Poetry Intro

11/17/2014
POETRY
POETRY
A type of literature
that expresses
ideas, feelings, or
tells a story in a
specific form
(usually using lines
and stanzas)
POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY

POET
SPEAKER
The poet is the author
The speaker of the
poem is the narrator

of the poem.
of the poem.
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
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
lines arranged together
KINDS OF STANZAS
Couplet
Triplet (Tercet)
Quatrain
Quintet
Sestet (Sextet)
Septet
Octave
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
a two line stanza

a three line stanza
a four line stanza
a five line stanza
a six line stanza
a seven line stanza
an eight line stanza
SOUND EFFECTS
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RHYTHM
METER
The beat created by
the sounds of the

words in a poem
Rhythm can be created
by meter, rhyme,
alliteration and refrain.
METER cont.
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
they repeat the pattern throughout the poem.
METER cont.
FOOT - unit of meter.
TYPES OF FEET
A foot can have two or
The types of feet are

determined by the
arrangement of
stressed and
unstressed syllables.
(cont.)
three syllables.
Usually consists of
one stressed and one

or more unstressed
syllables.
METER cont.
TYPES OF FEET (cont.)

Iambic - unstressed, stressed
Trochaic - stressed, unstressed
Anapestic - unstressed, unstressed, stressed
Dactylic - stressed, unstressed, unstressed
FREE VERSE POETRY
Kinds of Metrical Lines
Unlike metered poetry,
monometer
free verse poetry does

NOT have any
repeating patterns of
stressed and
unstressed syllables.
Does NOT have
rhyme.
dimeter
trimeter
tetrameter
pentameter
hexameter
heptameter
octometer
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
one foot on a line

two feet on a line
three feet on a line
four feet on a line
five feet on a line
six feet on a line
seven feet on a line
eight feet on a line
Free verse poetry is
very conversational sounds like someone

talking with you.
A more modern type
of poetry.
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BLANK VERSE POETRY

from Julius Ceasar
Written in lines of
iambic pentameter, but

does NOT use end
rhyme.
Cowards die many times before

their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but
once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have
heard,
It seems to me most strange that
men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
RHYME
Words sound alike
because they share the

same ending vowel
and consonant sounds.
LAMP
STAMP
Share the short a
vowel sound
Share the combined
(A word always
mp consonant sound
rhymes with itself.)
END RHYME
INTERNAL RHYME
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a
A word inside a line rhymes with another
word at the end of another line
word on the same line.
Hector the Collector

Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
NEAR RHYME
a.k.a imperfect
rhyme, close rhyme

The words share
EITHER the same

vowel or consonant
sound BUT NOT
BOTH
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered weak and weary.
From The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe
RHYME SCHEME
ROSE
LOSE
Different vowel
sounds (long o and
oo sound)
Share the same
consonant sound
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.)
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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.
ONOMATOPOEIA
Words that imitate the sound they are
a
a
b
b
c
c
a
a
naming
BUZZ
OR sounds that imitate another sound
The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of

each purple curtain . . .
ALLITERATION
CONSONANCE
Consonant sounds repeated at the
Similar to alliteration EXCEPT . . .
beginnings of words
The repeated consonant sounds can be
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled

peppers, how many pickled peppers did
Peter Piper pick?
anywhere in the words
silken, sad, uncertain, rustling . .
ASSONANCE
ASSONANCE cont.
Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines
Examples of ASSONANCE:
Slow the low gradual moan came in the
snowing.
- John Masefield
of poetry.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake
Fate
Base
Fade
(All share the long a sound.)
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.

- William Shakespeare
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REFRAIN
Quoth the raven,
Nevermore.
A sound, word, phrase
or line repeated
regularly in a poem.
POETRY TYPES
LYRIC
HAIKU
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.)
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.
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.
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
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers 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 natures changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growst
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
abab cdcd efef gg
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NARRATIVE POEMS
CONCRETE POEMS
A poem that tells a
In concrete poems, the
story.
Examples of Narrative
Poems
Generally longer than
the lyric styles of

poetry b/c the poet
needs to establish
characters and a plot.
The Raven
The Highwayman
Casey at the Bat
The Walrus and the
Carpenter
words are arranged to

create a picture that
relates to the content
of the poem.
THERE ARE MANY MORE

TYPES OF POETRY!
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 minds
Eye, they burn
Up the page.
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
SIMILE
METAPHOR
A comparison of two things using like, as
A direct comparison of two unlike things
than, or resembles.
All the worlds a stage, and we are merely
She is as beautiful as a sunrise.
players.
- William Shakespeare
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EXTENDED METAPHOR
IMPLIED METAPHOR
A metaphor that goes several lines or
The comparison is hinted at but not clearly
possible the entire length of a work.
stated.
The poison sacs of the town began to
manufacture venom, and the town swelled

and puffed with the pressure of it.
- from The Pearl
- by John Steinbeck
Hyperbole
Exaggeration often used for emphasis.
Litotes
Understatement - basically the opposite of
hyperbole. Often it is ironic.

Ex. Calling a slow moving person Speedy
Idiom
An expression where the literal meaning of
the words is not the meaning of the

expression. It means something other than
what it actually says.
Ex. Its raining cats and dogs.
PERSONIFICATION
An animal
given humanlike 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.
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SYMBOLISM
OTHER
POETIC DEVICES
Allusion
Allusion comes from
the verb allude

which means to refer
to
An allusion is a
reference to something
famous.
A tunnel walled and overlaid

With dazzling crystal: we
had read
Of rare Aladdins wondrous
cave,
And to our own his name we
gave.
From Snowbound
John Greenleaf Whittier
When a person, place,
thing, or event that has

meaning in itself also
represents, or stands
for, something else.
Innocence
America
Peace
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
POETRY ANALYSIS
To analyze poetry, we will use three column
analysis.
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11/17/2014

POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY

The poet is the author

The speaker of the

poem is the narrator

lines arranged together

a two line stanza

the sounds of the

A pattern of stressed and unstressed

syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a

FOOT - unit of meter.

A foot can have two or

The types of feet are

one stressed and one

TYPES OF FEET (cont.)

FREE VERSE POETRY

Kinds of Metrical Lines

Unlike metered poetry,

free verse poetry does

one foot on a line

Free verse poetry is

very conversational sounds like someone

BLANK VERSE POETRY

iambic pentameter, but

Cowards die many times before

because they share the

rhymes with itself.)

A word at the end of one line rhymes with a

A word inside a line rhymes with another

word at the end of another line

word on the same line.

Hector the Collector

rhyme, close rhyme

EITHER the same

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

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

SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME

The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of

Consonant sounds repeated at the

Similar to alliteration EXCEPT . . .

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled

anywhere in the words

silken, sad, uncertain, rustling . .

Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines

Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.

A sound, word, phrase

An old silent pond . . .

The poem is written in

Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

abab cdcd efef gg

A poem that tells a

In concrete poems, the

Generally longer than

the lyric styles of

words are arranged to

THERE ARE MANY MORE