Poetry Techniques
“How do poems grow? They grow out
of your life.” Robert Penn Warren
Persona
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A dramatic character, distinguished from the
poet, who is the speaker of a poem.
We will be reading poems by poets who take
on the persona of a child
Form

Stanza: A division in a poem named for the number
of lines it contains, such as a couplet (2 lines), triplet
(3 lines), quatrain (4 lines), and octave (8 lines)

This is as though the poem is broken up into “paragraphs”
 “Gleaming in silver are the hills!
Blazing in silver is the sea!
And a silvery radiance spills
Where the moon drives royally!” –James Stevens, “Washed
in Silver”
Form cont.
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Haiku: A three-line poem that originated from
Japan, often about nature, with a syllable
pattern of 5, 7, 5
Verse: The name for a line of traditional
poetry written in meter

A line of poetry
Sound Devices
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Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds
at any place in a series of words

Do you like blue?

“Well he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no” –
Robert Service (“The Cremation of Sam McGee,
pg. 709)
Sound Devices cont.

Alliteration: The repetition of a sound at the
beginning of a series of words

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…”

“Rain races, ripping like wind. Its restless rage
rattles like rocks ripping through the air.”
Sound Devices cont.

Consonance: The repetition of a consonant
sound at any place in a series of words.

I dropped the locket in the thick mud.

Eric liked the black book

“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each
purple curtain.” –Edgar Allen Poe
Sound Device cont.

Onomatopoeia: The use of words whose
sound makes one think of its meaning
Appeals to the senses

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Visual imagery pertains to graphics, visual scenes,
pictures, or the sense of SIGHT.
Auditory imagery pertains to SOUNDS, noises, music, or
the sense of hearing. (This kind of imagery may come in
the form of onomatopoeia).
Olfactory imagery pertains to odors, scents, or the sense
of SMELL.
Gustatory imagery pertains to flavors or the sense of
TASTE.
Tactile imagery pertains to physical textures or the sense
of TOUCH.
Figurative Language

Simile: A comparison of two nouns using the words
like or as


“My love for you is like a red, red rose”
Metaphor: A comparison of two nouns saying that
one thing is another

“All the world is a stage”
Figurative Language cont.
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Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration

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The books weigh a ton.
I could sleep for a year.
I have a million things to do.
Personification: When a non-living object
has been given qualities of a person

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The wind whispered through the trees
The moon danced on the water
“Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie.”
Figurative Language cont.

A Symbol: a person, place, thing, or
event that stands for itself and for
something beyond itself as well.

A wedding band symbolizes_______.
A white flag symbolizes__________.
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Rhyme

End Rhyme: Rhyme that appears at the end
of two or more lines of poetry

“I would not, could not, in a box.
I could not, would not, with a fox.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.”
Rhyme

Internal Rhyme: The rhyming of words within
one line of poetry

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,
weak and weary…”
Over many a quaint and curious volume of
forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there
came a tapping...”
Rhythm
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Repetition: The repeating of a word or
phrase to add rhythm or to emphasize an
idea

“And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” –Robert Frost,
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”

“The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple
moor, And the highwayman came riding- Riding-ridingThe highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.”
–Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”