Poetry Notes Day 3
Lyrical Poetry (another Genre of Poetry)
*Don’t confuse with “lyrics” in songs –
many songs are NOT lyrical poems!
Basic Elements of a Lyrical Poems
o No story
o Thoughts & Feelings
o 1 speaker’s point of view
Types of Lyric Poems
Sonnets
 Lyrical Poem
 14 lines
 Rhyming couplets (Pairs of rhyming lines
together)
o ABABCDCDABABCC
o AABBCCDDEEFFGG
 10 syllables each line
Examples:
Shakespeare’s sonnets
Odes
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Type of lyrical poem
Celebrates a topic
Usually over the top emotion
Have rhyme & meter
Free Verse
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Type of lyrical poem
No regular rhyme, meter or rhythm
“prose” – like
Relies on word choice, figurative language and
imagery for its poetic nature
Imagery
 An element of poetry (tool writers use)
 Used to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind
 Words and phrases that appeal to the five senses
Sound, smell, touch, taste, sight
 Creates a picture in your head
Or
 Reminds you of a familiar feeling
Example:
“She sprinkled raindrops in my face on a sunny day”
Figurative Language
 An element of poetry (tools writers use)
 Use of words or phrases to symbolize more than their
regular, every day, literal (exact) meaning
Types of Figurative Language:
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Symbol
Simile
Personification
Anthropomorphism
Metaphor
Idiom
Definitions of Types of Figurative Language
Symbol:
A person, place object or idea that stands for something
beyond itself.
Examples:
o Birds often symbolize freedom
o The color red can symbolize passion, blood,
death
o Scales symbolize justice
Simile:
a comparison of two things that have a common quality
 Uses the words “Like” or “As”
 Used to create a vivid picture and association
Examples
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She looked like a drowned rat
The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf
That steak was dry as a bone in the desert
He had a face like thunder
Personification:
Describing an animal or object as if it were human or had
human qualities
Examples:
 “The wind howled and beat on the doors, demanding
entry.”
 “Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie”
 “Pimento eyes bulged in their olive sockets. Lying on a
ring of onion, a tomato slice exposed its seedy smile…”
Anthropomorphism:
 An extreme type of personification
 Basically turns non-human things into human-like
characters.
Commonly anthropomorphized things:
Religious figures, animals, forces of nature, chance
Anthropomorphic examples:
 The Cat in the Hat
 Mickey Mouse
 Death (Grim Reaper)
 Santa Clause (Spirit of giving)
 Mother Nature