Poetry Basics

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Poetry Basics

• 9/30/08

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Poetry

• The best words in the best order to express a
  thought or emotion

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Metaphor

• A direct comparison of two unlike things.
• The little girl is an angel. (compares the girl
  to the angel)
• The angelic little girl sat quietly. (compares
  the girl to an angel)
• The bully is a monster. (compares the bully to a
  monster)

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Simile

• A comparison of two unlike things using like,
  as, or than.
• The little girl is as quiet as an angel.
  (Comparing the little girl to an angel using the
  word as.)
• The bully is mean like a monster. (Comparing the
  bully to a monster using the word like.)

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Dream Deferredby Langston Hughes

• What happens to a dream deferred?
• Does it dry up
• like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore ---
• And then run?
• Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Or crust and sugar over ---
• Like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags
• Like a heavy load.
• Or does it explode?

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Dreamsby Langston Hughes

• Hold fast to dreams
• For if dreams die
• Life is a broken-winged bird
• That cannot fly.
• Hold fast to dreams
• For when dreams go
• Life is a barren field
• Frozen with snow.

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Imagery

• Language that appeals to the five senses
• Vivid description of a scene or an object so that
  the reader can see it, hear it, smell it, taste
  it, or feel it.

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Personification

• Giving non-human objects, human-like
  characteristics
• The trees danced.
• The wind whispered.

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Hyperbole

• An extreme exaggeration used for effect
• I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
• I waited in line forever to get the concert
  tickets.
• I could sleep for days.

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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

• I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
• That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
• When all at once I saw a crowd,
• A host, of golden daffodils
• Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
• Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

(Simile)
(Metaphor)
(Personification)
(Metaphor)
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• Continuous as the stars that shine
• And twinkle on the milky way,
• They stretched in never-ending line
• Along the margin of a bay
  
• Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
• Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

(Simile)
(Hyperbole)
(Hyperbole)
(Personification)
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(Personification)

• The waves beside them danced but they
• Out-did the sparkling waves in glee
• A poet could not but be gay,
• In such a jocund company
• I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
• What wealth the show to me had brought

(Personification)
(Personification)
(Metaphor)
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• For oft, when on my couch I lie
• In vacant or in pensive mood,
  
• They flash upon that inward eye
• Which is the bliss of solitude
• And then my heart with pleasure fills,
• And dances with the daffodils.

(Metaphor)
(Metaphor)
(Personification)
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Questions

• What is the speakers mood at the beginning of
  the poem?
• Describe the daffodils. What are they doing and
  to what does the speaker compare them?
• How does the sight of the daffodils affect the
  speaker?
• What happens when the speaker is in a pensive
  mood?

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Assignment

• Write a paragraph of imagery describing your
  bedroom. (At least 4 sentences)
• Write a paragraph where you personify a
  hurricane. (At least 4 sentences)