POETRY TERMS
English II
POETRY
 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
 The poet is the author
of the poem.
SPEAKER
 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.
SOUND EFFECTS
ALLITERATION
 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?
 “And from there those that lifted eyes
could count . . .” (“Out, Out-” by Robert
Frost)
ASSONANCE
 Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines
of poetry in NON-RHYMING WORDS.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake
Fate
Base
Fade
(All share the long “a” sound.)
ASSONANCE cont.
Examples of ASSONANCE:
“A knight rides into the noon,/and only his
eye is living . . .” (“The Knight” by
Adrienne Rich)
“Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.”
- William Shakespeare
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
SIMILE
 A comparison of two things using “like” or
“as.”
 “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
 “My clouded reflection eyes me / like a bird
of prey . . .” (“Facing It” by Yusef
Komunyakaa)
METAPHOR
 A direct comparison of two unlike things
 “All the world [is] a stage, and we are
merely players.”- William Shakespeare
 “…a thousand splintered suns / are the
gaiety of his [chain] mail.” “The Knight”
by Adrienne Rich
PERSONIFICATION
 An animal
given human- “ . . .One seal particularly / I had
like qualities,
seen here evening after evening.
or an object or / . . . He was interested in music
thing given
. . . /Then he would disappear,
life-like
then suddenly emerge / almost
qualities.
in the same spot, with a sort of
shrug . . .”
“At the Fishhouses,” Elizabeth
Bishop
PERSONIFICATION
Kanye West
moved to Chicago
when he was three
years old. The
following excerpt from
his song “Homecoming”
(2007) shows how West
personifies the city, also
known by the nickname
“The Windy City.”
I met this girl when I was three years old
And what I love most, she had so much soul
She said "Excuse me little homie, I know you
don't know me
But uh, my name is Windy” . . .
And when I grew up, she taught me how to
go downtown
And in the nighttime, her face lit up, so
astounding
I told her, in my heart is where she'll always
be
She never mess with entertainers cuz they
always leave
She said it feels like they walk and go from
me. . .
OTHER
POETIC DEVICES
SYMBOLISM
 When a person, place,
thing, or event that has
meaning in itself also
represents, or stands
for, something else.
=
Innocence
=
America
=
Peace
Allusion
 Allusion comes from the
verb “allude” which
means “to refer to”
 An allusion is a reference
to something famous:
another literary work, an
historical event, a person,
place or thing, etc.
 If the reader doesn’t “get
it,” meaning is lost.
“And by his side a girl who
looked like Heidi / in my
storybook waded in
colored plastic.”
from “Exile” by
Julia Alvarez
(Heidi is the Swiss heroine of
a series of books from the
late 1800’s, who was
orphaned and had to move
away to her
grandfather’s.)
Allusion
 What people,
Feelin’ like Katrina with no FEMA . . .
“Flashing Lights” (2007)
places, or
events does
Kanye West
..and you can live through anything if
refer to in these
Magic made it . . .
lyrics? What
does he mean
by using these So if the Devil wear Prada
allusions?
and Adam Eve wear nada
I’m in between, but way more fresher.
“Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” (2007)
IMAGERY
 Language that appeals to the senses.
 “Painting a picture with words.”
 Most imagery is visual, but they can also
appeal to the senses of sound, touch,
taste, or smell.
“. . . then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather . . .”
---from “Those Winter Sundays” (sense of touch)