POETRY 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. Lines and Stanzas Example Rain by Shel Silverstein I opened my eyes And looked up at the rain, And it dripped in my head And flowed into my brain, And all that I hear as I lie in my bed Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head. I step very softly, I walk very slow, I can't do a handstand-I might overflow, So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said-I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head. SOUND EFFECTS RHYTHM The beat created by the sounds of the words in a poem Rhythm can be seen with repetition or the number of syllables in the poem. 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 END RHYME 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. ONOMATOPOEIA Words that imitate the sound it represents BUZZ Can you think of any other examples? 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? REFRAIN A sound, word, phrase or line repeated regularly in a poem. Refrain by Allen Ginsberg The air is dark, the night is sad, I lie sleepless and I groan. Nobody cares when a man goes mad: He is sorry, God is glad. Shadow changes into bone. Every shadow has a name; When I think of mine I moan, I hear rumors of such fame. Not for pride, but only shame, Shadow changes into bone. When I blush I weep for joy, And laughter drops from me like a stone: The aging laughter of the boy To see the ageless dead so coy. Shadow changes into bone. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE SIMILE A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.” “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.” METAPHOR A direct comparison of two unlike things Examples: – Kathy arrived at the grocery store with an army of children. – Laughter is the music of the soul. – The test was a walk in the park. Idiom 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 or an object given humanlike or life-like qualities. the sun played hide and seek with the clouds The headlights winked The radio sprang to life at the touch of a button The wind whispered softly in the night Lightning danced across the sky