Today’s Lesson...

• To note down some of the poetic techniques used in the poems.

• To copy them up for homework.

• To give your own examples of the techniques used.

Rhyme Scheme -

The last word of a line is given a letter. Each word which rhymes with it is given the same letter. If the word at the end of a line doesn’t rhyme with any others, it is given a new letter.

The ghost wandered through the hall,

Rattling its chains all the while.

It came to a door and then a wall,

Floating through them all in style.

a

b

a

b

Metaphor -

A comparison, when one thing is said to be another, not using “as” or “like” to describe it.

“That man is bigger than a house!”

“She is a real pain in the neck!”

Simile -

A comparison, using “as” or “like”

“As plump as a cushion”

“He’s as skinny as a rake”

Alliteration -

When the first letter of two or more words, usually beside each other is repeated.

“Mental Mikey made me go mad”.

Onomatopoeia -

When a word is written like it sounds.

CRASH!

BANG!

WALLOP!

Personification -

Giving human characteristics or behaviours to an inanimate object

“The sun winked one last time as she set for the day”.

Rhythm -

The number of syllables in each line. Each line should have roughly the same amount as the next.

The wind buffets the boulders.

The shower stalks the sea.

The grass waves back and forward.

All this is nothing to me.

Assonance -

Deliberate repetition of consonant sounds in two or more words in short succession.

There’s a moose, loose, aboot this hoose!

The mouse’s house.

“ooo” sound

“ow” sound

Consonance -

Deliberate repetition of consonant sounds in two or more words in short succession.

Pitter patter

Glamour hammer

“tt” sound

“m” sound

Sibilance -

Deliberate repetition of s or sh sounds in two or more words in short succession. These sounds can be at the beginning, inside, or end of words.

An example is the verse from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven: "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.”

Notice how the ‘c’ in uncertain is sibilance. It is the s or sh sound remember that is sibilance.

This is why ‘curtain’ wouldn’t be an example of sibilance as it is a ‘k’ sound.

/ = stressed syllablex = unstressed syllable

Rhythm -

There are also two main types of syllable: stressed and unstressed.

A stressed syllable is the part of the word with two or more syllables in it that is said the loudest.

Peter Forecast Nevermind / x / x x / x

Structure -

The way that the poem is written. It will usually be in little paragraphs, which we call STANZAS. Look out for where full stops and commas are – they direct you how to read the poem.

Rhythm and syllables (called meter)

Contrast -

The difference between two or more ideas. This could be the difference (and similarities) between two poems or even two ideas within a poem.