What is poetry?“Poetry is emotioncompressed into as few words as possible”-George Elliot Clark

“ Poetry is no antiquated use of language…”-Carl Leggo

Poetic Terms

Alliteration

Bugs Bunny

• Baseball Bugs: "Watch me paste this

pathetic palooka with a powerful

paralyzing perfect pachydermous

percussion pitch!"

AlliterationThe repetition of consonant sounds,

especially at the beginning of words.

Example:

- She sells sea shells by the sea shore. (An old tongue-twister).

Simile

SimileA figure of speech involving a comparison

between unlike things using like, as, or as though.

Example: "My love is like a red, red rose.““She is glowing as bright as the sun.”

Metaphor

MetaphorA comparison between essentially unlike

things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as.

Example: "My love is a red, red rose,““He is a stone wall”

Personification

Personification A poetic device giving human attributes to

an inhuman thing (animal).Example:

- "The tree jumped into the road in front of my car"- "With an evil scowl, the storm cloud thundered its disapproval"- The car froged ahead with determination.

Onomatopoeia

OnomatopoeiaThe use of words to imitate the sounds they

describe. Words such as buzz and crack are onomatopoetic.

Example:POW! BAM! SNAP!

HyperboleA figure of speech involving exaggeration.

Example:I’ve told you a million times!I haven’t talked to you in forever!

Oxymoron

Oxymoron• Contradictory terms appear side by side.

Example: - “A yawn may be defined as a silent yell.”- Open secret- Living dead- Hell’s Angels- Jumbo shrimp

Repetition

Repetition“I Still Hear the Bell Ringing”

If you don’t know a word, Look it up in the dictionary,Strong advice, for now I know Many words and in words I am known

Never hate anybody,Wisdom like an iron bell ringing From a grey sky, its echoes Heard through the years

Never hate anybodyNever hate anybody Why do we use repetition?

Imagery

Imagery• Involves one or more of your 5 senses

(hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight)• An author uses a word or phrase to

stimulate your memory of those senses. • These memories can be positive or

negative which will contribute to the mood of a poem.

Assonance

• The repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words.

• Example: Reeses Pieces

• The repetition of final consonant sounds of words for

effect Ex. “As Ireland is backed to England”

Allusion• Carlos used Herculean strength to lift the

sofa off his cat’s tail.• Allusion: Hercules. Someone who is very strong.Definition: A reference o a person, place, event; possibly biblicalhistorical, literary,

Point of View

AllEGory

• Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys stranded on a deserted island.

• As an allegorical novel, LOF reveals the dark savage that exists within the heart of each human.

• Story where literal meaning covers fro a second, unsaid, larger meaning.

You dig?

• Connotation • Connotation• Set of associations connected

to work• Ex. “vacation spot”• Ex. Place where the fishing is

good” • Cool, refreshing • = connotations of the word

lake

• Denotation Denotation refers to the literal

meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨

Ex. Lake = inland body of water

Pun- a play on words• Ex. The bear couldn’t bear it! • Ex. The doctor had no patience (patients)

Euphemism

• -using a favourable term for an unfavourable

• Ex. Lady Macbeth died by her own hand• Ex. We wait alike for the inevitable hour

Irony• Verbal • Situational • Dramatic • Verbal- sarcasm• Situational- the opposite of what one would expect to

happen in that situation • Ex. “A traffic jam when you’re already late” • Dramatic- when the audience knows information that a

character does not. This information is often key to the plot and the character makes misguided choices based on his/her lack of info.

Paradox

• A statement or situation that seems contradictory but can also feel true

• Ex. “Life is much too important to be taken seriously” (Oscar Wilde)

• Ex. “Most marriages recognize this paradox: Passion destroys passion; we want what puts an end to wanting what we want” (John Fowles)

Analogy

• A reasoning, explaining or comparison between parallel concepts/ideas/objects

• A simile can be an analogy and a metaphor is an implied analogy

• Ex. Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."(Don Marquis)

Different types of

Stanza• A fix number of lines of verse forming a

unit of a poem.• Each stanza is its own unit.• Indicates a break between thoughts,

actions or concepts.

• Some different types of stanzas are...

Couplet• Stanzas of only 2 lines that usually rhyme.

Example:Whether or not we find what we are seeking

is idle, biologically speaking.

Quatrain• Four line stanza.

Oh the birds are singing,In a nest of broken sticks,Look what they are bringing,It's nutrition for their chicks.

Verse• One line of poetry.

Stream of Consciousness

Response• Write as many thoughts and feelings as we can without worrying about spelling or grammar.

• All the thoughts in our heads; these thoughts and feelings happen so fast we often don’t write them down.

• The Addict

Ask as many questions as you can...

But As the hand of love

Freely extendedAlways returnsCovered with scars(if not nailed to the cross),It is not stupid to refuse the cureIt is not stupidTo remain paralyzed,Stuck on the pallet.ButIt is boring.

Prose Poem• Prose poem A kind of open form poetry that it is a

mix of poetry and written verse. Prose poetry lacks line breaks normally associated with poetry but it still maintains a poetic quality by using techniques such as fragmentation, compression, repetition and rhyme. Prose poetry can be brief (a few lines) or it can be several pages long. It can explore a limitless amount of subjects.

• Examples: “Transparent Womb” and “Knife”

Concrete Poem• 2 types:

1) A free verse poem in the shape of what it is describing or in the shape of something related to the topic.

2) A one word poem in the shape of what it is.

3) Creative a concrete poem, which

Narrative• Plot• Short or long• Tells a story• “A story told in poetic form”

• Ex. “Birches”-Robert Frost

“Birches”When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground, Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm, I should prefer to have some boy bend them

• As he went out and in to fetch the cows-- Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself,

• Summer or winter, and could play alone. One by one he subdued his father's trees By riding them down over and over again Until he took the stiffness out of them,

And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be. It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate wilfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better. I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree~ And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

- Robert Frost

Free Verse• Doesn't have to have a rhyme scheme or

rhythm. • The theme is the most important.• It pays less attention to the normal

grammatical patterns of the English sentence.• Sentence fragments may be used.• Should have impact on the reader.• The arrangement is well thought out

Free Verse

• Ex. “Driving on Empty”

• Choose either “Birches” or “Running on Empty”

• Deconstruct: A way to analyze a poem• SIFT- use handout/ work w/ partner• Story, Imagery, Form, Theme

Extended Metaphor

• “Mother to Son”-Langston Hughes

• A metaphor carried throughout a poem. • An idea or object is used to represent a deeper

meaning...the object comes to metaphorically represent something deeper

• Ex. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair./• It’s had tacks in it/ And splinters” (ll.2-3)

Free Verse

• Ballad Poems are poems that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form.

• Death• Loss • Supernatural

“Cat’s in the Cradle”

• Simple language• Narrative• Repetition• Rhyme• Song like• Dialogue• Folk• Literary

• 5 line poem• Rhyme: AABBA• Funny

An Example of a LimerickWhat is a limerick, Mother?

It's a form of verse, said brother In which lines one and two

Rhyme with five when it's through And three and four rhyme with each other.

author unknown

Haiku

• Write about everyday things.• Themes: nature, feelings or experiences.• Simple words and grammar.• No rhyme....they paint. (imagery)

3 lines.• 1st line: 5 syllables.• 2nd line: 7 syllables.• 3rd line: 5 syllables.

• A Rainbow.Curving up, then down.Meeting blue sky and green earth.Melding sun and rain.

• NatureFrogs jumping aroundFrogs hopping away from snakesFrogs doing cool tricks.

diamante• 1 word- subject• 2 words- adjectives• 3 words- participles (ing)• 4 words- nouns• 3 words- participles• 2 words- adjectives• 1 word- noun (opposite or example of the

subject)

OrnamentGlistening, bright

Hanging, sparkling, fallingTinsel, popcorn, lights, berries

Shining, breaking, crackedWrecked, ruined

Star

Tanka• Japanese poetry.• 5 lines with a total of 31 syllables.• 5-7-5-7-7 division.• Nature and seasons.

Where is the white snow? (5)It is time for it I know? (7)I go on looking (5)On the hill, over the brook (7)But the snow is hiding still (7)

Types of Rhyming PoemsThere are many types of rhyming poems. Here are names of some of them:

•The Couplet•The Limerick•The Ballad Stanza (including the short and long)

•Octaves