Introduction to Poetry

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Introduction to Poetry
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Speaker

• The voice talking to us in a poem.
• Not always the poet
• Think of the voice as a character the poet creates

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Figurative Language

• Language that is not meant to be taken literally.
• This room is a pig sty!

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Figurative Language

• Metaphor- an imaginative comparison between two
  unlike things in which one thing is said to be
  another thing.
• She was a blurr.
• He is a rock.
• Life is a tree with many branches.

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Figurative Language

• Personification- An animal or object has human
  thoughts, feelings, or attitudes.
• The clustered spires of Frederick stand
• from Barbara Frietchie
• And felt the breath of the morning breeze
• from Paul Reveres Ride

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Figurative Language

• Hyperbole- is an exaggeration or overstatement
• tore the cover off the ball.
• from Casey at the Bat

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Figurative Language

• Imagery- language that appeals to the senses.
• Blowing over the meadows brown
• from Paul Reveres Ride
• Green-walled by the hills of Maryland
• from Barbara Frietchie

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Figurative Language

• Symbol- a person, place, a thing, or an event
  that has meaning in itself and stands for
  something beyond itself as well
• Forty Flags with their silver stars,
• Forty Flags with their crimson bars
• (The stars and red stripes of the flag)

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Figurative Language

• Pun- a figure of speech in which there is a
  deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases
  for rhetorical effect
• Is swiss cheese good for you? Yes it is
  holesome.

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Figurative Language

• Simile- a comparison of 2 unlike things, using a
  word such as like, as, than, or resembles.
• Peaceful as a dove.
• Lovely as a flower.
• A line of black that bends and floats
• On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.
• from Paul Reveres Ride

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Figurative Language

• Oxymoron- puts 2 contradictory words together
• Bittersweet
• Sweet sorrow
• Loving Hate
• Brawling Love

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Figurative Language

• Idiom- an expression peculiar to a particular
  language that means something different from the
  literal meaning.

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words This term
which means a story told by pictures as well as a
vast amount of descriptive text comes from the
quotation 'One picture is worth ten thousand
words', Frederick R. Barnard in Printer's Ink, 8
Dec 1921 retelling a Chinese proverb. .
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Figurative Language

• Allusion- a brief reference to a person, event,
  or place.

"Like the prodigal son, he returned to his home
town and was welcomed by all who knew him". In
order to fully appreciate the allusion to the
prodigal son, the reader must be familiar with
that story in Luke 15 11-32. In general, the
use of allusions by an author shows an
expectation that the reader is familiar with the
references made, otherwise the effect is lost.
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Figurative Language

• Mood- the overall feeling of a piece of
  literature.
• On a dark dreary night, the street lights were
  dimmed by the thick fog. Stars were not seen nor
  was the moon.

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Figurative Language

• Repetition- words or certain phrases are repeated
  for a stronger emphasis

Because I do not hope to turn againBecause I do
not hopeBecause I do not hope to turn.... The
repetition of a phrase in poetry may have an
incantatory effect as in the opening lines of T.
S. Eliot's "Ash-Wednesday"
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Sound Devices

• Rhyme- the repetition of accented vowels sounds
  and all sounds following them in words that are
  close together in a poem.
• Listen children and you will hear
• Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere

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Sound Devices

• Rhyme Scheme
• Pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines of poetry.
• Designated by letters with matching letters
  signifying matching sounds.
• I was angry with my friend
• I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
• I was angry with my foe
• I told it not, my wrath did grow.
• from A Poison Tree

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Sound Device

• Meter
• A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in
  poetry.
• Listen my children and you shall hear,
• Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere

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Sound Devices

• Alliteration- the repetition of consonant sounds
  in words that are close together.

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• The first letter, p, is a consonant. It is
  repeated many times.
• How the British Regulars fired and fled
• from Paul Reveres Ride

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Sound Devices

• Speaker the repetition of consonant sounds.

• lady lounges lazily
• dark deep dread crept in

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Sound Devices

• Onomatopoeia- words whose sound imitates or
  suggest its meaning
• The lightning cracked and the thunder boomed in
  the sky.

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Sound Devices

• Rhythm- a musical quality produced by the
  repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables.
• I confess Id cared to mess
• With a wolf pack even less.
• Stressed/unstressed syllables

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Sound Devices

• Assonance- the repetition of vowels sounds.
• The fat cat ran and sat on my
• fathers brand new hat!

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Poetic Structure

• Stanza
• A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form
  a single unit.
• I AM

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Types of Poems

• Narratives- tells a story

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Types of Poetry

• Ballad
• A song or songlike poem that tells a story.

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Types of Poems

• Lyric
• A poem that expresses feelings or thoughts of a
  speaker rather than telling a story.

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Types of Poems

• Haiku- a 3- lined poem with 17 syllables with 5
  in the 1st, 7 in the 2nd, and 5 in the 3rd.

The Rose   The red blossom bends   and drips its
dew to the ground.   Like a tear it falls By
Donna Brock
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Types of Poems

• Diamante- a seven line poem shaped like a diamond.

squaresymmetrical, conventionalshaping,
measuring, balancingboxes, rooms, clocks,
halosencircling, circumnavigating,
enclosinground, continuouscircle
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Types of Poems

• Free Verse- has no regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Running through a field of clover,Stop to pick a
daffodilI play he loves me, loves me not,The
daffy lies, it says he does not love me!Well,
what use a daffy When Jimmy gives me roses?--
Flora Launa
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Types of Poems

• Limerick- a popular form in childrens verse, is
  often comical, nonsensical, and sometimes lewd. 5
  lines 1st 2 lines rhyme, 3rd 4th lines rhyme
  5th line rhymes w/ 1st or repeats 1st line.

A flea and a fly in a flue Were caught, so what
could they do? Said the fly, "Let us flee." "Let
us fly," said the flea. So they flew through a
flaw in the flue.   -Anonymous
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Types of Poems
Iama veryspecialshape I havethree
points andthree lines straight.Look through my
wordsand you will see, the shapethat I am meant
to be. I'm justnot words caught in a tangle.
Lookclose to see a small triangle. My anglesadd
to one hundred and eighty degrees, youlearn this
at school with your abc's. Practice yourmaths
and you will see, some other fine examples of me.

• Concrete- forms a picture of the topic.

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Types of Poems

• Quatrain- any 4 line stanza w/ rhyming pattern.

Alternating Quatrain- a four line stanza rhyming
"abab." From W.H. Auden's "Leap Before You Look"
The sense of danger must not disappearThe
way is certainly both short and steep, However
gradual it looks from hereLook if you like, but
you will have to leap.
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Types of Poems

• Cinquain- also known as a quintain or quintet,
  composed of 5 lines usually follow rhyme scheme
  of ababb, abaab, or abccb.

trianglespointy edgesrevolving, rotating,
anglingThree sides if you please.180o