Poetry Terms8th Grade

Poetry

Concise, rhythmic, and emotionally-charged language

BalladHaiku

LimerickLyric

NarrativeOde

Imagery

A word or phrase that appeals to the senses.

I’d rather smell of musty green stenchThan of sweet, fragrant lilac

Stanza

Groups of lines that form units in a poem like paragraphs in a story

Repetition

The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a piece of writing

Bavarian gentians, big and dark, only dark darkening the day-time, torch-like with the smoking blossoms of Pluto's gloom, ribbed and torch-like, with their blaze of darkness spread blue down flattening into points, flattened under the sweep of white day torch-flower of the blue-smoking darkness, Pluto's dark-blue daze, black lamps from the halls of Dis, burning dark blue, giving off darkness, blue darkness, as Demeter's pale lamps give off light, lead me then, lead the way.

Figurative Language

Writing not meant to be taken literally Language used for descriptive effect,

often to imply ideas indirectly

HyperboleMetaphor

SimilePersonification

Simile

A figure of speech that makes direct comparison between two unlike objects, using like, as, or than.

“Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie”

Opportunity knocked on the door.

Personification

A type of figurative language in which non-human things are given human characteristics.

Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room.

"Ah, William, we're weary of weather,"said the sunflowers, shining with dew.

"Our traveling habits have tired us.Can you give us a room with a view?"

They arranged themselves at the windowand counted the steps of the sun,

and they both took root in the carpetwhere the topaz tortoises run.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else. (DOES NOT USE LIKE OR AS)

The assignment was a breeze.America is a melting pot.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect

“I’m starving!”

My backpack weighs a ton.

Refrain

Word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated

The Raven by Edgar Allan PoeAnd the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted nevermore.

“Nevermore” and “Nothing more” are repeated throughout this poem

Meter

Rhythmical pattern (Rhythm)- number of stresses or beats in a line

Rhyme

Repetition of sounds in words that appear close to one another

After SchoolLie beneath a spreading tree

With golden flowers in the sun. Count to five on all the petals,Never think of five plus one.

Watch the building-crammed horizon,Sky no longer meeting ground.

Watch the golden flowers witherWatch the golden dreams fall down.

Rhyme scheme

Regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

Celery By Ogden Nash  

Celery, raw Develops the jaw,

But celery, stewed, Is more quietly chewed.

Slant Rhyme

Occurs when words include sounds that are similar but not identical

It usually involves the repetition of consonant sounds or the repetition of vowel sounds.

“when he passes, windingAmong them from behind”

“The Road Not Taken”by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fairAnd having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

Blank Verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines         

Excerpt from Macbethby

William ShakespeareTomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Concrete verse

Has a shape that suggests its subject

Spiritsfalling in puddles of grief,

disappointment drowning hope,tissues soaked in sadness, umbrellasraised in futile defense, ears closed to

the rain song. Eyes swollen, moist and red,fingers gripping an offered hand, feet unable

to move, flowers surround, unseen by one who isunaware of the rain song. Music, soft, sweet, and low,

prayers mumbled respectfully, love shared with family andfriends. Memories linger, vibrant and warm as hearts beat in

time with the rain song. Emptiness, loneliness yet to come, fearsfor tomorrow, tears for today, self-pity and doubt, anger and pain

hauntingand

howlingabout

inthe

windunable

tosong      hide            

rain    from          the           

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

“Casey at the Bat”The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the

teeth are clenched in hate;He pounds with cruel violence his bat

upon the plate.And now the pitcher holds the ball, and

now he lets it go,And now the air is shattered by the force

of Casey's blow.

Epic poem

A long narrative poem that relates the deeds of a hero

Beowulf

The Iliad and The Odyssey

Free verse

Poetry that has no regular meter

Mirror, MirrorMy game face is blue. I must put it back on, see

How much of my glory was real And how much fever.

I see drawn eyes, too much marring,A suit of swan feathers

Without the matching shape.And however I imagine lights,

No straw spins to gold.I see as I have been seen,

Not radiant, but ashine in hopeYet to see a finish.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words or phrases that sound like what they name.

SOUND WORDS

MEOWBANGPOW

RIBBIT

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

How thin and sharp and ghostly whiteIs the slim curved crook of the moon

tonight

Ballad

A story told in verse. These are usually handed down by word of

mouth.

The Mermaidby

Unknown authorOh the ocean waves may roll, And the stormy winds may blow,

While we poor sailors go skipping aloft And the land lubbers lay down below, below,

below And the land lubbers lay down below.

Haiku

A 3-line Japanese verse Lines 1 and 3 have 5 syllables Line 2 has 7 syllables They usually express a single vivid image

about nature

I walk across sandAnd find myself blistering

In the hot, hot heat

Limerick

A light, usually humorous poem with a regular rhythm pattern and rhyme scheme of AABBA

There was a young fellow from ClydeWho once at a funeral was spied.

When asked who was dead,He smilingly said,

“I don’t know. I just came for the ride.”

Lyric Poem

Highly-musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker.

“Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”

“Mother to Son”

Narrative Poem

Tells a story A story told in verse

“Casey at the Bat”

“Paul Revere’s Ride”

Ode

A lyric poem that expresses a noble feeling with dignity

“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,   Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express   

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape        

  Of deities or mortals, or of both,     In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?   

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?     What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?