BellringerAnswer the following questions:

What makes poetry different than prose?

How can you identify poetry?

Unit 2 Vocabulary

What is Poetry?

Poetry is writing that is imaginative and emotional. Poetry is written with words that are vivid, and every word in a poem is important. These words are arranged carefully so that they have a pleasing sound, as well as an effect on the reader.

Purposes of Poetry

to create an imageto evoke emotionto tell a story

(narrative poetry)

The Form of Poetry

A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the doorWhen it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrongIn wanting to silence any song.

-Robert Frost

“A Minor Bird” Written in ProseHow does it look different from the poem?

I have wished a bird would fly away and not sing by my house all day. I have clapped my hands at him from the door when it seemed as if I could bear no more. The fault must partly have been in me. The bird was not to blame for his key. And of course there must be something wrong in wanting to silence any song.

The Form of PoetryPoems are written in lines and stanzas.

line—an arrangement of words in a poem

stanza—a group of lines (similar to a paragraph in prose writing)

How many lines and stanzas are in this poem?

A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the doorWhen it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrongIn wanting to silence any song.

-Robert Frost

Imagery

language that appeals to the senses

Example:

Winter MoonHow thin and sharp

is the moon tonight!

How thin and sharp and ghostly white

Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!

-Langston Hughes

Sound Devices in Poetry

alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds

Example:

mystical moon

onomatopoeia—a word that imitates a sound

Examples:

boom, splat, honk, swish, howl

Figures of Speech(figurative language)

a phrase that is not literally trueTypes of figures of speech:

simile metaphor personification hyperbole idiom

Simile

simile--a comparison between two unlike things, using like or as

Metaphor

metaphor--a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be the other thing

PersonificationPersonification—figure of

speech in which an inanimate object is treated like a living person or animal

Example:

Awakening to the risen sun, the rested trees stretched their limbs heavenward.

Hyperbole

hyperbole—an exaggeration

Examples:

These books weigh a ton. I could sleep for a year. The path went on forever. I'm doing a million things right now. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. I waited centuries for you.

Idiom

idiom—a commonly used expression that is not literally true

Examples: beat around the bush toot your own horn

bent out of shape don’t see eye to eye

a piece of cake fly off the handle

down in the dumps hold your horses

get under my skin going bananas

raining cats and dogs break a leg

shoot the breeze cat has your tongue

under the weather on pins and needles

drive me up the wall water under the bridge