BellringerAnswer the following questions:
What makes poetry different than prose?
How can you identify poetry?
What is Poetry?
Poetry is writing that is imaginative and emotional. Poetry is written with words that are vivid, and every word in a poem is important. These words are arranged carefully so that they have a pleasing sound, as well as an effect on the reader.
The Form of Poetry
A Minor Bird
I have wished a bird would fly away,And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the doorWhen it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrongIn wanting to silence any song.
-Robert Frost
“A Minor Bird” Written in ProseHow does it look different from the poem?
I have wished a bird would fly away and not sing by my house all day. I have clapped my hands at him from the door when it seemed as if I could bear no more. The fault must partly have been in me. The bird was not to blame for his key. And of course there must be something wrong in wanting to silence any song.
The Form of PoetryPoems are written in lines and stanzas.
line—an arrangement of words in a poem
stanza—a group of lines (similar to a paragraph in prose writing)
How many lines and stanzas are in this poem?
A Minor Bird
I have wished a bird would fly away,And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the doorWhen it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrongIn wanting to silence any song.
-Robert Frost
Imagery
language that appeals to the senses
Example:
Winter MoonHow thin and sharp
is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
-Langston Hughes
Sound Devices in Poetry
alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds
Example:
mystical moon
onomatopoeia—a word that imitates a sound
Examples:
boom, splat, honk, swish, howl
Figures of Speech(figurative language)
a phrase that is not literally trueTypes of figures of speech:
simile metaphor personification hyperbole idiom
Metaphor
metaphor--a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be the other thing
PersonificationPersonification—figure of
speech in which an inanimate object is treated like a living person or animal
Example:
Awakening to the risen sun, the rested trees stretched their limbs heavenward.
Hyperbole
hyperbole—an exaggeration
Examples:
These books weigh a ton. I could sleep for a year. The path went on forever. I'm doing a million things right now. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. I waited centuries for you.
Idiom
idiom—a commonly used expression that is not literally true
Examples: beat around the bush toot your own horn
bent out of shape don’t see eye to eye
a piece of cake fly off the handle
down in the dumps hold your horses
get under my skin going bananas
raining cats and dogs break a leg
shoot the breeze cat has your tongue
under the weather on pins and needles
drive me up the wall water under the bridge