Poetry

1
Poetry

• Terms to make things easier

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Rhyme

• The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all
  sounds following them in words that are close
  together in a poem.
• In the wild ol West there lived a man,
• A man by the tile of Maiden-Savin Sam.
• Saving maidens was his hobby and he did it
• very well,
• Bragged about his victories-great stories
• he did tell.

3
Rhythm

• A musical quality produced by the repetition of
  stressed and unstressed syllables or by the
  repetition of certain other sound patterns.
  (often has a sing-song like sound)
• A gentleman dining at Crewe
• Found quite a large mouse in his stew
• Said the waiter, Dont shout,
• And wave it about,
• Or the rest will be wanting one too!

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End Rhyme

• Rhymes at the ends of lines
• Listen, my children, and you shall hear
• Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
• On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five
• Hardly a man is now alive
• Who remembers that famous day and year.

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Rhyme Scheme

• The pattern of end rhymes in a poem
• Listen, my children, and you shall hear A
• Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, A
• On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five B
• Hardly a man is now alive
  B
• Who remembers that famous day and year. A
• The rhyme scheme for this stanza is the
  following AABBA

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Internal Rhyme

• Rhyme occurring within a line of a poem
• 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 some one gently rapping, rapping
  at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I
  muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
• Only this, and nothing more."

7
Slant Rhyme

• The use of sounds that are similar but not
  exactly the same (sometimes the poet will make
  words rhyme because they look the same or will
  have the reader pronounce them differently so
  that it will work for the poets purpose)
• She twisted her hands behind her but all
  the knots held good!She writhed her hands till
  her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!They
  stretched and strained in the darkness, and the
  hours crawled by like years,Till, now, on the
  stroke of midnight, Cold, on the stroke of
  midnight,The tip of one finger touched it! The
  trigger at least was hers!

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Stanza

• A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form
  a single unit (basically a paragraph in the world
  of poetry)
• They had tied her up to attention, with many a
  sniggering jest.
• They had bound a musket beside her, with the
  muzzle beneath her breast!
• Now, keep good watch! and they kissed her. She
  heard the doomed man say
• Look for me by moonlight
• Watch for me by moonlight
• Ill come to thee by moonlight, though hell
  should bar the way!
•  
• She twisted her hands behind her but all the
  knots held good
• She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet
  with sweat or blood!
• They stretched and strained in the darkness, and
  the hours crawled by like years,Till, now, on
  the stroke of midnight, Cold, on the stroke of
  midnight,
• The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at
  least was hers!

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Refrain

• A repeated sound, word, phrase, line, or group of
  lines found in a poem.
• One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, Im after a prize
  to-night,
• But I shall be back with the yellow gold before
  the morning light
• Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me
  through the day.Then look for me by
  moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight,
• Ill come to thee by moonlight, though hell
  should bar the way.
• Later found in the poem
• The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no
  more for the rest.
• Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle
  beneath her breast.
• She would not risk their hearing she would not
  strive againFor the road lay bare in the
  moonlight Blank and bare in the moonlight
• And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight,
  throbbed to her loves refrain.

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Narrative Poem

• A poem that tells a story
• The Highwayman
• The Cremation of Sam McGee
• Paul Reveres Ride
• The Raven

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Lyric Poem

• A poem that does not tell a story but expresses
  the personal feelings of a speaker. They are
  usually short and imply a single strong emotion
• A word is dead by Emily Dickinson
• A word is dead
• When it is said,
• Some say.
• I say it just
• Begins to live
• That day.

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Ode

• A long lyric poem, usually praising some subject,
  and written in sophisticated language
• Excerpt from Ode to Thanks by Pablo Neruda
• Thanks to the word
• That says thanks!
• Thanks to thanks,
• word
• that melts
• iron and snow!

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Free Verse

• A poem without any particular rhyme scheme or
  rhythm
• The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
• so much depends
• upon
• a red wheel
• barrow
• glazed with rain
• water
• beside the white
• chickens

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Alliteration

• The repetition of sounds at the beginning of
  words that are close together.
• Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood
  there wondering, fearing,
• Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared
  to dream before
• But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness
  gave no token,
• And the only word there spoken was the whispered
  word, "Lenore!
• This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the
  word, "Lenore!"-                  Merely this,
  and nothing more.

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Assonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are
  close together.
• Old age should burn and rave at close of
  dayRage, rage, against the dying of the
  light." Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into
  that good night"

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Onomatopeia

• The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest
  their meaning.
• Tlot-tlot tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The
  horsehoofs ringing clear
• Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they
  deaf that they did not hear?
• Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of
  the hill,The highwayman came riding Ridingridi
  ng
• The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood
  up, straight and still.

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Symbolism

• When a person, place, thing, or an event has
  meaning in itself and stands for something beyond
  itself as well.
• The American flagfreedom
• The Lightening Is A Yellow Fork
• by Emily Dickinson
• (1830 - 1886)
•  
• The lightening is a yellow Fork
• From tables in the sky
• By inadvertent fingers dropt
• the awful Cutlery
•  
• Of Mansion never quite disclosed
• And never quite concealed
• The Apparatus of the Dark
• To ignorance revealed.

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Simile

• A comparison between two unlike things, using a
  word such as like, as, than, or resembles.
• Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse
  to the sky,
• With the white road smoking behind him and his
  rapier brandished high.
• Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon
  wine-red was his velvet coat
• When they shot him down on the highway, Down
  like a dog on the highway,
• And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a
  bunch of lace at his throat.

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Metaphor

• An imaginative comparison between two unlike
  things in which one thing is said to be another
  thing.
• The wind was a torrent of darkness among the
  gusty trees.
• The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy
  seas.
• The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the
  purple moor,
• And the highwayman came riding
• ridingriding
• The highway man came riding, up to the old inn
  door.

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Personification

• A figure of speech in which an object or animal
  is spoken as if it had human feelings, thoughts,
  or attitudes.
• Excerpt from Valentine for Ernest Mann
• Still, I like your spirit.
• Anyone who says, Heres my address,
• write me a poem, deserves something in reply.
• So Ill tell a secret instead
• poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
• they are sleeping. They are the shadows
• drifting across our ceilings the moment
• before we wake up. What we have to do
• is live in a way that lets us find them.

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Imagery

• Language that appeals to the senses.
• O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
• The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we
  sought is won,
• The port is near, the bells I hear, the people
  all exulting,
• While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel
  grim and daring
• But O heart! Heart! Heart!
• O the bleeding drops of red,
• Where on the deck my Captain lies,
• Fallen cold and dead.

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Hyperbole

• A gross exaggeration
• Im so hungry I could eat a horse.
• She could die from embarrassment.