Poetry Terms General Elements

Figurative Language

Sound Devices

Forms of Poetry

Types of Poetry

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Elements: Stanza Formal division of lines in a

poem Considered a unit Separated by spaces

Couplets: two lines Quatrains: four lines

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Speaker Imaginary voice assumed by poet

Often not identified by name

May be person, animal, thing, or abstraction

E.g.: Dickinson as dead person:

“Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly stopped for me”

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Tone

Writer’s attitude to audience and subject

E.g.: formal or informalserious, playful, pompous

bitter, ironic, personal

sympathetic, friendly

grieving, sarcastic, harsh

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Allusion Reference to well-known person,

place, event, literary work, or art

Usually to the Bible or to mythology

E.g.: “The Magi . . . were wise men . . . who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger.”

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Connotation Ideas or meanings associated with

a word (in addition to dictionary definition)

E.g.: “caged bird” = sad, trapped

creature

“previously owned vehicle” = used car

“vacation spot” = lake

Compare: fragrance, smell, stench

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Denotation Dictionary definition of a word

Independent of other associations

(connotations)

E.g.: lake Denotes inland body of water Connotes vacation or fishing spot

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Paradox Statement that seems contradictory

but may be true

Surprising, catches reader attention

E.g.: “Youth is wasted on the young.”

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

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Symbol Object has own meaning but also

represents abstract idea

Stands for something else

E.g.: Flag symbolizes country Scarlet ibis symbolizes Doodle and

other people who struggle

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Figurative Language Writing not meant to interpret literally

Compares dissimilar things

Creates vivid impressions

Metaphors, similes, personifications

E.g.: My black eyes are coals burning

Like a low, full jungle moonThrough the darkness of being

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Fig Lang: Metaphor

Figure of speech

A comparison

One thing spoken of as if

it is something else

E.g.: “Poetry is a river.”“The sky is a patchwork quilt.”

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Fig Lang: Onomatopoeia Words that imitate sounds

E.g.: whirr, thud, sizzle, hiss, buzz, bang, pop

E.g.: Poe’s “Bells”

“Of the bells, bells, bells, bells”

ringing, chiming, jangling,

rangling, clang, clash, roar

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Fig Lang: Simile

Figure of speech, comparison

Uses like or as to compare two unlike ideas

E.g.: “The morning sun is like a red

rubber ball.” “Does it dry up, like a raisin in the

sun?”

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Fig Lang: Imagery Descriptive or figurative language

Creates word pictures (images)

Details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement

E.g.: “ghostly marching on pavement stones”

“wind-tanned skin”“wise black pools”

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Fig Lang: Personification Figurative language

Nonhuman subject given human characteristics

E.g.: “The wind danced in the trees.”

Daffodils “tossing their heads in sprightly dance”

Storm “tosses her hair, throws back her head, and closes her eyes”

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Fig Lang: Extended Metaphor Writing about a subject as if it were

something else

Comparison several lines long or entire poem

E.g.: “caged bird” becomes person who is not free

“broken-winged bird that cannot fly”

becomes life without a dream

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Fig Lang: Sensory Words/Lang

Writing that appeals to the senses, e.g. images

Provides details related to senses

Example: feeling the sun beating down on one’s head

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Sound Devices: Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds

followed by different consonants in 2 or more stressed syllables

E.g.: “weak and weary”

“child of silence”

“so rolling…a stone”

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Sound Devices: Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant

sounds Emphasizes words, imitates

sounds, creates musical effects

E.g.: “I grew like a thin, stubborn weed, watering myself

whatever way I could.”“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered weak and weary.”“The fair breeze blew, the white foam

flew.”

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Sound Devices: Rhyme Repetition of sounds at ends of

words End rhyme vs. internal rhyme Exact rhyme vs. slant rhyme

E.g.: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,

weak and weary.”

“Swans sing before they die—’twere no bad thing

Should certain persons die before they sing.”

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Sound Devices: Repetition Use of any language element – a sound,

word, phrase, clause, or sentence – more than once

Used for musical effects and for emphasis

E.g.: Alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm

repeat sounds Refrain repeats line/s “You liked winning…You liked writing…

You liked all the faces…”

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Sound Devices: Refrain Regularly repeated line

or group of lines

In music: a chorus

E.g.: Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

“Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity.”

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Sound Devices: Rhythm Pattern of beats or stresses

Some poems have a specific pattern or meter

E.g.: There was a young lady named brightWhose speed was far faster than light

Prose and free verse use natural rhythms of everyday speech

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Forms of Poetry: Fixed Form Stanzas have repeated or

predictable patterns

Words in each stanza may rhyme or sound alike

Length and rhythm of stanzas arerelated

Number of syllables in line may be fixed

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Forms of Poetry: Free Form or Free Verse

Lacks structure or pattern

Words may not rhyme

Lines do not match in number of syllables, length, or rhythm

Forms of Poetry: Sonnet 14-line lyric poem

Formal patterns of rhyme, rhythm

and line structure

Two types:

English, or Shakespearean

(3 quatrains + couplet)

Italian, or Petrarchan

(octave + sestet)26

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Forms of Poetry: Haiku 3-line verse form

1st and 3rd lines: 5 syllables (?) 2nd line: 7 syllables (?)

Single vivid emotion Images from nature

E.g.: Basho: furu-ike ya An old pond

kawazu tobi-komu A frog jumps inMizu-no-oto The sound of water

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Types of Poetry: Lyric Poem Brief poem

Musical verse: uses rhythm, alliteration, and rhyme

Observations and feelings of

one speaker

Sung with lyre in ancient times

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Types of Poetry: Narrative Poem Tells a story in verse

May be an epic or a ballad

E.g.: “Casey at the Bat”: humorous

narrative poem Poe’s “Raven”: serious narrative

poem

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Types of Poetry: Ballad Songlike poem that tells a story

Often adventure and romance

Most written in 4 to 6-line stanzas, regular rhythms and rhyme schemes, often a refrain

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Types of Poetry: Limerick Humorous, rhyming, five-line poem

Specific meter and rhyme scheme

E.g.: Edward Lear:

There was an Old Person whose habits,Induced him to feed upon rabbits;When he'd eaten eighteen,He turned perfectly green,Upon which he relinquished those habits.

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Types of Poetry: Concrete Poem Poem with shape that suggests

subject

. . . t e a r s

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Types of Poetry: Dramatic Poem

Uses techniques of drama Writer tells a story Character’s own thoughts/words

E.g.: Poe’s “Raven” uses dramatic dialogue

Dramatic monologue: 1 person speaks to silent listener