Poetry 101

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Poetry 101The Basics of Poetry

• Introduction to Poetry, Literary Terms, How to
  Read a Poem, and Helpful Websites

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Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the
light like a color slide or press an ear
against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a
poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk
inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a
light switch. I want them to water ski across
the surface of a poem waving at the author's
name on the shore. But all they want to do is
tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a
confession out of it. They begin beating it
with a hose to find out what it really means.
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Literary Terms

• Allegory - sometimes called an extended metaphor,
  is the representation of abstract ideas by
  characters or events in narrative, dramatic, or
  pictorial form.
• Alliteration - Alliteration is the succession of
  similar consonant sounds. They are not recognized
  by spelling, but rather by sounds.
• Allusion - Referencing a person place or thing,
  usually indirectly, that is believed to be known
  by the reader. Sometimes these references are
  footnoted or glossed.
• Analogy - The use of words of phrases that share
  meaning but are dissimilar.
• Anaphora - A word or expression used repeatedly
  at the beginning of successive phrases. This is
  usually used for poetic or rhetorical effect.
• Antithesis - Placing a pair of words, phrases,
  clauses, or sentences side by side in contrast
  and opposition.
• Apostrophe - the addressing of an absent or
  imaginary person
• Assonance - The succession of similar vowel
  sounds that are not recognized by spelling,
  rather by sound. Do not confuse this with
  alliteration which is the repetition of
  consonants.

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Literary Terms

• Ballad - A form of verse to be sung or recited
  and characterized by its presentation of a
  dramatic or exciting EPISODE in simple narrative
  form.
• Blank Verse - Simply defined as unrhymed verse or
  unrhymed iambic pentameter.
• Close Rhyme - A rhyme of two close words.
• Conceit - An ingenious, logically complicated
  image, or an elaborate metaphor.
• Consonance - The close repetition of the same end
  consonants of stressed syllables with differing
  vowel sounds.
• Couplet - Two lines of VERSE with similar
  END-RHYMES. Formally, the couplet is a two-line
  STANZA with both grammatical structure and idea
  complete within itself.
• Diction - choice of words esp. with regard to
  correctness, clearness, or effectiveness
• Dirge - A poem of grave meditation, or lament.
  The dirge is a song of lamentation that is apt to
  be less meditative than the elegy.
• Dramatic Poem - A composition of verse that
  portrays the story of life or character,
  involving conflict and emotions.

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Literary Terms

• End Rhyme A rhyme occurring in the terminating
  word or syllable of one line of poetry with that
  of another line, as opposed to internal rhyme.
• Epic - An Epic is a long narrative poem
  celebrating the adventures and achievements of a
  hero...epics deal with the traditions, mythical
  or historical, of a nation.
• Epigram - Epigrams are short satirical poems
  ending with either a humorous retort or a
  stinging punch-line.
• Extended Metaphor - A metaphor which is drawn-out
  beyond the usual word or phrase to extend
  throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by
  using multiple comparisons between the unlike
  objects or ideas.
• Foot A rhythmic or metrical unit the division
  in verse of a group of syllables, one of which is
  long or accented.
• Free Verse - Poetry that is based on the
  irregular rhythmic CADENCE or the recurrence,
  with variations, of phrases, images, and
  syntactical patterns rather than the conventional
  use of METER. RHYME may or may not be present in
  free verse, but when it is, it is used with great
  freedom.

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Literary Terms

• Haiku - A form of Japanese poetry which states in
  three lines of five, seven, and five syllables a
  clear picture designed to arouse a distinct
  emotion and suggest a specific spiritual insight.
• Homonym - One of two or more words that have the
  same sound and often the same spelling but differ
  in meaning.
• Hyperbole - A figure of speech in which
  exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect
• Iambic - A metrical foot consisting of an
  unaccented syllable (noted by "x") and an
  accented or stressed one.
• Imagery Elements in literature used to evoke
  mental images of the visual sense, and sometimes
  of sensation and emotion as well.
• Internal Rhyme a rhyme occurring in mid-line
• Line - A formal structural division of a poem,
  consisting of one or more feet arranged as a
  separate rhythmical entity.
• Meter A measure of rhythmic quantity organized
  into groups of syllables at regular intervals in
  a line of poetry
• Metaphor - Used to suggest a relationship between
  an object or idea

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Literary Terms

• Ode - An elaborately composed verse that is
  enthusiastic in tone. It often has varying iambic
  line lengths with no fixed system of rhyme
  schemes. It often addresses a praised person or
  object.
• Onomatopoeia - Words used in place of where a
  reader should hear sounds.
• Oxymoron - The joining of two words that seem to
  be contradictory (opposites), but offer a unique
  effect.
• Pattern (Concrete) Poetry Poetry written with
  words, letters, and lines to produce a visual
  image to help convey the idea or topic of the
  poem
• Personification - A form of metaphor where an
  inanimate object, animal, or idea is given
  human-like characteristics
• Pun - A play on words that sound similar for a
  humorous effect.
• Repetition - Repetition of a sound, syllable,
  word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern
  is a basic unifying device in all poetry. It may
  reinforce, supplement, or even substitute for
  meter, the other chief controlling factor in the
  arrangement of words into poetry.

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Literary Terms

• Rhetorical Question A question asked for
  effect, but not demanding an answer
• Rhyme - A recurrence of similar ending sounds at
  the ends of a poetic line/verse
• Rhythm - The rise and fall of stress (stressed
  and unstressed syllables) a metrical pattern or
  flow of sound in verse
• Sonnet - A lyric poem of fourteen lines,
  following one or another of several set
  rhyme-schemes.
• Sight Rhyme - A rhyme consisting of words with
  similar spellings but different sounds. Also
  called eye rhyme.
• Simile - A comparison between two unlike things
  using like or as, etc.
• Stanza - One of the divisions of a poem, composed
  of two or more lines of verse usually
  characterized by a common pattern of meter,
  rhyme, or number of lines.
• Style - The poet's individual creative process,
  through figurative language, sounds, and rhythmic
  patterns
• Symbol - An image or icon that represents
  something else by association.
• Theme The central idea, topic, or subject of
  artistic representation.
• Tone - the pitch of a word often used to express
  differences of meaning a particular pitch or
  change of pitch constituting an element in the
  intonation of a phrase or sentence high low
  mid low-rising) falling , style or
  manner of expression in speaking or writing

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How to Read a Poem

• Read on until theres a punctuation mark.
• A poems line breaks indicate thought groupings,
  but dont break at the end of each line.
• If youre baffled, find the subject and verb.
• Sometimes, when passages are difficult to
  understand, you can clarify the meaning by
  finding the subject, verb, and complement of each
  sentence. Try to paraphrase.
• Look for figures of speechand think about them.
  
• Figurative language is part of what makes
  poetry, poetry.

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Still Reading that Poem

• Listen to the sounds.
• Always read a poem aloud to yourself. Poets
  choose evocative words for their sound as well as
  their meaning.
• One reading isnt enough.
• Respond to a poem on first meeting it, and then
  talk about the poem with other readers before you
  read it carefully again. On your second reading,
  youll notice new details and develop new
  insights and when you read it for the third
  time, the poem will feel comfortably yours.
• Perform the poem.
• When you give a poem a dramatic reading for an
  audience, you can emphasize the mood and feelings
  the words and evoke images. Then the poem really
  comes alive.

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Helpful Websites

• http//www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/88/poetic-t
  erms.html
• Click on these terms for an excellent definition
  of these poetic terms, some from the Oxford
  English Dictionary. Includes types of poetry as
  well as terms.
• http//www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/handbook/a.h
  tml
• This A-Z "poetry handbook" is really an
  extensive, online glossary of the terminology
  used to describe and discuss the structure and
  content of poetry.
• http//faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/a_glossary_of_te
  rms.htm
• An exhaustive list of literary terms and
  techniques with explanations that often include
  examples. The terms are presented in the order in
  which the author's students would be exposed to
  them in a semester of English literature, so you
  would need to scroll or do a "Find" for a
  specific term.
• http//rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display_rpo/poetter
  m.cfm
• The terms and definitions might seem different,
  as this is a British site, but they are all
  easily understood, and it's a fairly extensive
  list. Scroll down to view the long list of terms
  to choose from.

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More Helpful Websites

• http//www.newi.ac.uk/englishresources/workunits/k
  s4/poetry/buzzwords.html
• Discover the definitions for the buzz words in
  poetry through this site.
• http//www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html
• Calling itself "unique," Bob's is easy to use,
  with cross-links throughout, phonetic
  pronunciation guides when necessary, and many
  examples and quotations. Click on the letter and
  scroll for the word.
• http//www.english.emory.edu/classes/Handbook/Hand
  book.html
• This site, designed to help students who are
  writing about poetry, defines many significant
  terms related to poetry, including figurative
  language, poetic genres, and the mechanics of
  rhythm and meter. Examples are also provided in
  addition to the definitions.
• http//andromeda.rutgers.edu/jlynch/Terms/
• This glossary defines many common literary terms.
• http//www.gale.com/free_resources/glossary/index.
  htm
• An extensive glossary of literary terms provided
  in alphabetical format with hyperlink cross
  references from a major library publisher.