Poetry terminology
- 1. POETRY
- 2. POETRY A type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form (usually using lines and stanzas)
- 3. POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY POET The poet is the author of the poem. Tone: Attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character or the audience SPEAKER The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem. Diction: a writer’s or speaker’s choice of words
- 4. POETRY FORM FORM - the appearance of the words on the page LINE - a group of words together on one line of the poem STANZA - a group of lines arranged together A word is dead When it is said, Some say. I say it just Begins to live That day.
- 5. KINDS OF STANZAS Couplet = a two line stanza Triplet (Tercet) = a three line stanza Quatrain = a four line stanza Quintet = a five line stanza Sestet (Sextet) = a six line stanza Septet = a seven line stanza Octave = an eight line stanza
- 7. RHYTHM The beat created by the sounds of the words in a poem Rhythm can be created by meter, rhyme, alliteration and refrain.
- 8. METER A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a repeating pattern. When poets write in meter, they count out the number of stressed (strong) syllables and unstressed (weak) syllables for each line. They repeat the pattern throughout the poem.
- 9. METER cont. FOOT - unit of meter. A foot can have two or three syllables. Usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables. TYPES OF FEET The types of feet are determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. (cont.)
- 10. METER cont. TYPES OF FEET (cont.) Iambic - unstressed, stressed Example: But soft/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow breaks? Trochee: stressed, unstressed Anapest: unstressed, unstressed, stressed
- 11. METER cont. Kinds of Metrical Lines monometer = one foot on a line dimeter = two feet on a line trimeter = three feet on a line
- 12. FREE VERSE POETRY Unlike metered poetry, free verse poetry does NOT have any repeating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. Does NOT have rhyme. Free verse poetry is very conversational - sounds like someone talking with you. A more modern type of poetry.
- 13. RHYME Words sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds. (A word always rhymes with itself.) LAMP STAMP Share the short “a” vowel sound Share the combined “mp” consonant sound
- 14. END RHYME A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line Hector the Collector Collected bits of string. Collected dolls with broken heads And rusty bells that would not ring.
- 15. INTERNAL RHYME A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
- 16. NEAR RHYME a.k.a imperfect rhyme, close rhyme The words share EITHER the same vowel or consonant sound BUT NOT BOTH ROSE LOSE Different vowel sounds (long “o” and “oo” sound) Share the same consonant sound
- 17. RHYME SCHEME A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end rhyme, but not always). Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually “see” the pattern. (See next slide for an example.)
- 18. SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME The Germ by Ogden Nash A mighty creature is the germ, Though smaller than the pachyderm. His customary dwelling place Is deep within the human race. His childish pride he often pleases By giving people strange diseases. Do you, my poppet, feel infirm? You probably contain a germ. a a b b c c a a
- 19. ONOMATOPOEIA Words that imitate the sound they are naming BUZZ OR sounds that imitate another sound “The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of each purple curtain . . .”
- 20. ALLITERATION Consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of words If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
- 21. ASSONANCE Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of poetry. (Often creates near rhyme.) Lake Fate Base Fade (All share the long “a” sound.)
- 22. ASSONANCE cont. Examples of ASSONANCE: “Slow the low gradual moan came in the snowing.” - John Masefield “Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.” - William Shakespeare
- 23. SOME TYPES OF POETRY WE WILL BE STUDYING
- 24. Catalogue Poem Presents a list of many different images. – Example: The car with a cracked windshield. The car that threw a rod. The car without brakes. The car with a faulty U-joint.
- 25. Dramatic Monologue A poem in which a speaker addresses one or more silent listeners. – Example What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness, Anger, discontent, and drooping hopes? Degenerate sons and daughters, Life is too strong for you- It takes life to love Life.
- 26. LYRIC A short poem Usually written in first person point of view Expresses an emotion or an idea or describes a scene Do not tell a story and are often musical (Many of the poems we read will be lyrics.)
- 27. HAIKU A Japanese poem written in three lines Five Syllables Seven Syllables Five Syllables An old silent pond . . . A frog jumps into the pond. Splash! Silence again.
- 28. CINQUAIN A five line poem containing 22 syllables Two Syllables Four Syllables Six Syllables Eight Syllables Two Syllables How frail Above the bulk Of crashing water hangs Autumnal, evanescent, wan The moon.
- 29. SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET A fourteen line poem with a specific rhyme scheme. The poem is written in three quatrains and ends with a couplet. The rhyme scheme is 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. Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
- 30. NARRATIVE POEMS A poem that tells a story. Generally longer than the lyric styles of poetry b/c the poet needs to establish characters and a plot. Examples of Narrative Poems “The Raven” “The Highwayman” “Casey at the Bat” “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
- 31. CONCRETE POEMS In concrete poems, the words are arranged to create a picture that relates to the content of the poem. Poetry Is like Flames, Which are Swift and elusive Dodging realization Sparks, like words on the Paper, leap and dance in the Flickering firelight. The fiery Tongues, formless and shifting Shapes, tease the imiagination. Yet for those who see, Through their mind’s Eye, they burn Up the page.
- 33. SIMILE A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.” “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
- 34. METAPHOR A direct comparison of two unlike things “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.” - William Shakespeare
- 35. PERSONIFICATION An animal given human- like qualities or an object given life-like qualities. from “Ninki” by Shirley Jackson “Ninki was by this time irritated beyond belief by the general air of incompetence exhibited in the kitchen, and she went into the living room and got Shax, who is extraordinarily lazy and never catches his own chipmunks, but who is, at least, a cat, and preferable, Ninki saw clearly, to a man with a gun.
- 37. SYMBOLISM When a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for, something else. = Innocence = America = Peace
- 38. IMAGERY Language that appeals to the senses. Most images are visual, but they can also appeal to the senses of sound, touch, taste, or smell. then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather . . . from “Those Winter Sundays”