Grade 11 Poetry Unit 10 things to consider ….Poetic Devices

–Imagery–Symbolism

–Allusion–Metre / Rhyme

Grade 11 Poetry Unit

Ten things to consider in a poem:1. THEME – central thought

2. IMAGINATION – imagery, figures symbolism

3. EMOTION – kind of effect, mood of the poem

4. THOUGHT 5. PHILOSOPHY – personality

6. DESCRIPTION7. ATTITUDE TO LIFE AND MANKIND8. ATTITUDE TO NATURE9. CHARACTER10. THE TOTAL EFFECT OF THE POEM.

Poetic Devices

Figurative Language Review

Alliteration

The repetition of speech sounds in a sequence of nearby words.

– The effect of alliteration is to call attention to the words that contain it, and often to underline their relationship to each other in meaning.

Alliteration…

Consonance is the sequence of repeated consonants

– Baffled the bird – Carried the cry– Hissed in the sun

Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds – especially in stressed syllables.

Thou foster child of silence and slow time

Hyperbole

An exaggeration statement not meant to be taken literally, used mainly for emphasis.

I am starving to death. (Said by someone whom is very hungry)

Metaphor

An implied comparison. In a metaphor only one part of the comparison is stated and the rest is left to the imagination.– The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

Simile

Is a comparison that is introduced with “like”, “as”, “so” or “as if” and that stresses the resemblance between two things.– She looks like a rose.

Personification

A figure of speech in which objects are given human qualities.

The sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds

See Stephens’ The Wind (The Wind)

Imagery

Refers to the words used by a poet to recreated the thoughts, feelings, or experiences he/she has and wishes to share.

Relies heavily on sense perception; sight sound, smell, taste, touch

Helps to make clear and concrete what is abstract and difficult to understand.

See The Fish – by Elizabeth Bishopimagery.doc

Symbolism

A visible object or action that suggests some further meaning in addition to itself.

Symbol demands no single necessary interpretation, but it points toward and indefinite meaning. (X.J. Kennedy)

The Lightning Is A Yellow Fork- symbolism.doc

Allusion

an indirect reference to something. The Raven – E.A. Poe

(THE RAVEN)

The Raven Allusion Sheet(The Raven – Allusion)

View at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FID1CiB4bcU

Metre and Rhythm

Metre - Traditional forms of verse use established rhythmic patterns called meters (meter means "measure" in Greek), and that's what meters are — premeasured patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Rhythm – a pattern of stresses in a line of verse eg

Rhyme

Rhymes are classified by the degree of similarity between sounds within words, and by their placement within the lines or stanzas.

A rhyme scheme is usually the pattern of end rhymes in a stanza, with each rhyme encoded by a letter of the alphabet, from A onward (ABBA BCCB, for example).

Poetry Structures

Visit Poetry.org for an extensive list of poetry structures found under Other

http://www.poetry.org/termsin.htm (also linked to wiki)