POETIC TERMSPOETIC TERMS

1st Year English

Figurative Figurative languagelanguage

You’re doing You’re doing my head in!my head in!

Literal Literal languagelanguage

You are annoying You are annoying meme

The time (both the time of day and period in history) and place in which the action of a literary work takes

place.

“Tiger! Tiger!

burning brightIn the

forests of the night”

• November• Season =

winter• Night• Edinburgh

The use of concrete details that appeal to

the five senses.

Cold, wet leaves

floating on moss-

colored water.

What are What are the 5 the 5

senses?senses?

SmellSmell

TasteTaste

TouchTouch

HearingHearing

SightSight

What What image image

corresponcorresponds to each ds to each sense in sense in

this this poem?poem?

November Night, Edinburgh

The night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements

with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop

windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.

The repetition of consonant sounds

at the beginnings of words.

“Swiftly, swiftly

flew the ship”

• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.

• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,

there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.

• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring

night.• And outside like flowers• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.

Lungs / leavesLungs / leaves

Shrugged /snug / snoring

Shrugged /snug / snoring

The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different

consonant.

“. . .that hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not

me.”

• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.

• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,

there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.

• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring

night.• And outside like Chrysanthemums• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.

Cotton / WoolCotton / Wool

Lamps fadeLamps fade

A direct comparison between two basically

different things. A simile is introduced by the words

“like” or “as”.

My love is like a red, red

rose.

An implied comparison between two basically different things. Is not

introduced with the words “like” or “as”.

His eyes were

daggers that cut

right through

me.

November Night, EdinburghThe night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements

with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop

windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.

• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.

• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,

there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.

• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring

night.• And outside like Chrysanthemums• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.

Human characteristics are given to non-human

animals, objects, or ideas.

My stereo walked out of

my car.

November Night, Edinburgh

The night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements

with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop

windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.

The air tries the door

The air sidles past

The air tries the door

The air sidles past

• the form of a poem is the the form of a poem is the physicalphysical

• arrangement arrangement • of the wordsof the words• on the on the

page page

The repetition of consonant sounds

that are preceded by different vowel

sounds.

“Wherever we go

Silence will fall like dews”

The use of words whose sounds suggest the

sounds made by objects or activities.

“Blind eyes could

blaze like meteors”

Other examples:

buzz, hum, kiss

Other examples:

buzz, hum, kiss

The repetition of identical sounds at the ends of lines of

poetry.

“He clasps the crag with

crooked handsClose to the sun in lonely lands”

from “The Eagle”

The repetition of identical sounds within a line of

poetry.

“We three shall flee across the sea to Italy.”

Or“Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.”

Something concrete, such as an object, action, character,

or scene that stands for something abstract such as a

concept or an idea.

“Do not go gentle into that good nightRage, Rage against the dying of the

light”

Both phrases are symbols that

stand for death.

Both phrases are symbols that

stand for death.

The main idea or underlying

meaning of a literary work.

• Civilization vs. Savagery

• The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil.

The repeating of a sound, word, phrase,

or more in a given literary work.

“I sprang to the stirrup, and Jarvis, and he;I galloped, Derrick galloped, we galloped all

three”

The overall atmosphere or

prevailing emotional feeling of a work.

“It was the best of

times, it was the worst of

times.”