Keystone Poetry Terms

NarrativePoetry

A poem that tells a story.

PlotCharacters

Conflict“Papa’s Fishing Hole” by -Elisabeth D. Babin

I place my tiny hand in his as we walk to Papa’s Fishing Hole. I hand him a wiggling night crawler fighting for his life. The deadly hook squishes through the worm’s head, and I watch the brown guts ooze out. Papa throws the pole’s long arm back and then forward. The line lands in a murky spot along the reedy shore. Now I get to reel it in. Nothing yet, he says. He casts again. I reel it in.

Still nothing. Three time’s a charm, he says. He casts. A strike. We turn the crank together. The fish jumps from the water and his colors form a rainbow as he arches his body above the reeds. My Papa handles him with the skill of a master as I stop helping to watch him work. A stiff jerk, a quick reel, a stiff jerk again. The fish doesn’t have a chance, I yell. I know. I know. I know, he says.

Ballads narrative poem

intended to be sung

usually contains a chorus or refrain

I remember when we broke up the first timeSaying, "This is it, I've had enough," 'cause likeWe hadn't seen each other in a monthWhen you said you needed space. (What?)Then you come around again and say"Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change, trust me."Remember how that lasted for a day?I say, "I hate you," we break up, you call me, "I love you."

Ooh, we called it off again last nightBut ooh, this time I'm telling you, I'm telling you

We are never ever ever getting back together,We are never ever ever getting back together,You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to meBut we are never ever ever ever getting back together

Epic

long narrative poem

follows adventures of a hero

reflects beliefs of the culture

• superhuman deeds

• majestic language

• mythical setting

Elegy

Poem written in response to a person’s death

Focuses on the actual loss or the grief associated with it.

“To an Athlete Dying Young”

The time you won your town the raceWe carried you through the market-place;Man and boy stood cheering by,And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,Shoulder-high we bring you home,And set you at your threshold down,Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes awayFrom fields were glory does not stayAnd early though the laurel growsIt withers quicker than the rose.

epitaph eulogy

Lyric PoetryVery personal in nature

Focuses on feelings and perceptions about a specific subject.

"DREAMS"by Langston Hughes

Hold onto dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is like a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.

Haiku

Japanese form of unrhymed poetry

3 lines long

focuses on nature

Follows a pattern of:• 5 syllables• 7 syllables• 5 syllables

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into water, splash! Silence again.

Ode a poem that shows what is good and unique about a certain subject

They wait under Pablo’s bed,Rain-beaten, sun-beaten,A scuff of greenAt their tipsFrom when he fellIn the school yard.He fell leaping for a footballThat sailed his way.But Pablo fell and got up,Green on his shoes,With the footballOut of reach.

Now it’s night.Pablo is in bed listeningTo his mother laughingto the Mexican novelas on TV.His shoes, twin petsThat snuggle his toes,Are under the bed.He should have bathed,But he didn’t.(Dirt rolls from his palm,Blades of grassTumble from his hair.)

He loves his shoes,Cloth like a sail,Rubber likeA lifeboat on rough sea.Pablo is tired,Sinking into the mattress.His eyes sting fromGrass and long words in books.He needs eight hoursOf sleepTo cool his shoes,The tongues hangingOut, exhausted.

Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes

FREE VERSEA poem written without any regular rhyme scheme, rhythm, or line pattern.

Sonnet

14-lined poemWritten in iambic

pentameter(da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM)

Follows a rhyme scheme:

ABABCDCDEFEFGG

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

Sonnet 130

Couplet

RHYME TIME!!!

Rhyme Scheme The pattern of rhyme at the end of each line of poetry.

Represented by different letters for each new rhyme.

There once was a man from PeruWho dreamt he was eating a shoe.He awoke with a frightIn the middle of the nightTo find that his dream had come true.

A

A

A

BB

SPECIFIC RHYMES

Slant Rhyme Words that are close to rhyming, but aren’t perfect.

• soul/all eye/light

Internal Rhyme Words that appear in the same line and rhyme.

• In the gray grains of sand The dark veins of dropping rain.

Sound DevicesAlliteration the repeating of a consonant sound in consecutive words.

Sally sold Sam several seashells.

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

the repeating of a vowel sound in consecutive words.

How now, brown cow?

the use of words that imitate the sounds they describe.

Buzz Plop Smack

Differences betweenPoetry and Prose

In prose writing we use sentences, while in poetry we write in lines.

In prose writing we use paragraphs, while in poetry large chunks are called stanzas.

In prose writing the story is told by a narrator, while in poetry, the voice of the poem is called the speaker.

Extended metaphor/simile

Poetry is like flames, which are swift and elusive dodging realization. Sparks, like words on the paper, leap and dance in the flickering firelight. The fiery tongues, formless and shifting shapes tease the imagination. Yet for those who see, through their mind's eye, they burn up the page.

A comparison that lasts longer than one line. Instead it continues for an entire stanza or an entire poem.