Poetry Terms General Elements Figurative Language Sound Devices Forms of Poetry Types of Poetry 1
Jan 21, 2016
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