POETRY
Elements of
Poetry
Sound Devices
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Rhyme
Rhythm
Repetition
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
RHYME
• Rhyme is the
repetition of sounds at
the ends of words,
such as
– drink & stink
– world & hurled
• it makes poetry fun to
read and write.
Rhythm
• Rhythm is the beat
created by the pattern
of stressed and
unstressed syllables:
the cat sat on the mat.
Example of Rhythm
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
and of all the king’s horses and all of the
King’s men
couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together
again.
Practice your rhythm
Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank!
Ankylosaurus was built like a tank,
Its hide was a fortress as sturdy as steel,
It tended to be an inedible meal.
It was armored in front, it was armored behind,
There wasn’t a thing on its minuscule mind,
It waddled about on its four stubby legs,
Nibbling on plants with a mouthful of pegs.
Ankylosaurus was best left alone,
Its tail was a cudgel of gristle and bone,
Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank!
Ankylosaurus was built like a tank.
By: Jack Prelutsky
More Rhythm Practice
Iguanodon, Iguanodon,
Whatever made you fade,
You’ve traveled on, Iguanodon,
We wish you could have stayed.
Iguanodon, Iguanodon,
We’ve sought you everywhere,
Both here and yon, Iguanodon,
But failed to find you there.
Iguanodon, Iguanodon,
You were a gentle kind,
But now you’re gone, Iguanodon,
And left your bones behind
Repetition
• Repetition is used to make an impact on the
poem’s tone. Words or phrases are repeated
throughout the poem.
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Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Chirping robin, budding rose.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Gentle showers, summer clothes.
By Shel Silverstein
Alliteration
• Alliteration uses the same beginning word sounds
over and over, like a tongue twister.
• They are written for the fun they bring when they are read.
• My beautiful bubbles burst and then,
• I simply blow some more again.
• The setting sun slipped slowly down,
• Making room for the milky moon.
An Alliteration Poem
A fly and a flea flew up in a flue.
Said the fly to the flea, “What shall we do?”
“Let’s fly,” said the flea.
“Let’s flee,” said the fly.
So they fluttered and flew up a flaw in the flue
Another Alliteration Poem
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Down the slippery slide they slid
Sitting slightly sideways;
Slipping swiftly see them skid
On holidays and Fridays
A tongue twister
“Night, night, Knight”, said one
Knight
to the other knight the other night.
“Night, night, Knight.”
A Super Tongue Twister
• Esau Wood sawed wood. Esau Wood would saw
wood. Oh, the wood that Wood would saw! One
day Esau Wood saw a saw saw wood as no other
woodsaw Wood ever saw would saw wood. Of all
the woodsaws Wood ever saw saw wood, Wood
never saw a woodsaw that would saw wood like
the woodsaw Wood saw would saw wood. Now
Esau Wood saws with that saw he saw saw wood.
Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia is the
use of words that
imitate sounds:
crash
bang
• hiss
splat
Figurative Language
• Figurative language is writing or speech tht is not
meant to be taken literally.
• The many types of figurative language are called
figures of speech.
• Figures of speech are used to stte ideas in a vivid
and imaginative way
– Metaphors
– Similes
– personification
Simile and Metaphor
• Similes are comparisons that use “like” or
“as.”
Her eyes are as green as emeralds.
Clouds soft and fluffy like marshmallows.
• Metaphors are comparisons that say one
thing is another.
My father’s anger is a volcano about to
blow.
Personification
• Personification gives
human qualities to
something that is
nonhuman:
– The ocean crashed
angrily during the
storm.
Sensory Language
• Sensory language is writing or speech that
appeals to one or more of the five senses—
sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
• This language creates word pictures or
images.
• Poets often use these word pictures to help
the reader experience a poem fully
Forms of Poetry
• Narrative
• Lyric
• Form Poems
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Concrete
Haiku
Limerick
Diamante
Narrative
• Narrative poetry tells a story in verse. Narrative
poems often have similar elements to a short story,
such as plot and characters.
• See “Oranges” by Gary Soto in your book page
511-5123/Readers Notebook 206-208. This is the
mostly non-fictional recollection of a twelve year
old boy who sets out from his home and walks
over to a young girl’s house.
• While you read, notice sensory language and
similes
Oranges
• The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
Oranges continued
• A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
Oranges continued
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I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickel in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickel from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.
Oranges continued
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Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.
Lyric
• Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts and
feelings of a single speaker, often ain highly
musical verse.
• Check out Gary Soto’s Ode to Family
Photographs– which is a playful comment
about all the horrible photographs parents
and relatives take.
Concrete Poems
• Concrete poems are shaped to look like
their subjects. The poet arranges the lines
to create a picture on the page.
Concrete poem
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Haiku
• Haiku is a three-line Japanese verse form.
The first and the third lines each have five
syllables and the second line has seven. It
is usually written about nature.
Most cannot see it.
It’s intertwined and complex.
A beauty in dew.
Limerick
• A humorous, rhyming, five-line poem with
a specific rhythm pattern and rhyme
scheme. Formula:
The rhyme pattern is a a b b a with
lines 1, 2, and 5 containing 3 beats
and rhyming, and lines 3 and 4
having two beats and rhyming.
Limerick
• Example: Formula:
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The rhyme pattern is a a b b a with lines
1, 2, and 5 containing 3 beats and rhyming,
lines 3 and 4 having two beats and rhyming
1. A flea and a fly in a flue— a/3 beats rhyme
2. Were caught, so what could they do?- a/3beats rhyme
3. Said the fly, “Let us flee.”- b/2 beats rhyme
4. “Let us fly,” said the flea.- b/2 beats rhyme
5. So they flew through a flaw in the flue.- a/3 beats rhyme
Limerick Practice
Which words fit in the blanks?
There once was a pauper named Meg
Who accidentally broke her______.
She slipped on the _____.
Not once, but thrice
Take no pity on her, I _______.
Diamante’ Poem
Formula
Line 1: one word, subject of poem
Line 2: two words, adjectives describing subject
Line 3: three words, participles (-ing verbs)
Line 4: four words related to subject
(For lines 5-7, describe opposite/antonym of subject)
Line 5: three words, participles (-ing verbs)
Line 6: two words, adjectives describing opposite of
subject
Line 7: one word, opposite/antonym of subject in Line 1
Free Verse
• Free verse is poetry that has neither a
particular beat or rhyme pattern. It usually
does have rhythm, however.