William Blake

My mother groaned, my father wept,Into the dangerous world I leapt;Helpless, naked, piping loud,Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my father's hands,Striving against my swaddling bands,Bound and weary, I thought bestTo sulk upon my mother's breast.

This poem by Blake is great example of how language can be used to affect emotion or affect one’s mood.

“Infant Joy” by William Blake

"I have no name;I am but two days old."What shall I call thee?"I happy am,Joy is my name."Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!Sweet joy, but two days old.Sweet Joy I call thee:Thou dost smile,I sing the while;Sweet joy befall thee!

This poem also shows you how mood can be affective. After seeing these two poems next to each other you can see how the same theme, is manipulate through language to change how you respond to the poem.

Figurative Language

Simile

Metaphor

Symbol

Personification

Imagery

Hyperbole

Simile

Direct comparison of unlike things

Uses the words “like” or “as”

Think of a few examples…

“Your Teeth” by Denise Rodgers

Your teeth are like stars;they come out at night.They come back at dawnwhen they're ready to bite

In this poem, Rodgers is comparing someone’s teeth to the stars, because teeth are not at all like stars, it is a comparison, and because he uses the word “like,” we also know it is a metaphor.

Metaphor

An implied comparison of two or more things

Does not use the words “like” or “as”

Symbol

A concrete item that represents an abstract object

Can be an object, character, figure, color, or possibly a number of other things that represent something different than they appear

Personification

When an inanimate or inhuman object is described as if it were a person

Think of an example

“Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room” by William Blake

"Ah, William, we're weary of weather,"said the sunflowers, shining with dew."Our traveling habits have tired us.Can you give us a room with a view?“

They arranged themselves at the windowand counted the steps of the sun,and they both took root in the carpetwhere the topaz tortoises run. In this poem the sunflowers

are personified. You know this because they are talking, and also because they are “arranging” themselves.

Imagery

The use of vivid descriptions to create a mental picture

Think of your own examples…

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

“The Tropics of New York” Claude McKay

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger root

Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,

And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,

Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Sat in the window, bringing memories

of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,

And dewy dawns, and mystical skies

In benediction over nun-like hills.

My eyes grow dim, and I could no more gaze;

A wave of longing through my body swept,

And, hungry for the old, familiar ways

I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.

McKay uses vivid description to really paint a picture for her audience.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration

Over the top kind of explanations

Think of your own example

“My Dog” by Sharon Hendricks

His bark breaks the sound barrierHis nose is as cold as an ice box.A wag of his tail causes hurricanesHis jumping causes falling rocks.He eats a mountain of dog foodAnd drinks a water fall dry.But though he breaks the bankHe’s the apple of my eye.

Ms. Hendricks is clearly exaggerating her dog’s qualities in this poem.

Couplet

Two lines, one right after another, that express one idea and has a set rhyme

My only love, sprung from my only hate!

Too early seen unknown,

and known too late!\

-Romeo and Juliet

Parody

An imitation of one poem by another

Usually to mock, comment on, or generally make fun of a work itself, its author, style, subject, etc.

“Query” by Rob Collins

Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,Program manuals piled high, and wasted paper on the floor,Longing for the warmth of bedsheets, still I sat there, doing spreadsheetsFor the high and mighty deadbeats whom I do computing for --For the overpaid executives who left at half past four --                                                            Too important to ignore.

Under orders from the boss to make our profit beat our loss,I drew old data out of DOS, lured it into Lotus 4--Skipping sleep and suppertime, working well past eight and nine,Though I earned no overtime, still I wrestled with the chore.My career was on the line and a deadline loomed before,                                                            Too important to ignore.

Musial Devices

Repetition

Alliteration

Assonance

Consonance

Onomatopoeia

Parallelism

Apostrophe

Repetition

Makes the poem sound like a song

The use of repeated words together to create some sort of meaning

Usually emphasizes a point

Alliteration

The repetition of the first sound of several words in one line

Think of your own examples…

The silly snake tried to strike the sullen toad.

The sticky situation was solidly skirted with skill.

The snake was successfully sidetracked from its sinister scheme.

The grumpy toad was not genuinely gripped with the great big snake.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel

sounds

Think of an example…

Assonance

I like ice cream.

I head the mellow wedding bells

I lie down by the side of my bride

Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds

Located at the end of the word

Consonance

dawn goes down

some mammals are clammy

First and last

Odds and ends

Onomatopoeia

A word that sounds like the way it is pronounced

Can you think of any examples?

Most animal noises…

Swing

Slop!

Boo!

Onomatopoeia

Parallelism

The repetition of the same grammatical form or structure in lines of poetry

Example: We _______

We _______

We _______

Apostrophe

When the speaker of the poem is addressing something (or someone) that is dead, or an inanimate object

This differs from personification in that, the speaker is directly addressing the object or person

“The Sun Rising” by John Donne

Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us?

In this excerpt from Donne’s poem, Donne addresses the Sun as if it were a person.

Narrative

Tells a story and is usually longer than other types of poems

Common types of narratives include epics, such as The Odyssey, The Iliad, The Inferno, or The Aeneid

“Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast; They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that-- We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."

Dramatic

One or more character’s speak

Creates an allusion that the reader is witnessing an event

A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation."

-Stephen Crane

“A Man Said to the Universe…”

Lyric

Expresses the speaker’s personal thoughts and feelings and uses vivid words and images

Perhaps this is where they came up with the term song lyric…

“How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth BrowningHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Sonnet

Is a type of lyric poem Traditionally has 14

lines Is traditionally written in

iambic pentameter which means that is has 10 syllables

Shakespearian sonnets always end with a rhyming couplet

Sonnet 130 by William ShakespeareMy mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound;I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rareAs any she belied with false compare.

Haiku

Lyric form of poetry

Originated in Japan

17 syllables total which are made up of unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables

Untitled by Leif Danielson

A blank page of sand-At the water's cutting edgeThe pattern shaping

Note: most haikus you find will not look like they were written in the form that we just discussed. This is because many of them originated in Japan—and the format was lots in translation.

Concrete

Lines of poetry that form a picture

The picture usually is a representation of what the poem is about