Keystone Poetry Terms
A poem that tells a story.
“Papa’s Fishing Hole” by -Elisabeth D. Babin
I place my tiny hand in his
as we walk to Papa’s Fishing Hole.
I hand him a wiggling night crawler
fighting for his life.
The deadly hook squishes
through the worm’s head,
and I watch the brown guts ooze out.
Papa throws the pole’s long arm back
and then forward.
The line lands in a murky spot
along the reedy shore.
Now I get to reel it in.
Nothing yet, he says.
He casts again. I reel it in.
Still nothing.
Three time’s a charm, he says.
He casts.
A strike.
We turn the crank together.
The fish jumps from the water
and his colors form a rainbow
as he arches his body above the reeds.
My Papa handles him
with the skill of a master
as I stop helping to watch him work.
A stiff jerk, a quick reel, a stiff jerk
again.
The fish doesn’t have a chance, I yell.
I know. I know. I know, he says.
intended to be sung
narrative poem
I remember when we broke up the first time
Saying, "This is it, I've had enough," 'cause like
We hadn't seen each other in a month
When you said you needed space. (What?)
Then you come around again and say
"Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna
change, trust me."
Remember how that lasted for a day?
I say, "I hate you," we break up, you call me, "I
love you."
Ooh, we called it off again last night
But ooh, this time I'm telling you, I'm telling
you
usually contains a
chorus or refrain
We are never ever ever getting back together,
We are never ever ever getting back together,
You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends,
talk to me
But we are never ever ever ever getting back
together
long narrative poem
follows adventures
of a hero
reflects beliefs of
the culture
• superhuman
deeds
• majestic
language
• mythical
setting
Focuses on the actual loss
or the grief associated
with it.
Poem written in response
to a person’s death
The time you won your town the race
We carried you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
epitaph
eulogy
Very personal in nature
Focuses on feelings and
perceptions about a specific
subject.
"DREAMS"
by Langston Hughes
Hold onto dreams
For if dreams die
Life is like a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Japanese form of
unrhymed poetry
Follows a pattern of:
• 5 syllables
• 7 syllables
• 5 syllables
3 lines long
focuses on
nature
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into water,
splash! Silence again.
a poem that shows what is good and unique about a certain subject
They wait under Pablo’s bed,
Rain-beaten, sun-beaten,
A scuff of green
At their tips
From when he fell
In the school yard.
He fell leaping for a football
That sailed his way.
But Pablo fell and got up,
Green on his shoes,
With the football
Out of reach.
Now it’s night.
Pablo is in bed listening
To his mother laughing
to the Mexican novelas on
TV.
His shoes, twin pets
That snuggle his toes,
Are under the bed.
He should have bathed,
But he didn’t.
(Dirt rolls from his palm,
Blades of grass
Tumble from his hair.)
He loves his shoes,
Cloth like a sail,
Rubber like
A lifeboat on rough sea.
Pablo is tired,
Sinking into the mattress.
His eyes sting from
Grass and long words in
books.
He needs eight hours
Of sleep
To cool his shoes,
The tongues hanging
Out, exhausted.
A poem written without any
regular rhyme scheme, rhythm, or
line pattern.
Follows a rhyme
scheme:
14-lined poem
Written in iambic
pentameter
ABABCDCDEFEFGG
(da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM)
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Couplet
The pattern of rhyme at the end of each line of poetry.
Represented by different letters for each new rhyme.
There once was a man from Peru
Who dreamt he was eating a shoe.
He awoke with a fright
In the middle of the night
To find that his dream had come true.
A
A
B
B
A
Words that are close to rhyming, but aren’t perfect.
• soul/all
eye/light
Words that appear in the same line and rhyme.
• In the gray grains of sand
The dark veins of dropping rain.
the repeating of a consonant sound in consecutive words.
Sally sold Sam several seashells.
the repeating of a vowel sound in consecutive words.
How now, brown cow?
the use of words that imitate the sounds they describe.
In prose writing we use sentences, while in poetry we write in
lines.
In prose writing we use paragraphs, while in poetry large chunks
are called stanzas.
In prose writing the story is told by a narrator, while in poetry,
the voice of the poem is called the speaker.
A comparison that lasts longer than one line. Instead it continues for an
entire stanza or an entire 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 imagination.
Yet for those who see,
through their mind's
eye, they burn
up the page.