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Poetry is one of the four major genres, or
categories, of literature. The four major
genres are: fiction, non-fiction, poetry,
and drama.
Writing poetry is the ultimate exercise in
descriptive writing and word choice.
Play with language
Express feelings
Explore ideas
Discover the extraordinary in the ordinary things
around us.
◦ In the end, poetry should make you feel and
think.
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To be a poet, you must see the world
around you differently. You must look
beyond the literal and embrace figurative
language.
The study of poetry improves your command
of spoken and written language in FOUR
ways:
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1. Poetry study is a powerful way of
mastering language - improving your
command of spoken and written language.
Poetry provides powerful images and ideas.
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2. Poetry study is a way of training and
developing our EMOTIONAL intelligence.
Poetry reveals how language communicates
feeling through images and associations –
figurative language.
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3. We realize that HOW something is said is
an essential part of what is actually being
said. Tone, inflection and rhythm carry real
meaning.
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4. Poetry study enlarges our humanity and
give us the power to express it. Our
experience is widened, allowing us to see the
world through the eyes of other people and
other ages.
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The study of poetry will help us make those
text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world
connections!
Poetry will help us with an understanding of
important life events like:
 Love and Desire
 Earth and Death
 Loneliness and Loss
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Literature prepares us imaginatively and
spiritually for our journey through life.
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Helps develop an inner life capable of facing,
comprehending, and mastering our external life.
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Mastering poetry will help you with:
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Language
Perception
Communication
Compassion
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As we study our place in the universe through
our science connections in our astronomy
unit, we must look deep within to really know
who we are and where we are going.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/enlargeimage.htm?terms=space+station&page=0
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Poetry is speech raised to its highest intensity; a
way of using words in the most moving and
memorable way possible.
Poetry is about memory and improvisation – just
like a rap star! Shakespeare and Frost and 2Pac?
-- yes!!
Poetry is about the wonder of our language
through written word, speech and songs.
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Pick a word – any word
Write the word in capital letters on the first
line.
Find three to five synonyms in a thesaurus.
Write the synonyms on the second line.
On the third line, write a descriptive phrase
about the word.
The last two lines of the poem should
rhyme.
LOVE
Attachment, warmth, adore
Love is pure, down to the core.
By K. Brantley, Grade 10
SORRY
Regretful, sympathetic, deplorable
What I said made me feel horrible.
By D. Shortell, Grade 7
MUSIC
Melody, tune, song, beat
You just can’t help but tap your feet.
By S.Doelger, Grade 7
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DIAMONTE: a seven-lined, diamondshaped poem that begins with one subject
and ends with its opposite. Specific parts
of speech are used to create the poem.
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What are the eight parts of speech and
what do they do?
◦ Noun: person, place, thing, or idea
◦ Pronoun: replaces a noun or another pronoun.
Examples: “He," "which," "none," and "you" make
your phrases less repetitive.
◦ Adjective: describes a noun
◦ Verb: action word
◦ Adverb: describes a verb or another adverb
◦ Conjunction: combines words, phrases
◦ Interjection: word or phrase that shows
excitement or emotion – ugh! Oh!
◦ Preposition: indicates position or relationship
subject/noun
adjective
-ing verb
noun
adjective
-ing verb
noun
-ing verb
-ing verb
noun
-ing verb
adjective
-ing verb
adjective
subject/opposite of
top subject
noun
Winter
cold, icy
freezing, frosting, snowing
blizzards, flurries
sunshine, sprinklers,
melting, sweltering, sweating,
warm, heat
Summer.
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CINQUAIN: a five-line poem that follows
the pattern of (1,2,3,4,1) words in each
line.
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Line
Line
Line
Line
Line
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
A subject/noun
Two adjectives
Three verbs
Four-word phrase, statement, or feeling
Repeated subject or synonym
Hatred
Deadly, destructive
Stirs, simmers, scalds
More fatal than flames
Rancor
Ocean
Salty, immense
Sprays, churns, moves
Darker than any black
Water
By D. Mitchell, Grade 7
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HAIKU: an ancient Japanese poetic form
that contains 17 syllables in three lines of
(5, 7, 5) syllables each. Nature’s wonder is
often the haiku’s theme.
◦ Line 1: 5 syllables
◦ Line 2: 7 syllables
◦ Line 3: 5 syllables
One man and one fly
buzzing alone together
in a sunny room…
By K. Issa
Student, West Hartford
Get out of my road
and allow me to plant these
bamboos, Mr. Toad.
By M. Chora
It comes out after
all the rain has fallen down.
Rainbow is its name.
By C. Brooks, Grade 7
Walking on the beach,
the sand creeps between my feet.
Ouch! A crab bit me.
By J. Moss, Grade 7
Literary Devices
or
Figurative Language
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Candles cry wax tears.
Cats tango in the streets
I called out to the ocean, and she waved
back to me.
◦ Can these objects actually do these things?
◦ Which literary device (figurative language) type is
used here?
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PERSONIFICATION: a literary device used to
give human traits to places, objects,
animals, or ideas.
I know what I see
The blue spruce outside my window
Is kneeling for morning prayers.
Meanwhile, the oak across the street
Scratches the back of the tired sky
And a small bush next door
Embraces the innocent sparrow.
--From “I Think I Shall Never See…”
By Jim Heynen
The
The
The
The
morns are meeker than they were
nuts are getting brown –
berry’s cheeks are plumper –
Rose is out of town.
The Maple wears a grayer scarf –
The field a scarlet gown –
Lest I should be old fashioned
I’ll put a trinket on.
--#12 by Emily Dickinson
The short, thin body of the tree
With its long, tangled hair
Stands all alone
Against the forlorn, pale sky.
--“A Tangled Mess”
By M. Visgilio, Grade 7
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An ocean is as deep as our memories.
The teacher’s voice is like sandpaper.
The night is like a blanket.
◦ What two things are being compared in each of
these sentences?
◦ Which literary device is used here?
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SIMILE: A literary device used by writers to
show that two unrelated things may have
something in common.
A simile is a comparison of two unlike
things using “like” or “as” to make the
comparison.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
“ A Dream Deferred”
By Langston Hughes
The light shade of purple
slowly fades into yellow.
The end of many petals
looks like 100 hands reaching for you.
The glowing petals feel
as soft as a silk blanket.
The petals look
as graceful as a ballerina
spinning in a tutu.
The smell is as sweet and thick
as a jar of honey.
This is my beautiful flower.
“My Flower”
By S. Doelger, Grade 7
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What sound does a duck make?
How about a dog?
A cat?
Lunchtime?
Bedtime?
◦ There is a literary term for words like quack,
woof, meow, munch, and snore. What is it?
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ONOMATOPOEIA: a literary device that
appeals to sound. It is the imitation of
natural sounds. The word itself sounds like
the actual sound.
Was there really a man’s squeaky voice?
Or was it Thomas just making a noise?
The dancers dancing: tap, tap, tap!
Someone trying to come in: rap, rap, rap!
The flashing lights,
The dressed-up boys,
Lots of commotion,
And much noise.
“Party”
By M. Li, Grade 7
Cats swing dance
In the middle of the alley,
As the trumpet screams
At the top of its lungs,
Until it is red in the face.
Beep-beep-boo-bop-bop the music goes.
When it will stop,
Nobody knows.
“Swing Music”
By K. Smyth, Grade 7
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The ocean is a memory.
The teacher’s voice is sandpaper.
The night is a blanket.
◦ What two things are being compared here?
◦ How is the comparison different than the other
day?
◦ What literary device is used here?
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METAPHOR: a literary device used by
writers. A metaphor is used to compare
two unlike objects thought to be the same.
A metaphor does not use “like” or “as” to
compare the objects.
The sky is the ocean, an endless boundless sea,
A stormy sea of white-capped waves.
The front is an endless line sweeping across the sky.
A low-flying plane is a seagull struggling against the
wind.
The waves froth back and forth, rocking the boat that is
me.
The thunder is the song of whales calling in the distance.
The lightning is a lighthouse calling me back.
The classroom is a harbor where I am safe from the
waves.
The storm comes.
“The Sky is an Ocean”
By A. Schoell, Grade 8
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Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in
neighboring words. Sometime poets use
alliteration as a substitute for rhyme.
And sings a solitary song That whistles in the
wind. (Wordsworth)
Edwin Markham's "Lincoln, the Man of the People" is
in unrhymed blank verse, but there are many lines
of alliteration:
She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down To
make a man to meet the mortal need A man to
match the mountains and the sea The friendly
welcome of the wayside well
Robert Frost's "The Death of the Hired Man" begins:
Mary sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table
Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step. . . .
The eye immediately sees the alliteration in the "m's"
in "Mary sat musing" and the "w's" in "Waiting for
Warren. When. . . .”
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Rhyme is very simply the similarity between
syllable sounds at the end of two or more
lines.
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Some kinds of rhyme include: Couplet: a pair
of lines rhyming consecutively.
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Eye rhyme: words whose spellings would lead
one to think that they rhymed (slough, tough,
cough, bough, though, hiccough. Or: love,
move, prove. Or: daughter, laughter.)
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
“Fire and Ice”
By Robert Frost
The tears start rolling
Down his dirty cheeks,
Like a rainstorm sprouting
In the stark parched desert.
His famished body weak and tired,
He stands there, desperate for a better life.
He is all alone, living in a country overcome by
poverty,
Without the necessities for a complete life.
“A Tear Drop”
By M. Visgilio, Grade 7
As she looks at me,
With guilt in her eyes,
There is no frown, no smile,
Only a smirk highlights the
pale skin
That the sun could not
embrace.
Looks as if she thinks of
herself as a disgrace.
“Looking at Me”
By A. Ross, Grade 7
The water is frigid
Like an early winter’s day
My limbs have lost all feeling
As if they were never there
The rapids rush past
Someone tries to help
Life passes in and out of me
I cannot tell if I am alive
Or watching from above
Fear strikes me like lightning
And then it is gone
I am in a bed
Waking from a dream, maybe.
Or was it reality?
--“Drowning Life”
By S. Conley, Grade 7
They are there,
In our moments of dark,
But,
They are bright.
In their uniforms they leave glorious,
Always doing their jobs.
The intense heat,
Not all of them make it
Some left behind.
They always save us in time.
They are there,
In our moments of need,
To make a difference.
“They are There”
By K. Galarza, Grade 8
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SONNET: a 14-line poem that begins with
three quatrains and ends with a couplet.
The couplet usually contains a surprise
ending or “turn.” Shakespeare is one of the
most famous sonnet writers in history.
Quatrain – four line stanzas which may or
may not rhyme; (abab is popular)
Couplet – a pair of lines which rhyme.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
W. Shakespeare
Special thanks to:
Ms. Cindy Rodriguez at King Philip Middle School in West Hartford
and some fabulous student work samples.
Developed: Poetry PowerPoint: 2008 – Lynne Landry