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Poetry Unit

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What is Poetry?"Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings, and making music with them." ­ Dennis Gabor

"A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep." ­ Salman Rushdie

"Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat." ­ Robert Frost

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Technically, poetry is...

a kind of writing that uses not only words,

but also forms, patterns of sound, imagery and

figurative language to convey its message.

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Elements of Poetry Foldable

Structure & Rhythm Imagery

Figurative LanguageSound Devices PO

E T RY

E LE M E N

TS O F

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Elements of Poetry FoldableStructure

Rhythm

Definition

Sound Devices Metaphors and similesSymbolPersonificationHyperbole

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Elements of Poetry Foldable

Imagery

Figurative Language

Alliteration Onomatopoeia

LinesStanzas MeterRhyme ­ end rhyme ­ internal rhyme ­ rhyme scheme

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Structure: a poem's form or appearance.

The Lion and the Lamb, author unknown

LionMajestic, proud

Roaring, snarling, prowlingMane, muscle . . . Fleece, fluffBleating, leaping, grazing

Meek, gentleLamb

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Poems are divided into lines.

A group of lines is a called a stanza. *You can

think of them like paragraphs in a story.* Dreams by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken­winged birdThat cannot fly.

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

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Rhythm is a poem's pattern of stressed and

unstressed syllables.

A regular pattern that creates a predictable

rhythm is the poem's meter.

"The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;Only this, and nothing more."

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Rhyme repetition of the same or similar sounds.

- Most common at the end of lines (end rhyme)

- Internal rhyme occurs within a line

- Rhyme scheme is a pattern formed by a

poem's end rhyme. Exerpt of "The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;Only this, and nothing more."

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Sound devices are techniques that create a sense

of rhythm or emphasizes particular sounds.

Alliteration....you should know this!

Onomatopoeia...you should know this, too!

Just in case you don't remember....

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Alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds

at the beginnings of words

Onomatopoeia words or phrases that imitate

the sound they describe.

Exerpt of "Ankylosaurus" by Jack Perlutsky

Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank!Ankylosaurus was built like a tank, its hide was a fortress as sturdy as steel, it tended to be an inedible meal.

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Figurative language is used by poets for

descriptive effect. *It is not used exclusively for

poetry. Fiction and non-fiction use figurative

language as well.

You should know what these are...

- Metaphors and similes - Personification

- Symbol - Hyperbole

...but let's refresh...just in case...

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Figurative language is used by poets for

descriptive effect. *It is not used exclusively for

poetry. Fiction and non-fiction use figurative

language as well.

- Metaphors and similes: compares two unlike things. (Similes use like or as to do this, but metaphors do not. They simply say that something is

something else.)

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken­winged birdThat cannot fly.

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

Exerpt of "Ankylosaurus" by Jack Perlutsky

Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank!Ankylosaurus was built like a tank, its hide was a fortress as sturdy as steel, it tended to be an inedible meal.

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Figurative language is used by poets for

descriptive effect. *It is not used exclusively for

poetry. Fiction and non-fiction use figurative

language as well.

- Metaphors and similes: compares two unlike things. (Similes use like or as to do this, but metaphors do not. They simply say that something is

something else.)

- Personification

- Symbol - Idioms

- Symbol: any object, person, place or experience that

means more than what it is.

Remember the raven? What did it first symbolize to the

narrator? What did it come to symbolize by the end?

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Figurative language is used by poets for

descriptive effect. *It is not used exclusively for

poetry. Fiction and non-fiction use figurative

language as well.

- Metaphors and similes: compares two unlike things. (Similes use like or as to do this, but metaphors do not. They simply say that something is

something else.)

- Personification

- Symbol - Idioms

- Personification: giving an animal, object or idea human form

or characteristics.

"Primer Lesson," by Carl Sandburg

Look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, it is not easy to call them back. They wear long boots, hard boots; they walk off proud; they can't hear you calling­Look out how you use proud words.

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Figurative language is used by poets for

descriptive effect. *It is not used exclusively for

poetry. Fiction and non-fiction use figurative

language as well.

- Metaphors and similes: compares two unlike things. (Similes use like or as to do this, but metaphors do not. They simply say that something is

something else.)

- Personification

- Symbol - Idioms

- Hyperbole: an extreme exaggeration for dramatic or comedic

effect or to get a point across

Examples: I could sleep for a year.This box weighs a ton.I've told you a million times to clean your room.

The HippoA head or tail­which does he lack?I think his forward's coming back!He lives on carrots, leeks, and hay;He starts to yawn­ it takes all daySome time I think I'll live that way.