elements of poetry[1]

8/3/2019 Elements of Poetry[1]

1/29

Elements of

Poetry


2/29

What do you knowabout poetry?


3/29

1. Speaker

a. The voice that communicates

with the reader of a poem.

b. A poems speaker can be the

voice of a person, an animal, oreven a thing.


4/29

Example

Lie back, daughter, let your head

Be tipped back in the cup of my hand.

from First Lesson by Philip Booth

Who is the speaker?


5/29

2. Lines and Stanzas

a. line- a row of words, which may

or may not form a complete

sentence.

b. Stanza- a group of lines forminga unit (poem paragraph)


6/29

Example

Drum on your drums,

batter on your banjoes,

Sob on the long cool

winding saxophones.

Go to it, O jazzmen.

From Jazz Fantasia by Carl Sandburg

Identify a line and a stanza.


7/29

3. Rhythm

Rhythm- the pattern of sound

created by the arrangement ofstressed and unstressed

syllable in a line. Rhythm can

be regular or irregular.


8/29

Example

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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door

Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door

Only this and nothing more.

From The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe


9/29

4. Rhyme

a. Internal rhyme- occurs within lines

of poetry

b. End rhyme- occurs at the ends of

lines

c. Rhyme scheme- the pattern of rhyme

formed by the end rhyme


10/29

Example

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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door

Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door

Only this and nothing more.

Find examples of end rhyme and internal rhyme and the rhyme

scheme.


11/29

5. Sound Devices

a. Alliteration- the repetition ofconsonant sounds

b. Onomatopoeia- the use of a word orphrase, such as swoosh or clank, that

imitates or suggests the sound ofwhat it describes


12/29

Example

Give an example of alliteration.

Give an example of onomatopoeia.


13/29

6. Imagery

a. Imagery- descriptive language

used to represent objects,

feelings, and thoughts.

b. It often appeals to the five

senses- sight, hearing, touch,taste, smell.


14/29

Example

Black horse drive a mower through the weeds,

And there, a field rat, startled, squealing bleeds.

from Reapers by Jean Toomer

To what senses do these lines appeal?


15/29

7. Figures of Speech

a. Simile- uses the words like oras

to compare two unlike things

Example: My love is like a red,

red rose.


16/29


b. Metaphor- compares two or more different

things by stating or implying that one

thing is another

Example:

I was not one for keeping

Rubbed in a cage a wing that would be

free.


17/29

Extended metaphor

a metaphor thatappears through out a

poem


18/29

Dead metaphor

Metaphor so common that it ispart of everyday speech

Examples: the woman is a

beautiful flower or love abeautiful flower


19/29


c. Personification- giving human

characteristics to an animal, object,

or idea

Example:

The headlights of the car stared at Bill.


20/29

Apostrophe

Addressing/ speaking to an animal,

object, or idea as if it were a

human

Example: Death, why do you mockme?


21/29

Other Literary Elements

Hyperbole exaggeration to create aneffect

Examples:I was so surprised you could haveknocked me over with a feather.

I would rather die than eat brusselssprouts.


22/29


Oxymoron two or three words

that combine opposite ideas

Examples:

sweet sorrow

jumbo shrimp


23/29


Paradox holding contradictory ideastogether in order to point to a deeper truthExamples:

For it is in giving that we receive,

In pardoning that we are pardoned,

And in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Saint Francis ofAssisi


24/29

Types ofPoetry

Epic a long narrative poem (tells a story)

in which a hero has a great adventure

Lyrical expresses a speakers personalthoughts and feelings

Narrative tells a story

Dramatic the speaker is a character whogives a speech (like a monologue in a play)


25/29

Introduction to PoetryIntroduction to Poetry

By Billy CollinsBy Billy Collins


26/29

I ask them to take a poemI ask them to take a poem

and hold it to the lightand hold it to the light

like a color slidelike a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.or press an ear against its hive.


27/29

I say drop a mouse into a poemI say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out.and watch him probe his way out.

or walk inside a poems roomor walk inside a poems room

and feel the walls for a light switch.and feel the walls for a light switch.


28/29


29/29

But all they want to doBut all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with ropeis tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hoseThey begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.to find out what it really means.

elements of poetry[1]

Documents