Poetry Unit
A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
~Paul Valéry
You will be taught the use of and special
features of poetry.
You will be provided with many examples.
You will then be tested to see how well you
can read and identify these different kinds of
poetry.
Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience
expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic
language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.
Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme,
but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an ancient
form that has gone through numerous and drastic
reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an
authentic and individual mode of expression makes it
nearly impossible to define.
One of the most definable characteristics of the
poetic form is economy of language. Poets are
miserly and unrelentingly critical in the way they dole
out words to a page. Carefully selecting words for
conciseness and clarity is standard, even for writers
of prose, but poets go well beyond this, considering a
word's emotive qualities, its musical value, its
spacing, and yes, even its spacial relationship to the
page. The poet, through innovation in both word
choice and form, seemingly rends significance from
thin air.
Poetry is evocative. It typically evokes in the reader an
intense emotion: joy, sorrow, anger, catharsis, love...
Alternatively, poetry has the ability to surprise the reader
with an Ah Ha! Experience -- revelation, insight, further
understanding of elemental truth and beauty.
POETRY—Traditional Definition
A
type of literature that expresses ideas,
feelings, or tells a story in a specific form
(usually using lines and stanzas)
POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY
POET
SPEAKER
The poet is the author
of the poem.
The speaker of the
poem is the “narrator”
of the poem.
POETRY FORM
FORM - the appearance of
the words on the page
LINE - a group of words
together on one line of the
poem
STANZA - a group of lines
arranged together
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Excerpt from “The Raven”by Edgar Allen Poe
Then, me thought, the air grew denser, perfumed
from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the
tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these
angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of
Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this
lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or
devil! Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed
thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land
enchanted On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I
implore Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I
implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`
Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet
still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by
that God we both adore Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within
the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the
angels named Lenore Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the
angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or
fiend!' I shrieked upstarting `Get thee back into the tempest and the
Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie
thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the
bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take
thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
REFRAIN
A sound, word, phrase
or line repeated
regularly in a poem.
“Quoth the raven,
‘Nevermore.’”
Couplet
Triplet (Tercet)
Quatrain
Quintet
Sestet (Sextet)
Septet
Octave
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
a two line stanza
a three line stanza
a four line stanza
a five line stanza
a six line stanza
a seven line stanza
an eight line stanza
SOUND EFFECTS
RHYTHM
 The beat created by
the sounds of the
words in a poem
 Rhythm can be created
by meter, rhyme,
alliteration and refrain.
 Any poem has the chance of having rhythm.
 A poem has rhythm if the reader of the poem
gives the poem rhythm.
 For a poem to have rhythm, it has to be read
following a pattern with its syllables. For
example:
da, da, dadada da da, da, da, dadada da da,
da, da, dadada da da, da, da, dadada da da.
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.
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
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.
By: Jack Prelutsky
 A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
 Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed
syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a
repeating pattern.
 When poets write in meter, they count out the
number of stressed (strong) syllables and unstressed
(weak) syllables for each line. They repeat the
pattern throughout the poem.
 This is especially important in Rhyming Poems and
Limericks
METER cont.
 FOOT - unit of meter.
 A foot can have two or
three syllables.
 Usually consists of
one stressed and one
or more unstressed
syllables.
 TYPES OF FEET
The types of feet are
determined by the
arrangement of
stressed and
unstressed syllables.
(cont.)
TYPES OF FEET (cont.)
Iambic - unstressed, stressed
Trochaic - stressed, unstressed
Anapestic - unstressed, unstressed, stressed
Dactylic - stressed, unstressed, unstressed
RHYME
 Words sound alike
because they share the
same ending vowel
and consonant sounds.
 (A word always
rhymes with itself.)
LAMP
STAMP
 Share the short “a”
vowel sound
 Share the combined
“mp” consonant sound
 A rhyming poem is a verse poem that
contains rhyming words at the end of
certain lines.
 Example:
Night time by Lee Bennet Hopkins
How do dreams know
when to creep
into my head
when I fall off
to Sleep?
 Rhyming poems are used mainly for
humor. These poems are fun to read.
 Lets see some more poems with rhymes.
 There are many types of rhyming poems.
Here are names of some of them:
The Couplet
The Limerick
The Ballad Stanza (including the short and long)
Octaves
Marty Smarty went to a party
In her jumbo jet.
After tea she jumped in the sea
And got her pants all wet.
John Foster
 A word at the end of one line rhymes with a
word at the end of another line
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
 A word inside a line rhymes with another word
on the same line.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I
pondered weak and weary.
From “The Raven”
by Edgar Allan Poe
NEAR RHYME
 a.k.a imperfect
rhyme, close rhyme
 The words share
EITHER the same
vowel or consonant
sound BUT NOT
BOTH
ROSE
LOSE
 Different vowel
sounds (long “o” and
“oo” sound)
 Share the same
consonant sound
 A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end
rhyme, but not always).
 Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to
be able to visually “see” the pattern. (See next slide
for an example.)
The Germ by Ogden Nash
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.
a
a
b
b
c
c
a
a
 Words that imitate the sound they are naming
BUZZ
 OR sounds that imitate another sound
“The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of
each purple curtain . . .”
 A poem with alliteration repeats the initial
consonant sounds closely together.
 Example: Sheila Shorter sought a suitor;
Shelia sought a suitor short.
Sheila’s suitor sure to suit her;
Short’s the suitor Sheila sought!
by Michael Rosen
 Consonant sounds repeated at the
beginnings of words
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers, how many pickled peppers did
Peter Piper pick?
 Alliteration poems tend to be tongue
twisters. They are written for the fun they
bring when they are read.
 Lets see more poems with alliteration.
An Alliteration Poem
Down the slippery slide they slid
Sitting slightly sideways;
Slipping swiftly see them skid
On holidays and Fridays.
 Similar to alliteration EXCEPT . . .
 The repeated consonant sounds can be
anywhere in the words
“silken, sad, uncertain, rustling . . “
 Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of
poetry.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake
Fate
Base
Fade
(All share the long “a” sound.)
Examples of ASSONANCE:
“Slow the low gradual moan came in the
snowing.”
- John Masefield
“Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.”
- William Shakespeare
FREE VERSE POETRY
 Unlike metered
poetry, free verse
poetry does NOT have
any repeating patterns
of stressed and
unstressed syllables.
 Does NOT have
rhyme.
 Free verse poetry is
very conversational sounds like someone
talking with you.
 A more modern type
of poetry.
BLANK VERSE POETRY
from Julius Ceasar
 Written in lines of
iambic pentameter, but
does NOT use end
rhyme.
Cowards die many times before
their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but
once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have
heard,
It seems to me most strange that
men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
SOME TYPES OF POETRY
WE WILL BE STUDYING
A short poem
Usually written in first person point of view
Expresses an emotion or an idea or
describes a scene
Do not tell a story and are often musical
(Many of the poems we read will be lyrics.)
HAIKU
A Japanese poem
written in three lines
Five Syllables
Seven Syllables
Five Syllables
An old silent pond . . .
A frog jumps into the pond.
Splash! Silence again.
CINQUAIN
A five line poem
containing 22 syllables
Two Syllables
Four Syllables
Six Syllables
Eight Syllables
Two Syllables
How frail
Above the bulk
Of crashing water hangs
Autumnal, evanescent, wan
The moon.
SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET
A fourteen line poem with a
specific rhyme scheme.
The poem is written in three
quatrains and ends with a
couplet.
The rhyme scheme is
abab cdcd efef gg
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.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes 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 wanderest 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.
NARRATIVE POEMS
A poem that tells a story.
Examples of Narrative
Generally longer than the
Poems
lyric styles of poetry b/c the
poet needs to establish
“The Raven”
characters and a plot.
“The Highwayman”
“Casey at the Bat”
“The Walrus and the
Carpenter”
CONCRETE or SHAPE POEMS
In concrete poems, the words are
arranged to create a picture that
relates to the content of the poem.
Poetry
Is like
Flames,
Which are
Swift and elusive
Dodging realization
Sparks, like words on the
Paper, leap and dance in the
Flickering firelight. The fiery
Tongues, formless and shifting
Shapes, tease the imiagination.
Yet for those who see,
Through their mind’s
Eye, they burn
Up the page.
What is a limerick, Mother?
It's a form of verse, said brother
In which lines one and two
Rhyme with five when it's through
And three and four rhyme with each other.
author unknown
Spaghetti! Spaghetti
Spaghetti! Spaghetti!
You’re wonderful stuff,
I love you, spaghetti,
I can’t get enough.
You’re covered with sauce
And you’re sprinkled with cheese,
Spaghetti! Spaghetti!
Oh, give me some please.
Jack Prelutsky
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.
“Night, night, Knight”, said one
Knight
to the other knight the other night.
“Night, night, Knight.”
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.
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
 Grammatical usage that departs from everyday factual, plain, or
literal language and is considered poetic, imaginative, or
ornamental. Figurative language, especially in literature, uses
devices, such as irony, and figures of speech, such as simile,
metaphor, and hyperbole. The figurative meaning of a word or
phrase contrasts with its literal meaning, which is closer to its
standard, dictionary definition.
 Figurative language seeks to clarify and accentuate meaning by
referencing a word or phrase in terms of something familiar to
the audience, usually to achieve special meaning or effect; the
use of irony, metaphor, simile, and hyperbole falls into this
category. Using the simile ‘She ran like the wind’, for example,
suggests qualities of natural speed, lightness, and unrestrained
energy. Using a word's literal meaning relies on the reader's clear
understanding and knowledge of its definition.
 A comparison of two things using “like, as
than,” or “resembles.”
 “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
 A direct comparison of two unlike things
 “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely
players.”
- William Shakespeare
 A metaphor that goes several lines or
possibly the entire length of a work.
 The comparison is hinted at but not clearly
stated.
 “The poison sacs of the town began to
manufacture venom, and the town swelled
and puffed with the pressure of it.”
- from The Pearl
- by John Steinbeck
 Exaggeration often used for emphasis.
I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.
My mother is going to kill me.
 Understatement - basically the opposite of
hyperbole. Often it is ironic.
 Ex. Calling a slow moving person
“Speedy”
 An expression where the literal meaning of
the words is not the meaning of the
expression. It means something other than
what it actually says.
 Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs.
PERSONIFICATION
 An animal
given humanlike qualities
or an object
given life-like
qualities.
from “Ninki”
by Shirley Jackson
“Ninki was by this time irritated
beyond belief by the general air of
incompetence exhibited in the
kitchen, and she went into the living
room and got Shax, who is
extraordinarily lazy and never catches
his own chipmunks, but who is, at
least, a cat, and preferable, Ninki saw
clearly, to a man with a gun.
When a person, place,
thing, or event that
has meaning in itself
also represents, or
stands for, something
else.
= Innocence
=
America
=
Peace
• Allusion comes from the
verb “allude” which means
“to refer to”
• An allusion is a reference
to something famous (ie:
Book, Movie, Show, Event
in History, etc.)
A tunnel walled and overlaid
With dazzling crystal:
we had read
Of rare Aladdin’s wondrous cave,
And to our own his name we
gave.
From “Snowbound”
John Greenleaf Whittier
•
A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or
another passage of literature, often without explicit
identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical
references, historical events, or legends. Authors often use
allusion to establish a tone, create an implied association,
contrast two objects or people through an unusual set-up of
references, or bring the reader into a world of experience
outside the limitations of the story itself. Authors assume that
the readers will recognize the original sources and relate their
meaning to the new context. For instance, if a teacher were to
refer to his class as a horde of Mongols, the students will have
no idea if they are being praised or villified unless they know
what the Mongol horde was and what activities it participated
in historically. This historical allusion assumes a certain level of
education or awareness in the audience, so it should be taken
as a compliment rather than an attempt at obscurity.
• Language that appeals to the senses.
• Most images are visual, but they can also
appeal to the senses of sound, touch, taste, or
smell.
Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes
sense, or putting opposites next to each other.
Common oxymorons include ‘jumbo’ shrimp, and
any other opposites you can think of. The best
oxymorons seem to reveal a deeper truth
through their contradictions. For instance,
"without laws, we can have no freedom."
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar also makes use of a
famous oxymoron: "Cowards die many times
before their deaths" (2.2.32).
The suggestion of a meaning by a word beyond
what it literally describes. The word home, for
example, means the place where one lives,
but by connotation, it suggests security,
family, love and comfort.
Sometimes one of the connotations of a word gains
enough widespread acceptance to become a
denotation, or a literal dictionary meaning of a
word. Many words have more than one
denotation, or meaning, such as the multiple
meanings of fair or spring. Poets or authors can
use these words to suggest more than one idea
with the same word. Remember, denotation
totally disregards any historical or emotional
connotation, and is always literal.