Poetry Web Quest

This poetry “web quest” will allow you to explore the following elements of poetry: mood, tone, imagery, metaphor, personification, simile, alliteration, onomatopoeia and refrain. By looking at a variety of poems, you will learn about and be able to identify these poetic elements.

Follow the instructions below to explore the Elements of Poetry. Write your responses on your own sheet of paper. PART 1:

Questions 1 - 4 deal with the elements of mood, metaphor and tone. Review the definitions of each in the table below:

Mood Metaphor Tone

The feeling a poem creates for An implied comparison between The attitude a poet takes toward the reader two objects or ideas his/her subject

To complete questions 1 - 4, go to Poem Hunter to read the poem Democracy, by Langston Hughes.

1. What is an example of a metaphor in this poem?

Mood and tone are similar, but according to the table above, they differ in a crucial way. With that in mind, answer questions 2 & 3:

2. How would you describe the mood of the poem? Be sure to provide some text evidence to go along with your answer.

3. How would you describe the author's tone? Be sure to provide some text evidence to go along with your answer.

4. Independent work: Go here to learn more about the life of Langston Hughes. Write down 5 facts you learned about this great American poet. (Your facts should NOT include when he was born or when he died.) This is a video so you will need to use headphones/ear buds as not to bother other students. PART 2

Questions 5 - 7 deal with the elements of alliteration, refrain and rhyme scheme. Review the definitions of each in the table below:

Alliteration Refrain Rhyme Scheme

The repetition of an initial The repetition of one or moreThe pattern in which the end rhyme occurs (beginning) sound or phrases or lines at certain consonant in two or more intervals, usually at the end Example: words near one another in aof each stanza Similar to the Continuous as the stars that shine(A) line of a poem chorus in a song. And twinkle on the milky way, (B)

They stretched in never-ending line(A) Along the margin of a bay: (B) Ten thousand saw I at a glance, (C)

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance(C)

To complete question 5 - 7, go here to read One Inch Tall, by Shel Silverstein.

5. What line would be considered the refrain? What effect does this have on the reader of the poem?

6. There are several examples of alliteration in the poem. Please list two.

7. What is the rhyme scheme for this poem?

PART 3

Questions 8 & 9 deal with the concept of simile. Review the definition below.

Simile

A direct comparison between two objects or ideas that uses the words “like” or “as”

Then follow the link Baseball Almanac to read Robert Francis' poem, The Base Stealer, and answer questions 8 & 9.

8. What is an example of a simile as it's written in the poem?

9. What two things is the poem comparing through the use of simile?

PART 4

Question 10 asks you to explore personification.

Personification

Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.

Visit the site My Word Wizard to read five examples of poems with personification and complete question 10.

10. List an example (on your answer sheet) of personification from each of the FIVE poems given. Be sure to provide the titles along with the examples, so I know to which poem you are referring.

PART 5

Imagery

Imagery is a concept that is sometimes more difficult to explain or identify. A simple definition is as follows:

Representation of the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell •Creates mental images about a poem’s subject

Read the poem, White Eyes, by Mary Oliver by visiting The Poetry Foundation.

11. Think about the imagery in this poem and describe how this poem uses imagery.

PART 6

When a word imitates a noise or action (example: "flutter"), we call it an onomatopoeia. The poems found at My Word Wizard contain several examples. Read these poems and complete the following:

12. Challenge: List 8 words in the poems that are an example of onomatopoeia.

13. Think of three additional examples.

PART 7

Click on the following link and study the painting carefully. Then write an original sentence using each of the following figurative language devices to describe the picture as listed below: http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889

14. metaphor-

15. alliteration-

16. simile-

17. personification-

18. onomatopoeia-

19. imagery-

20. What kind of mood does this painting have for you? What kind of tone do you think the artist, Vincent Van Gogh, intended to use for this particular painting, entitled “Starry Night?”