What is Poetry?

The wind inclines the cedars and lets snow riding inbow them swaying weepers

on the hedgerows of open fields

The cat has his sportand the mouse suffersbut the cat

is innocent having no image of pain in him

PoetryTerms

I. Three Forms:

A. Narrative poem – tells a story; literary elements apply

common forms: ballads, epics

B. Dramatic poem – an enactment; like a play

C. Lyric poem – reveals thoughts and feelings

common forms: haiku, ode, psalm, sonnet, etc.

II. Parts of a Poem:A. stanza – acts like a paragraph in prose;

can be any lengthB. couplet – two consecutive rhyming lines

expressing a complete thoughtC. quatrain – four lines that rhyme in different

ways – ABCB, ABAB, ABBA, AABB, AAAA

D. refrain – section of text repeated at intervals

III. Music of Poetry:A. stress – vocal emphasis / intensity given syllablesB. meter – pattern of stresses in lines of a poemC. rhythm – how the words fit into the meterD. rhyme – words with the same ending soundE. onomatopoeia – words that sound like what they areF. alliteration – repetition of words with same beginning

soundG. assonance – repetition of a vowel soundH. internal rhyme – words that rhyme within a line

IV. Figurative Language: personification – giving lifelike qualities to inanimate

objects irony – what is said is the opposite of what is

implied hyperbole - extreme exaggeration apostrophe – speaking directly to an absent person

or object euphemism – understatement by using a softer

term simile – comparison using “like” or “as” metaphor – direct comparison without “like” or “as” allusion – reference to something outside the poem

Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry (By Howard Nemerov)

Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle

That while you watched turned into pieces of snow

Riding a gradient invisible

From silver aslant to random, white, and slow.

There came a moment that you couldn't tell.

And then they clearly flew instead of fell.