Poetry Terms
Name:_______________________
Directions: You will need to fill in all blank spaces while taking notes. You are
responsible for finding your own examples. You MUST find your own examples. This
is notes AND an assignment.
I. Tone
A. Tone is the speaker’s attitude or feelings towards his or her subject
B. You must understand a poem’s tone to understand the poem’s meaning.
C. Words with negative connotations produce a negative tone. Words with a
more positive connotation make a more positive tone.
D. Examples:
1. The wind howled through the barren and leafless skeletons of the
trees. Tone: _________________________
2. The wind whistled through the branches of the tree.
Tone: ________________________
E. Tone is the result of word choice, rhyme, rhythm, and figurative language.
F. My example from a song or poem that uses word choice to establish the
tone: _______________________________________________________________________________
II. Rhythm
A. Rhythm is the musical quality produced by repeated sound patterns.
1. Rhythm can help show tone. An upbeat, fast rhythm can make the
tone feel happy. A slow, heavy tone can make the tone feel sad.
2. Katy Perry’s “Hot & Cold” is fast paced, has quick lyrics and fast beat
= excited/angry/fun tone
Adele’s “Someone like You” has a slow beat, has long notes =
sad/depressed tone
B. Meter is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
C. Scanning is marking the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
1. __________= Stressed syllable
2. __________= Unstressed syllable
III. Rhyme
A. Words rhyme when they end in the same vowel or vowel/consonant
sound.
B. Words do not have to be spelled the same to rhyme.
1. Example: noun/clown
C. End Rhyme
1. An end rhyme is when the last word in one line rhymes with last
word in another line.
2. My example of end rhyme: _______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
D. Internal Rhyme
1. Internal rhyme is when the rhyme occurs inside of a line of poetry.
2. Example from a song: “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you”
Adele
3. My example of internal rhyme:__________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
E. Rhyme Scheme
1. The pattern of rhyming sounds at the ENDS of lines of a poem
2. To mark rhyme scheme, find the words at the ends of the lines that
rhyme and label them with a letter. Start with the letter “A”.
Mary had a little lamb (A)
Its fleece was white as snow (B)
Everywhere that Mary went (C)
The lamb was sure to go (B)
3. My example of rhyme scheme from a song or poem:
F. Free Verse
1. Poems with no rhyme or meter
2. Example:
IV. Repetition and Refrain
A. Repetition is when sounds in the poem occur again and again. Rhythm and
rhyme are forms of repetition.
B. Refrain
1. Refrain is when a poet repeats a line or group of lines
2. Refrain is similar to the chorus of a song.
V. Stanza
A. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem.
B. It is like a paragraph for poems.
C. The first word in every line in a stanza should be capitalized.
VI. Figurative Language in Poetry
A. Personification is when something that is not human is given human-like
qualities
1. Example from a song:
One Republic, “Stop and Stare”
“This town is colder now,
I think it’s sick of us”
2. My Example: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
B. Metaphor is a comparison made between things that are not alike. It is
similar to a simile, but does not use like or as.
1. Example:
Katy Perry “Firework”
“Baby you’re a firework
Come on let your colors burst”
2. My Example: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
C. Extended metaphor is a single comparison that is explored in great depth
and detail, sometimes through a whole poem.
1. Example: Song- Kanye West’s “Homecoming”; Poem- “The Sea” by
James Reeves
C. Simile is comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as”.
1. Example:
Katy Perry, “Hot and Cold”
“You change your mind like a girl changes clothes.”
2. My Example: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
D. Hyperbole is an exaggeration to make a particular point
1. Example:
Bruno Mars, “Grenade”
“I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on the blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya”
The point he is making is:
____________________________________________________
2. My Example: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
E. Alliteration is repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of
words.
2. Example: Louis Armstrong
“And I think to myself
What a wonderful world”
3. My Example: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
F. Imagery is using sensory details to paint a mental picture.
1. Imagery uses all five senses to help the reader imagine what the
poet is writing about.