POETRY 101

Allusion reference to history, culture,

mythology, etc. that the author expects you to recognize and understand

Example: Garden of Eden

Alliteration repetition of consonant sounds in words close to one

another

Example: Careless cars cutting corners create confusion.

Crossing centrelines.Countless collisions cost coffins.Collect conscious change.Copy?Continue cautiously.Comply?Cool.

Assonance repetition of vowel sounds in words

that are close together

Example: all the night tide I lay down by my side

Consonance the repetition of the same

consonant two or more times in short succession

Example: pitter patter

Sonnet lyric poem of fourteen lines and strict

meter

Shakespearean/English sonnet: follows rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg

Petrarchan/Italian Sonnets: follows rhyme scheme abba abba ccde ed (or something similar)

Metaphor comparison between two unlike things

without using like or as

Example: I was a lonely cloud.

EXTENDED metaphor: a metaphor that continues into the following lines (sometimes referred to as a conceit)

Simile comparison of two unlike things typically

using like or as

Example: I wandered lonely as a cloud.

Personification attributing human qualities to non-

human things 

Example: Misery loves company.

Onomatopoeia the use of a word whose sound

imitates its meaning

Example: a thin whine of wires,a rattling and flapping of leaves

Hyperbole extreme exaggeration

Example: his words pounded like the hooves

of a thousand horses

Understatement expression of less strength than

what would be expected

Example: “It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny

little tumor on the brain.” (from The Catcher in the Rye)

Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself

Example: “The swiftest traveler is he that goes

afoot."(Henry David Thoreau, Walden)

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.“ C.S.Lewis

Rhythm

alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language

can also be created by rhyme, repetition, pauses, variations in line length, and balancing of long and short words and phrase

Free verse — no regular rhythm or rhyme schemes

Cadence Balanced, rhythmic flow of poetry

Example: So strong you thump, O terrible

drums—so loud you bugles blow.

Rhyme scheme pattern of rhymed lines determined by assigning a letter to each new soundExample: Once upon a midnight dreary, a while I pondered, weak and weary,     a         

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— bWhile I nodded, nearly napping, c

suddenly there came a tapping, cAs of some one gently rapping, c

rapping at my chamber door. b“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, d

“tapping at my chamber door— b  Only this and nothing more.” b

Foot A pattern of stressed and unstressed

syllables

believe (iamb stressed/unstressed) mercy (trochee unstressed/stressed) understand (anapest 2 <short>

unstressed/ 1 <long> stressed) meter –pattern determined by type and

number of feet in the line

Internal rhyme rhyme occurs within a line

Example:   the grains beyond age, the dark

veins of her mother

End Rhyme Rhyme that occurs in the last

syllables of verses

Example:   Under my window, a clean rasping

soundWhen the spade sinks into gravelly

ground(from Seamus Heaney’s “Digging”)

Slant or Approximate rhyme words sound similar but do not

rhyme exactly

Example: …with madman’s flash famishing for flesh

Imagery

descriptive words that appeal to the five senses

When all aloud the wind doth blowAnd coughing drowns the parson’s sawAnd birds sit brooding in the snowAnd Marian’s nose looks red and raw,When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,Then nightly sings the staring owl, “Tu Whit, Tu Who!” a merry note,While greasy Joan doth keep the pot.--Love’s Labours Lost

Parallel Structure similar grammatical structure within

a line or lines of poetry. 

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them.

Catalog A list of items, people, places, or things

in poetry

In Song of Myself, Whitman uses a catalog of all that he sees — people of all ages, all walks of life, in the city and in the country, by the mountain and by the sea. Even animals are included. And the poet not only loves them all, he is part of them all.

& of course . . . don’t forget Tone Diction Syntax Repetition

(and all of the other literary terms we have discussed!)

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

1. Title: Introduces the controlling metaphor which compares hope to a bird. Dickinson refers to hope as a thing instead of a bird because hope is a formless feeling that can’t be held or caged; even the word, “hope,” in the title is set aside with quotation marks to indicate even the name is uncertain. What some call hope, others may call something else.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 2. Hope has feathersThat perches in the soul - And it stays in a person’s soulAnd sings the tune without the words - And it can be heard though it And never stops - at all - speaks no words, and it never stops

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - Hope sounds best in times of greatAnd sore must be the storm - difficulty – It must be an extremelyThat could abash the little Bird difficult time to stop hope from That kept so many warm - encouraging people.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - I have heard hope in the coldestAnd on the strangest Sea - place and in the most remote placeYet - never - in Extremity, Yet never in these harsh placesIt asked a crumb - of me. Did hope require a return from me.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 3. Gale: contrast to sweetAnd sore must be the storm - Capitalized to emphasize aThat could abash the little Bird Significant trial or undertakingThat kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Chillest, Sea, Extremity:Yet - never - in Extremity, Contrast to warm, emphasizesIt asked a crumb - of me. the time hope is heard.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 4. Attitude: Reassuring andThat perches in the soul - encouraging. Describing hopeAnd sings the tune without the words - as warm, singing, in the soul, And never stops - at all - sweet and comparing it to

a bird all connote positiveAnd sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - traits.And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, 5. Shift: Indicates the extentIt asked a crumb - of me. of hope’s benevolence.

“Hope” is the thing with feathersBy Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 7. Hope is constant, it neverThat perches in the soul - wavers. It lifts us up, and theAnd sings the tune without the words - controlling metaphor comparingAnd never stops - at all - hope to a bird reinforces this.

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.