Poetry Elements

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Poetry Elements

• Popular Poetry Forms

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Epic

• -The length of a novel
• -Dramatic story about a hero from history or
  legend
• -Tone is usually serious or grand
• Examples The Odyssey and Beowulf

3
Lyric

• - Short in length
• - Describes personal feelings of the author
• - Usually have a musical quality
• Examples Emily Dickinsons poems, including I
  Took My Power in My Hand

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Sonnet

• -14 line poem
• -Specific Rhyme Scheme- Shakespearean (abab,
  cdcd, efef, gg)
• -Traditionally LOVE poems
• Example William Shakespeare Sonnets 1-150

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Ballad

• - Type of lyric poem
• - Originally written to be sung
• - Usually features a refrain
• Example Love songs

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Elegy

• A poem about a person who died
• OR death/tragedy
• Mood is somber or serious
• Example Edgar Allen Poes Annabel Lee

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Haiku

• Japanese poem
• Three unrhymed lines
• Five syllables in the first and third lines and
  seven in the second.
• Depicts moments in nature
• Modern poets use the format, but poems do not
  depict moments in nature.
• Example Matsuo Bashos A Bee or MITs SPAM-KU

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Free Verse

• No predetermined format
• Most modern poetry is in free verse format
• Uses figurative/descriptive language to enliven
  the poem and create rhythm
• Example Walt Whitmans When I heard the Learnd
  Astronomer

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Limerick

• A five-line poem written with one couplet and one
  triplet. The rhyme pattern is a a b b a
• It is meant to be funny. They often contain
  hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns, and other
  figurative devices. The last line of a good
  limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or "heart of the
  joke."
• There once was a pauper named Meg,
• Who accidentally broke her _______.
• She slipped on the ______.
• Not once, but thrice
• Take no pity on her, I __________.