Poetry

Characteristics of Poetry

Poems are usually divided into lines and then grouped into stanzas

Figurative language states ideas in new, creative ways

Sound devices enhance mood

Figurative Language

Metaphor

Personification

Simile

Symbol

Metaphor

Describes one thing saying it is something else as in:

The house was a zoo this morning!

Personification

Gives human qualities to something that is not human, as in:

The cars growled in the traffic.

Simile

To use the words like or as to compare two seemingly unlike things, as in:

He stormed into the meeting like a tornado.

Symbol

A symbol is anything that represents something else, as in:

A dove is a common symbol for peace.

Sound Devices

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the beginning of words, as in:

Copying homework begins the swift, slippery slope to academic dishonesty.

Repetition

The use of any element of language—a sound, a word, phrase, clause, or sentence—more than once, as in:

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in stressed syllables, as in:

Try to light the fire.

Consonance

The repetition of similar consonant sounds at the ends of accented syllables, as in:

I will stand on the beach in the wind and the sand.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate sounds, as in:

There was a loud crash as the baseball shattered the window.

Rhyme

The repetition of sounds at the ends of words, as in:

Winning the crownwill eliminate your frown!

Meter

The rhythmic pattern in a poem, as in:

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Forms of Poetry

Narrative Haiku Free Verse Lyric Ballad Concrete Limerick Rhyming couplets

Narrative

Narrative poetry tells a story. Narrative poems often have elements similar to those in short stories, such as plot and character.

Haiku

Haiku is three line Japanese verse form. The first and third lines have five syllables, and the second line has seven syllables.

Usually nature-themed.

O, foolish ducklings,

you know my old green pond is

watched by a weasel!

Free Verse

Free verse poetry is defined by its lack of strict structure.

It has no regular meter, rhyme, fixed line length, or specific stanza pattern.

once a snowflake fellon my brow and i lovedit so much and i kissedit and it was happy and

called its cousinsand brothers and a webof snow engulfed me theni reached to love them alland i squeezed them and

they becamea spring rain and i stood

perfectlystill and was a flower

Lyrics and Ballads

Lyric poetry expresses thoughts and feelings

Ballads are songlike poems that tell a story, often dealing with romance and adventure

Concrete

Concrete poems are shaped to look like their subjects. The poet arranges the lines of the poem to create a picture on the page

Limericks

Limericks are humorous, rhyming, five-line poems with a specific rhythm pattern and rhyme scheme.

There once was a girl from Troy

She always tried to annoy

She looked like a moose

She laughed like a goose

She’s the kid we all should avoid!

Rhyming Couplets

Pairs of rhyming lines, usually of the same meter and length

I cannot go to school today

Said little Peggy Ann McKay

I have the measles and the mumps

A gash, a rash, and purple bumps!

The End