Poetry
Yippee!
What is it?
• Poetry is one of the three major types of
literature; the others are prose and drama.
Most poems make use of highly concise,
musical, and emotionally charged
language. Many also make use of imagery,
figurative language, and special devices of
sound such as rhyme. Poems are often
divided into lines and stanzas and usually
employ regular rhythmical patterns, or
meters.
Some Key Terms
• Stanza –a formal division of lines in a poem. They
are considered a unit and are often separated by
spaces.
• Meter – is the rhythmical pattern in a line of
poetry and is determined by the number and
types of stresses/beats per line
• Atmosphere – is the mood or feeling created in a
reader by a passage
• Verse - A single metrical line in a poetic
composition; one line of poetry/A division of a
metrical composition, such as a stanza of a poem
or hymn/A poem
Musical/Sound Devices
• Alliteration – the repetition of initial
consonant sounds
• Consonance – repetition of similar
consonant sounds
• Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds
• Onomatopoeia – use of words that imitate
sounds
Musical/Sound Devices
• Repetition – the use of any element of
language (a sound, word, phrase, clause,
sentence) more than once
• Rhyme – the repetition of sounds at the
ends of words
• Rhythm – the pattern of beats, or stresses
in language
Figurative Language
• Personification – when a nonhuman
subject is given human characteristics
• Hyperbole – a deliberate exaggeration or
overstatement
• Understatement – form of speech in which
a lesser expression is used than what is
expected
• Pun – a play on words
Figurative Language
• Oxymoron – phrase in which two words
of contradictory meaning are used
together for special effect
• Paradox – a statement, proposition, or
situation that seems to be absurd, or
contradictory, but in fact is or may be true
(Standing is more tiring than walking)
Figurative Language
• Metaphor – when one thing is spoken of
as though it were something else
• Extended Metaphor – different in that
several comparisons are made, and/or are
sustained for several lines
• Imagery – product of figurative language
– when words create pictures – use details
of sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, and
movement
Poetic Forms
• Sonnet – a fourteen line lyric poem
• Lyric – musical verse that expresses the
observations and feelings of a single
speaker (you will be creating one of these)
• Blank Verse – unrhymed poetry
• Free Verse – poetry not written in a
regular rhythmical pattern, or meter
Poetic Forms
• Haiku – a three line verse, where 1st & 3rd
lines contain five syllables, & 2nd line has
seven syllables – they seek to convey a
single vivid emotion by means of images
from nature (you will create 4 of these)
• Narrative – a poem that tells a story
• Dramatic – uses the techniques of drama –
creates the illusion that the reader is
actually witnessing a dramatic event
Strategies for Reading Poetry
• 1) Listen – one of the things that
distinguishes poetry from prose is its
sound. Poetry is usually meant to be read
aloud; only by doing so will you hear the
music of the poet’s words.
Strategies for Reading Poetry
• 2) Identify the speaker – when you read a
poem, you are hearing the voice of the
speaker of the poem. The speaker is not
necessarily the poet, although it can be or
it may be a character. Determine who you
think is “telling” the poem, and try to
determine his or her perspective on the
situation in the poem. Recognizing the
speaker and his/her perspective will give
you insight into the meaning of the poem.
Strategies for Reading Poetry
• 3) Read in sentences – keep in mind that
even if a poem is shaped to fit a particular
rhythm and rhyme, the words are usually
put together and punctuated as sentences.
Do not stop at the end of each line unless a
punctuation mark (period, comma, colon,
semicolon, or dash) stops you.
Strategies for Reading Poetry
• 4) Picture the imagery – use your senses to
experience the poem. To appreciate the
images a poet uses, form mental pictures
based on the words in the poem. When
you form mental pictures, you use your
memory and imagination to see, feel, hear,
smell, & taste what the poet describes.
Keep An Open Mind
• You may never be able to appreciate
poetry if you can not approach it with an
open mind. Many people love music but
say they hate poetry. Music IS poetry.
Give it a chance, you may find you enjoy
it!