POETRYPOETRY

POETRY TERMSPOETRY TERMSLine – a line of poetry

Stanza – a group of lines in a poem

Refrain – a line or stanza repeated at regular intervals throughout the poem

“This Land is Your Land”

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,

I saw above me that endless skyway.

I saw below me that golden valley

This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts.

And all around me a voice was sounding

“This land was made for you and me.”

When the sun comes shining and I was strolling

And the wheatfields waving and the dust clouds rolling,

As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting,

“This land was made for you and me.”

Poetry TermsPoetry Terms

Rhyme – the repetition of the same or similar sounds that appear near each other in a poem

Rhyme scheme – the pattern of rhyme in a poem

Rhythm – the pattern of beats in a poem

“The Sloth”- Theodore Roethke

In moving slow he has no peer.

You ask him something in his ear;

He thinks about it for a year;

And then, before he says a Word

There, upside down (unlike a bird)

He will assume that you have heard-

A most EX-as-per-at-ing Lug

But should you call his manner Smug,

He’ll sigh and give his branch a Hug;

Then off again to Sleep he goes,

Still swaying gently by his Toes,

And you just know he knows he knows.

Back through cloudsBack through clearingBack through distanceBack through silence

Back through grovesBack through garlands

Back by riversBack below mountains

Back through lightningBack through citiesBack through starsBack through hours

Back through plains Back through flowersBack through birdsBack through rain

Back through smoke Back through noon

Back along loveBack through midnight

“Train Tune”Louise Bogan

POETRY TERMSPOETRY TERMS

Figurative language – language used for descriptive effect and not meant to be taken literally

Simile – a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”

Metaphor – a direct comparison between two unlike things

Personification – giving human characteristics to things that are not human

“The Magnificent Bull”

My bull is white like the silver fish in the riverwhite like the shimmering crane bird on the river bankwhite like fresh milk!His roar is like the thunder to the Turkish cannon on the steep shore.My bull is dark like the raincloud in the storm.He is like summer and winter.Half of him is dark like the storm cloud,half of him is light like sunshine.His back shines like the morning star.His brow is red like the beak of the Hornbill.His forehead is like a flag, calling the people from a distance.He resembles the rainbow.

I will water him at the river, With my spear I shall drive my enemies.Let them water their herds at the well;The river belongs to me and my bull.Drink, my bull, from the river; I am hereTo guard you with my spear.

- Dinka Traditional

“To a Golden-Haired Girl in a Louisiana Town” - Vachel Lindsay

You are a sunrise,

If a star should rise instead of the sun

You are a moonrise,

If a star should come, in the place of the moon.

You are the Spring,

If a face should bloom,

Instead of an apple-bough.

You are my love

If your heart is as kind

As your young eyes now.

“Voyage”

I was the fourth ship Behind Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Lost at sea while watching a seagull, Following the wind and sunset skies, While others set their charts.

I was the fourth ship. Breathing in salt and flying with clouds, Sailing moonbreezes and starvision nights, Rolling into the wave and savoring its lull, While the others pointed their prows.

I was the fourth ship. Playfully in love with the sea, Eternally entwined with the sky, Forever vowed to my voyage, While the others shouted “Land.”

- Carmen Tafolla

POETRY TERMSPOETRY TERMS

Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound in a line of poetry

Assonance – repetition of a vowel sound in a line of poetry

Onomatopoeia – a word or phrase that imitates a sound

Imagery – language that appeals to the senses

“Cat!” - Eleanor Farjeon

Cat!Scat!

After her, after her,Sleeky flatterer,

Spitfire chatterer,Scatter her, scatter her

Off her mat!Wuff! Wuff!

Treat her rough!Git her, git her,

Whiskery spitter!Catch her, catch her,

Green-eyed scratcher!SlatherySlitheryHisser,

Don’t miss her!

Run till you’re ditheryHitheryThithery

Pftts! Pffts!How she spits!Spitch! Spatch!

Can’t she scratch!Scritching the bark

Of the sycamore tree,She’s reached her ark

And’s hissing at mePftts! Pffts!Wuff! Wuff!

Scat,Cat!

That’s That!

“When the Frost is on

the Punkin”

- James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shockAnd you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey cock

And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;

O, it’s then’s the time a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfereWhen the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here-

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,And the mumble of the hummin’birds and buzzin’ of the bees

But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the hazeOf a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mockWhen the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries – kindo’ lonesome-like, but stillA-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;The hosses in theyr stalls below – the clover overhead! –

O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keepsIs poured around the celler in red and yeller heaps;

And your cider makin’s over, and your wimmern folks is throughWith theyr mince and apple butter, and theyr souse and sausage, too

I don’t know how to tell it – but ef sich a thing could be As the Angels wantin boardin’ and they’d call around on me –

I’d want to ‘commodate ‘em – all the whole indurin’ flock – When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!