Poetry Notes
Figurative
Language
Figurative Language
 A “Figure
of Speech” is always based on a
comparison.
 Figurative Language – Expressions
which put aside literal language in favor of
imaginative connections.
Simile
– A comparison between two unlike
things using the words like or as, and
sometimes than and resembled.
 Simile
“Life is like a box of chocolates”
– Forest Gump
Metaphor
– a comparison between two
unlike things without using like, as, than,
or resembles.
 Direct Metaphor – Compares using “is”.
“Life is a journey”
 Implied Metaphor – Compares without
using “is”.
“The city sleeps peacefully.”
 Metaphor
Personification
– Giving human
characteristics to something non-human:
an animal, an object, or idea.
 Personification
“The car coughed and hiccupped.”
Hyperbole
 Hyperbole
- A figure of speech in which
deliberate exaggeration is used for
emphasis. Many everyday expressions are
examples of hyperbole.
tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of
tears, etc.
Understatement
 Understatement
- The opposite of
hyperbole, understatement is used to
make something appear smaller or less
important than it really is.It can be used to
entertain or to reduce the importance of
the truth.
“It only hurts a little bit” after getting an
arm chopped off
Oxymoron
 Oxymoron
- a figure of speech that
combines two normally contradictory
terms.
"deafening silence", “quick stop”,“jumbo
shrimp”
The Sounds of
Poetry
Alliteration
Alliteration – The repetition of consonant
sounds at the beginnings of words or
accented syllables.
Tongue Twisters: Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.
Assonance
Assonance – The repetition of vowel
sounds in adjoining words.
“The molten golden notes” E. A. Poe
Consonance
Consonance – repetition of consonant
sounds within words.
“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of
each purple curtain" E. A. Poe
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia – The use of words that
sound like what they are describing.
Snap, Crackle, and Pop.
Rhyme
and
Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme
RHYME - the associating of two words in a
poem through the way they sound.
 Rhyme usually occurs at the end of a line
in a poem, but it is not a rule or law. There
are many kinds of rhyme:
True Rhyme
True Rhyme - two words whose last
syllables sound the same.
True Blue
Assonant Rhyme
Assonant Rhyme - the rhyming of vowels
only.
Bought and Sock
Consonant Rhyme
Consonant Rhyme - the rhyming on
consonants only.
Tick and Tock
Sight Rhyme
Sight Rhyme - words that are spelled
similarly, but do not rhyme. (sight rhymes
are frequently also assonant or consonant
rhymes)
Thought and Though
Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme scheme: The pattern of rhyme,
usually indicated by assigning a letter of
the alphabet to each rhyme at the end of a
line of poetry.
Rhyme Scheme
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 oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
William Shakespeare - Sonnet #18
Rhythm
and
Meter
Rhythm and Meter
All languages consist of words with both
stressed (louder) and unstressed (softer)
syllables, and all words with more than
one syllable will only stress one of those
syllables.
Rhythm
English poetry employs five basic rhythms or
patterns of stressed (/) and unstressed (U)
syllables. Each unit of rhythm is called a
"foot" of poetry.
Two-Syllable Rhythms
The meters with two-syllable feet are:
 IAMBIC (U /): ta TUM
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
 TROCHAIC (/ U): TUM ta
Tell me not in mournful numbers
 SPONDAIC (/ /): TUM TUM
Break, break, break
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
Three-Syllable Rhythms
Meters with three-syllable feet are:
 ANAPESTIC (UU/): ta ta TUM
And the sound of a voice that is still
 DACTYLIC (/UU): TUM ta ta
 This is the forest primeval, the murmuring
pines and the hemlock (a trochee
replaces the final dactyl)
Meter
Meter is the number of times the rhythm
pattern (or foot) repeats itself in a line of
poetry.
Meter Names
The following are the terms used for every foot:
 monometer
a line of 1 foot
 dimeter
2 feet
 trimeter
3 feet
 tetrameter
4 feet
 pentameter
5 feet
 hexameter
6 feet
 heptameter
7 feet
 octameter
8 feet
Practice…
In the still of the night
________________ _______________
Rhythm
Meter
In times of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted
“Sorting Hat’s Song”
________________ _______________
Rhythm
Meter
Stanza Structure
Stanza
Stanza - Two or more lines of poetry that
together form one of the divisions of a
poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually
of the same length and follow the same
pattern of meter and rhyme.
Couplet
Couplet - In a poem, a pair of lines that are
the same length and usually rhyme and
form a complete thought.
Heroic Couplet - A stanza composed of two
rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a
couplet.
Quatrain, Sextain, Octave
Tercet- A stanza or poem of three lines.
Quatrain - four lines
Quintain- five lines
Sextain- six lines (sometimes sestet)
Septet- seven lines
Octave- eight lines
Refrain
Refrain - A phrase, line, or group of lines
that is repeated throughout a poem,
usually after every stanza.
Types of Poetry
Free Verse
Free Verse - No Rules! It doesn't have to
rhyme, it doesn't have to be in any sort of
meter, or about anything in particular- just
write what you feel.
Acrostic
Acrostic - A poem in which certain letters of
the lines, usually the first letters, form a
word or message relating to the subject
Waits quietly
On his prey
Living Only
For the next Meal.
Zach Hume Former Student
Concrete
Concrete – Where the poem is arranged to
look like, or suggest something about, its
subject
Diamante
Diamante- a seven line poem, shaped like a
diamond
Line 1: one word
(subject/noun that is contrasting to line 7)
Teenager
Line 2: two words
Powerful, noisy
(adjectives) that describe line 1
Dancing, dating, consuming
Line 3: three words
(action verbs) that relate to line 1 Explosion, energetic, maturity, senility
Working, earning, saving
Line 4: four words (nouns)
Quiet, peaceful
first 2 words relate to line 1
Retired
last 2 words relate to line 7
Line 5: three words
(action verbs) that relate to line 7
Line 6: two words
(adjectives) that describe line 7
Line 7: one word
( subject/noun that is contrasting to line 1)
Haiku
Haiku – a Japanese poem with three
unrhymed lines in a 5-7-5 syllabic meterthe first line has 5 syllables, the second
seven, and the last 5.
古池 や
Translated:
蛙 飛込む
Old Pond
水 の 音
fu/ru/i/ke ya: 5
ka/wa/zu to/bi/ko/mu: 7
mi/zu no o/to: 5
Frog jump In
Sound of Water
Narratives
Narrative - Telling a story. Ballads and epics
are different kinds of narrative poems.
Ballad - a poem that tells a story, usually
about a hero, that can be passed down
through generations, most are suitable for
singing.
Epic - a long narrative poem usually about
the adventures and bravery of a hero.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are Epic poems.
Lyric Poems
Lyric – A poem that expresses the thoughts
and feelings of the poet.
A lyric poem may resemble a song in form or
style.
Ode - a long, serious lyric poem which is
focused on a single subject.
Lyric Poems cont’:Sonnet
Sonnet - A lyric poem that is 14 lines long.
 Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided
into two quatrains and a six-line "sestet,"
with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde
(or cdcdcd).
 English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are
composed of three quatrains and a final
couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab
cdcd efef gg. English sonnets are written
generally in iambic pentameter
Elegy
Elegy - A poem that laments the death of a
person, or one that is simply sad and
thoughtful.
Limerick
Limerick – A 5-line anapestic poem with a rhyme
scheme of (aabba) that is often humorous in
nature.
There was an old man from Peru, (A)
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe.
He awoke in the night
With a terrible fright,
5.and found out that it was quite true.
The first line explains the situation, the second tells
what happened, the third and fourth tell what
went wrong, and the the fifth tells the
significance (the so what?!)