Introduction to

Poetic Terminology

Definit ion of Poetry• Poetry - A type of writing that uses

language to express imaginative and emotional qualities instead of or in addition to meaning.

• Poetry may be written as individual poems or included in other written forms as in dramatic poetry, hymns, or song lyrics.

Literary Devices Used

in Poetry

Figurative LanguageFigurative Language is the

use of words outside of their literal or usual meaning to

add beauty or force.

It is characterized by the use of similes and metaphors.

MetaphorMetaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing

becomes another without the use of the words like, as, than, or

resembles.

Example:

Love is a rose.

SimileSimile is a figure of speech that

makes a comparison between two unlike things, using words such as

like, as, than, or resembles.

Example:

My love is like a red, red rose.- Robert Burns

OnomatopoeiaOnomatopeia is the use of a word or words whose sound

imitates its meaning.

Examples:crackle, pop, fizz, click, chirp

PersonificationPersonification is a special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is talked about as if it was

human (given human characteristics).

Example:

This poetry gets bored of being alone,

It wants to go outdoors to chew on the wings,

To fill its commas with the keels of rowboats….

-Hugo Margenat, from”Living Poetry”

SymbolismSymbolism is when a person, place, thing or idea stands for itself and

for something else.

Example: Use of the bald eagle to represent the

United States.

Alliteration

Alliteration is the use of similar sounds at the beginning or end of a

word.

Assonance -

Assonance is the use of similar vowel sounds

within a word.

Poetic Structures

Iambic Foot

An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable

followed by a stressed syllable .

Example:

We could write the rhythm like this:

da DUM

Meter

Meter is the pattern of rhythm established for a

verse.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the actual sound that results from a

line of poetry.

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic Pentameter is a line of poetry with five

iambic feet in a row This is the most common

meter in English poetry.

Example:We could write the rhythm like this:

da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM

We can notate this with a ˘ mark representing an unstressed syllable and a '/' mark representing a stressed syllable

Example Continued:The following line from John Keats' Ode to

Autumn is a straightforward example:

˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘

To swell the gourd, and plump the ha - zel

/shells

RhymeRhyme is the placement

of identical or similar sounds at the ends of lines or at predictable locations within lines.

LinesPoetry is separated into lines

on a page. Lines may be based on the number of

metrical feet, or may stress a rhyme pattern at the ends

of lines.

StanzaStanzas are groups of lines in a poem

which are named by the number of lines included.

• Two lines is a couplet. • Three lines is a triplet or tercet.• Four lines is a quatrain. • Five lines is a quintain or cinquain. • Six lines is a sestet.• Eight lines is an octet.

Couplet

Couplet is two lines of a poem that are related by either rhyme or structure.

Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme Scheme is the use rhyme in a pattern as a structural element in a

poem.

Rhyme schemes are described using letters that correspond

to sets of rhymes.

Example: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, A

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; AAll the king’s horses and all the king’s men, BCouldn’t put Humpty together again. B

-------------------------------------------------

The rhyme scheme for this poem is:

A A B B

Example Continued:

A told B, AB told C, A“I’ll meet you at the top Bof the coconut tree.” A

“Whee!” said D ATo E F G A“I’ll beat you to the top Bof the coconut tree.” A

Chicka chicka boom boom! CWill there be enough room? CHere comes H DUp the coconut tree A

and I and J Eand tagalong K, EAll on their way Eup the coconut tree. A

-from Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martian Jr., and

John Archambault

---------------------------------------------

Rhyme scheme:

A A B AA A B AC C D AE E E A

Poetic Forms

Blank Verse

Blank Verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Example:To be, or not to be: that is

the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd.

From Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Free Verse

Free Verse is poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Example:

excerpt from Song of Myselfby Walt Whitman:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good

belongs to you.I loaf and invite my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a

spear of summer grass.

Sonnet

A sonnet is a fourteen line poem that is usually

written in iambic pentameter.

Shall I compare thee to a summer 's day? (Sonnet 18)

by Will iam Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Haiku

Haiku is a popular form of traditional Japanese poetry consists of 17-syllables comprising three metrical lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Example(5) Tree grow-ing old-er

(7) An-cient el-der shad-ing me

(5) Calm, cool, peace-ful day- Mrs. Chi, 2/08

Acrost ic poetryAcrostic poems use letter patterns to create multiple messages

Example:

When the first letters of lines read downward form a separate phrase or word.

ExampleEnergetic

Rowdy

Irritating

Clown-Mrs. Chi, 2/08

Concrete PoetryConcrete Poetry uses word

arrangement, typeface, color or other visual effects to

complement or dramatize the meaning of the words used.

Example #1:

From Wright Flyer Online

Example #2:

by Michael P. Garofalo

Epic PoetryAn Epic Poem is a long story told in verse which tells the great deeds of a hero.

Example: The Odyssey

by Homer

Narrative PoetryNarrative Poem is a poem

that tells a story.

Example: T’was the Night Before Christmas

by Clement C. Moore

Verse Fable

Verse Fable is a brief story told in verse that illustrates a moral and features human-like animals, plants, objects, or forces of nature.

Example:A Boy Cries Wolf

Once there was a foolish boy Whose job it was to guard some sheep         In case a hungry wolf might come         To pounce upon them in their sleep.

The owners told him: If a wolf Should come, be sure to give a cry         So we can come and save the sheep         And give that wolf a swift goodbye.

The foolish boy grew bored one night, And cried out Wolf! Wolf! just for jokes,         And farmers came from far and wide,         But left disgusted by his hoax.

But then at midnight that boy spied A savage wolf about to strike,          Wolf! Wolf! he screamed, but no one came         And sheep and shepherd died alike.

MORAL: Those who enjoy making fools of others often make fools of themselves.

from the book Aesop's Best: 80 Fables in Verse by William Cleary

Lyric Poetry

Lyric Poetry portrays the poet's own feelings, states

of mind, ideas, and perceptions.

Example:Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk endsAnd before the street begins,

And there the grass grows soft and white,And there the sun burns crimson bright,And there the moon-bird rests from his flightTo cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows blackAnd the dark street winds and bends.Past the pits where the asphalt flowers growWe shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And watch where the chalk-white arrows goTo the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,For the children, they mark, and the children, they knowThe place where the sidewalk ends.

by Shel Silverstein