Poetry(also called verse)

Poetry defined:Poetry is a major type of literature. It features imaginative and musical language carefully chosen and arranged to communicate experiences, thoughts, or emotions.

Characteristics:

• Poetry differs from prose in that it compresses meaning into fewer words and often uses meter, rhyme, and imagery.

• Poetry is usually arranged in lines and stanzas as opposed to sentences and paragraphs and it can be more free in the ordering of words and use of punctuation.

Sound Effects

Alliteration ConsonanceRhyme AssonanceRhythm Repetition MeterInternal rhymeOnomatopoeiaRhyme scheme

Repetition

The use of the same words or phrases over and over

Alliteration

The use of words that begin with the same sound

Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that sound like the thing they describe

Examples: “hiss,” “boom,” “buzz”

Meter

Meter is a regular rhythmic pattern in poetry. This pattern is determined by the number of beats, or stresses, in each line. Stressed and unstressed syllables are divided into rhythmical units called feet.

Types of Feet:

• Iambic – an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (Example: insist)

• Trochaic—a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (Example: freedom)

• Anapestic—two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (unimpressed)

Types of Feet continued

• Dactylic—one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

• Spondaic--two stressed syllables

Terms used to describe the number of feet in a line:

• Monometer—one foot line• Dimeter—two-foot line• Trimeter—three-foot line

• Tetrameter—four –foot line

…continued

• Pentameter—five-foot line• Hexameter—six-foot line• Heptameter—seven-foot line• Octameter-eight-foot line

• Note: The most common meters are iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter.

Types of Rhyme:

• End rhyme—use of rhyming words at the ends of lines

• Internal rhyme—the use of rhyming words within lines

• Exact rhyme--rhyming words end with the same sound as in moon and June

…continued• Slant rhyme—rhyming sounds are similar but

not identical as in “rave” and “rove”• Sight rhyme—words are spelled similarly but

pronounced differently, as in “lost” and “ghost” or “give” and “thrive”

Rhyme Scheme the pattern of end rhymes designated by

assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each rhyme

(Ex: ababc)

Poetic Forms:Lyric (ode, sonnet, ballad, elegy)Narrative --Shape poemEpic --AcrosticHaikuBlank verseFree verseLimerickQuatrainCinquainDiamante

Lyric

a highly musical type of poetry the purpose of which is to expresses the emotions of a speaker. Lyric poems often uses regular meter

Narrative

Purpose: Tells a

Purpose: Tells a

storystory

Ode

a poem that’s purpose is to honor or praise someone or something.

Sonneta fourteen-line lyric poem, usually in iambic pentameter, that follows one of a number of different rhyme schemes, considered a “little song,” as sonnet’s purpose is to express thoughts, ideas, or feelings

Epica long narrative poem, usually chronicling the deeds of a folk hero and written using moth dramatic and narrative literary techniques. (The Odyssey, The Iliad, Paradise Lost)

Free Verse

Poetry that does not use regular rhyme, meter, or stanza division. Free verse may contain irregular line breaks and sentence fragments and the purpose of this irregularity is to mimic the rhythm of ordinary speech. Most contemporary poetry is written in free verse.

Darn

Darn the electric fence!Darn the electric fence!

Haiku

A form of Japanese pattern poetry, usually consisting of three lines in which the syllables alternate in a pattern of 5-7-5; Haiku reflects on some aspect of nature and uses a “minimalist” (simplified) form.

Haiku Example

An old silent pondA frog jumps into the pond,splash! Silence again.

HaikuSquirrel crossing streetCar comes, he changes his mindBe wise, not reckless.

--Bonnie Best

Elegy

a poem that’s purpose is to express sorrow over a loss

Limerick

A short, humorous poem composed of five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables and rhyme

with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables, and also

rhyme with each other.

Example Limerick

There was an Old Man of NantucketWho kept all his cash in a bucket.His daughter, called Nan,Ran away with a man,And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

Example Limerick

There was an Old Man with a beardWho said, “It is just as I feared!Two owls, and a hen,Four larks, and a wrenHave all built their nests in my beard!”

--Edward Learfrom A Book of Nonsense

Quatrain

A poem of four lines: lines 2 and 4 must rhyme; lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme. Rhyming lines should have a similar number of syllables.

Example Quatrain

Life is goodIn many ways

Just don’t get misunderstoodOn hard days

Will Bjordammen

Example Quatrain

What’s wrong with people today?People are rude,Or maybe they’re in a mood,Or maybe it’s just too many attitudes.

Example Quatrain

I had once made a snowmanHandsome as can beIn the snow he meltedA sad sight to see

Sebastian Gusman

Example Quatrain

Apples, pears, cookies tooTacos, pizza, French fonduePeople, racecar, how are you?Ghost, goblins, zombies, BOO!

Cinquain

Has five lines: Line 1 is one word (the title), line 2 is two words that describe the title, line 3 is three words that tell the action, line 4 is four words that express feeling, line 5 is one word that recalls the title

Example Cinquain

MulesStubborn, unmoving

Braying, kicking, resistingNot wanting to listen

Peopleby Cindy Barden

Example

BirdsColorful, poised

Flying, singing, divingSpirited, peaceful, joyous, free

Dancers Abby Guinan

Diamante

Has seven linesline 1 is a one-word subject that is opposite of line 7 line 2 is two adjectives which describe the subject in Line 1 Line 3 is three verbs relating to the subject in line 1 line 4 is two nouns related to the subject of line 1, followed by two nouns related to the subject in line 7 (four words total)

line 5 is three verbs related to the subject in line 7line 6 is two adjectives which describe the subject in line sevenline 7 is a one-word subject that is opposite of line 1

Example Diamante

TearsWet, shiny

Sliding, escaping, holding,Girls, hearts, boys, teeth

Healing, rejuvenating, motivatingBeautiful, emotional

Smile Alex Lewis

Example DiamanteSociety

Imperfect, unestablishedCheating, lying, stealing

Pollution, economy, life, generationsGreening, blossoming, growing

Beautiful, majesticNature

Abby Guinan

Shape Poem

Poetry written in the shape or form of an object. This is a type of concrete poetry.

Shape poem

It smells like a box.It looks like a box.It tastes like a box.It sounds like a box.But it’s not a box.

Amy Levy

Acrostic Poem

• A poem that makes a word or message from the first (usually) letter used in each line

LivingInside the worldFor many years Everyday we learn something about it

Graphic and Structural Elements

• Line break—the intentional end of a line of poetry

• Refrain—group of words repeated at key intervals in poetry

• Stanza—division of a poem composed of two or more lines characterized by meter, rhyme, and number of lines

Stanza Lengths

• Couplet—two-line stanza• Triplet—three-line stanza• Quatrain—a four-line stanza• Quintet—a five-line stanza• Sestet—a six-line stanza

Literary Language and Devices

HyperboleMetaphorExtended MetaphorApostropheOxymoronParadoxImagery

New Literary Terms

• Enjambment – the running over of a sentence from one line to the next (chops up the ideas/reader’s thoughts)

• Antithesis—contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (Example: “You win some; you lose some.”)

Apostrophe

addressing an absent person or personified thing

Oxymoron

a combination of contradictory words, as in “cruel kindness” or “loving hate”

Paradox

A statement that is seemingly contradictory to common sense and yet is true

Examples:I’m alone in a crowd.Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drinkI must be cruel only to be kind.

Paradox examples

• I always tell lies.• We must go to war to make peace.• I can resist anything except temptation

Imagery/Sensory Details

A description that creates clear pictures in the reader’s mind; appeal to the five senses. When you read a description of something that causes you to imagine the way something tastes, smells, sounds, feels, or looks like

idiom

• An expression that has a meaning different from the meaning of its individual words

• Examples— “to go to the dogs”“a drop in the bucket”“chip on your shoulder”“a piece of cake”“a pat on the back”“a slap on the wrist”