Elements of Poetry
(title of your Cornell Notes Page)
•Start this Powerpoint slide show by going to the Slide
Show tab and selecting “From Beginning”
•Copy the following definitions in your journal:
Alliteration
• Repetition of the initial consonant
sound
“She sells seashells at the sea shore”
Hyperbole
• A great exaggeration
• EXAMPLE: “He lassoed the tornado as
he rode his horse across the plains.”
Imagery
• descriptive language that applies to the
senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.
Some images appeal to more than one sense.
Metaphor
• Direct Metaphor
– Comparing two unlike objects or ideas
My love is a rose
Metaphor, Continued
• Indirect metaphor
- An indirect comparison between two unlike things.
“My love has a rosy bloom”
Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia is the use of words that
imitate sounds.
• Wham! Splat! Pow! I am in trouble now!
Personification
• Giving human qualities to an inanimate
object
“The moon smiled down on the lovers”
A MOON CAN’T
SMILE…
Repetition
• Repetition is used to make an impact on
the poem’s tone. Words or phrases are
repeated throughout the poem.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Chirping robin, budding rose.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Gentle showers, summer clothes.
By Shel Silverstein
Rhyme Scheme
- pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Examples:
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the earth so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Baa, baa, black sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
a
a
b
b
a
b
c
b
Rhythm
• Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the
arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
in a line. Rhythm can be regular or irregular.
Example:
I think that I shall never see
a poem lovely as a tree.
The purple words/syllables are “stressed”
creating rhythm.
Simile
• A comparison using like or as
“Life is like a box of chocolates”
Poetry should be read aloud!
Make sure your earphones are
on and
Click on the links to listen…
• James Earl Jones reciting from Othello by Shakespeare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJybA1emr_g&featur
e=SeriesPlayList&p=1ECEA36D759093A1
• An Evening of Poetry, Music and the Written Word at the
White House, President and First Lady Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUfekqAJHeI