Poetry Terms

Haiku

A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.

I walk across sandAnd find myself blisteringIn the hot, hot heat

As the wind does blow  Across the trees, I see the  Buds blooming in May       

Sonnets

Shakespeare, composed of three quatrains and a terminal couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Simile – figurative lang

Comparison using “like” or “as”

* “It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog” -- The Beatles

* My love is like a red, red rose.

• These oatmeal cookies taste like cardboard.

• He was as mad as a hornet who’s nest has been destroyed.

Metaphor – figurative lang

My cat is a rabid wolverine when he is hungry.

The car is a supersonic jet when it hits the highway.

The classroom was a zoo after 5th block had class.

Comparison NOT using like or as.

The writer states that something IS something else.

Internal Rhyme – sound device

Two or more rhyming words occur within the same line.

It could the end word and word in the middle; the words could be right next to each other; or spread out in the line.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary - Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven).

I went to town to buy a gown.

I took the car and it wasn’t far. 

Rhyme – sound device

Words that sound the same.

Can be found at the end of lines, inside the line, or on other lines in the poem.

Poets use rhyme for specific reasons – call your attention to a specific part of the poem or to emphasize a point.

Types of Rhyme – sound device

Alliteration: words with the same sounding beginning.

Sally sells seashells by the sea shore.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before

Assonance – sound device

Repetition of a vowel sound in words near each other in a line of poetry.

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! - Edgar Allen Poe

From the molten-golden notes – Edgar Allen Poe

Consonance – sound device

Repetition of the final consonant sounds in a word.

East/WestFirst/LastStroke/luck

Onomatopoeia – sound device

Words that sound like their meaning.

Ruff, meow, tinkle, splash, buzz, pow, boom, gurgle

cacophony – sound device

Jarring, harsh sounds – like that of traffic at rush hour with engines revving and horns honking

Example: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy

toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

- Lewis Carroll

Euphony – sound device

Pleasing sounds in speech; easy to listen to.

Alliteration and rhyme are examples.

Caesura – sound device

A grammatical pause or break in a line of poetry (like a question mark), usually near the middle of the line. A caesura is usually dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by metrics.

An Essay on ManbyAlexander Pope

Know then thyself II, presume not God to scan;The proper study of Mankind II is Man.Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,A being darkly wise, and rudely great:

Repetition

Repeating a word, sound, phrase for a specific effect.

To call attention to a specific section of a poem or idea.

Poetry - form

Poems can take various visual forms.

Blank verse:any verse comprised of unrhymed lines all in the same meter, usually iambic pentameter. It was developed in Italy.

Free verse: Verse composed of variable, usually unrhymed lines having no fixed metrical pattern.

Couplet

Couplet: two lines together (couple) that usually rhyme and share the same idea.

Examples:"Blessed are you

whose worthiness gives scope,

Being had, to triumph; being lacked, to hope."

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

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