Descriptive Writing Poetry Terms

1st Period

Alliteration

Simile

• A comparison between two or more seemingly unlike things using “like” or “as” for the purpose of adding insight/description.

• (Note: You must be aware of the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social implications of your comparisons.)– Example 1: The cat’s teeth were as sharp as

daggers.

Metaphor

• Metaphor: A comparison between two or more seemingly unlike things without using “like” or “as”. Metaphors tend to be more lengthy and complicated.– Example 1: He is the workhorse of the team. He

was a lion on the football field.– Example 2: The pillow was a rock.

SYMBOLISM

• the use of color or symbols to represent ideas, feelings, etc.– Example: The American flag symbolizes freedom.

A dove symbolizes peace.

Hyperbole

• gross exaggeration used in literary work.– Example: The weight of the world is on his

shoulders.

Allusion• a reference in a work to another work, piece

of literature, work of art, song, person, or historical situation for the purpose of drawing connections &/or increasing understanding.– Example: Their relationship was like Romeo and

Juliet.

Enjambment

• an unnatural break in thought between two lines of poetry.– Example: I think that I shall never see

a poem as lovely as a tree. I am

to gong to the game.

Personification

• giving non-living things human attributes.

Example: My pencil is running overtime.

Onomatopoeia

• a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes.– Example: Onomatopoeias include animal noises,

such as “oink” or “meow”.

Imagery

• when you use show don’t tell, word choice, and the five senses to create a mental picture.

– Example: “ A host of golden daffodils;/ Beside the lake, beneath the trees, /Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

Couplet

• a couplet has rhyming stanzas each made up of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.– Example: “If turkeys gobble,

Do Pilgrims squabble?”

Quatrain

• Quatrain: A stanza or poem of four lines.– Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme.– Lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme.– Example: “Look Before You Leap” from Auden

The sense of danger must not disappear:The way is certainly both short and steep, However gradual it looks from here;Look if you like, but you will have to leap.

Refrain

• Refrain: a phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza. – Very common in music lyrics.

STANZA

• Stanza: two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem.

• Example: Think of stanzas like paragraphs.– 2 lines = Couplet– 3 lines = Tercet– 4 lines = Quatrain– 5 lines = Cinquain– 6 lines = Sestet– 7 lines = Septet– 8 lines = Octave

Literary Devices• Symbolism• Imagery• Metaphors• Similes• Rhyme Schem• Allusions• Personification• Hyperbole• Idioms

• End Rhymes• Internal Rhymes• Alliteration• Assonance• Consonance• Mood• Punctuation• Onomatopoeia• Puns

HAIKU

• 3 lines• 5-7-5 Syllabic scheme• Nature themed• Use of Imagery to

“paint” a picture in the reader’s mind.

• Uses simple words and grammar.

Example:The Rose

The red blossom bendsAnd drips its dew to the ground

Like a tear it falls

By Donna Brock

Another Example & Your Turn

• Example #2:

The RainbowCurving up, then down

Meeting blue sky and green earthMelding sun and rain

• Try to write three haikus (one with a different theme each). Try these themes:– Sports– Outdoors– Hobby– Winter– Summer– Animals

Limericks

• A five line poem written with one couplet and one triplet.

• Rhyme scheme is aabba• Lines 1, 2, & 5 have 3 beats.• Lines 3 & 4 have two beats.• They are humorous (Last line is the Punchline).• They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia,

idioms, puns, and other figurative devices.

Example of Limerick

A flea / and a fly / in a flueWere caught, / so what / could they do?Said the fly, / "Let us flee.""Let us fly," / said the flea.So they flew / through a flaw / in the flue.

- Anonymous

Your TurnTRY Completing this: There once was a pauper named MegWho accidentally broke her______.She slipped on the ______.Not once, but thriceTake no pity on her, I __________.

* HINT w/Beat:Practice the rhythm of limericks by clapping you hands or snapping your fingers.

Think of some funny names, places, or situations.1.) Using the a a b b a 5-line form, write an original limerick.

2.) How would you illustrate the page if your poem was published in a bookof limericks? 3.)What types of art would you use?