Poetry Unit Review

Poetry terms

Literal: dictionary meaning of a wordFigurative language: using language to create

a comparison or image

Denotative: literal meaning of a word (stubborn)Connotative: suggestion or implication in

addition to the literal meaning of a word (strong-willed vs. pig-headed)

Imagery: creating ‘pictures’ with words

Purpose: author’s reason for writing a poem

Topic: general idea of a poem

Theme: idea about life or what it means to be

human that is drawn from a poem

Tone: author’s attitude toward the subject of a

poem

Effect: the way a poem makes you feel; its impact

Form: the way the words are arranged

Stanza: like a ‘paragraph’ grouping of linesRhythm: series of beats or metrical units in a

line

Rhyme: final words of a line sound the sameSymbol: concrete person, place, thing or

action that represents an abstract idea or emotion

Sound devices

Alliteration: repetition of same consonant sound Pirouettes of professional players

Repetition: repeating phrase or word I came, I saw, I conquered; on and on and on

Assonance: repeating sounds: do you like blue? ou-ou-ou or the continuing conversation (con-con)

Onomatopoeia: words that sound like the sound they represent Buzzing, bubbling, sputtering, tinkling

Hyperbole: exaggeration (this book weighs a

ton)

Metaphor: comparing without saying ‘as’ or

‘like’

Simile: comparing using ‘as’ or ‘like’Personification: giving human like qualities

to inanimate objects

Irony

Situational irony: Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs in Sucker the story begins when Pete says, ‘it was

always my room’ and, in the end, Sucker takes over the room.

Dramatic irony: when the reader knows something that the main characters do not the reader knows that Maybelle is using Pete for his

homework, when he thinks she finally likes him.

Imagery: Mrs. Reece Laughs

Metaphors:Laughter = a sudden wave that… (a wave)

= it germinates, it spreads (a growing seed)

= clusters of subterranean chuckles (an earthquake)

Simile: all the woman heaves as a great elm

Personification: volcanic forces takes her and shakes her

Imagery: Mrs Reece as a great elm whose leaves wallow…; clusters of subterranean chuckles; a visage that expands in scarlet ridge ….

Alliteration: huge hands, hanging head

Assonance: takes her and shakes her

Repetition: dimple by dimple, takes her and shakes her

Rhyme scheme: a-a-b-b-c-c, etc.

Tone: joyful, comical

Purpose: observation of how laughter can physically move a person

Effect: makes the reader feel the power of Mrs. Reece’s laughter

Narrative: The Cremation of Sam McGee

Metaphor: My Sealed Aquarium Dreams Waves Inuit Poem To Hold in a Poem Mother to Son

Irony: Richard Cory, Warren Pryor Last Lesson of the Afternoon, Did I Miss Anything? July 15, 1986

Unit Test

50 questions multiple choiceYou will need an HB pencil for the

ScantronThree sections:

Poetic termsApplying poetic terms to poems we

studiedA sight poem which you will interpret