Info and Ideas
Name Hour Poetry Concepts
Concrete language is specific language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch).
Imagery creating pictures with words.
Figurative language—similes, metaphors, and personifications make unusual comparisons. A simile compares seemingly unlike things using a comparing word such as like or as. The fire siren is like a screech owl’s song. The ice was as smooth as glass before the skaters entered the rink. A metaphor compares seemingly unlike things without directly comparing words. The cup of hot chocolate was the best medicine for my cold. The ocean was sapphire. Personification gives human characteristics to an object, animal or idea. The low clouds bumped into the mountains. Winter spread her linen tablecloth across my lawn.
Sound techniques
Repetition—repeated use of sounds, words, phrases or lines.
Alliteration—repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. bouncing basketballs, friendly flowers, swirling snowflakes
Assonance—repetition of vowel sounds. “Till the shining scythes went far and wide And cut it down to dry.” “The Hayloft” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Consonance—repetition of consonant sound anywhere within words, not just at the beginning. “The sailor sings of ropes and things In ships upon the seas.”
End Rhyme—rhyming of words at the ends of lines of poetry.
Internal Rhyme—rhyming of words within one line of poetry.
Rhythm—pattern of beats made by stressed and unstressed syllables.
Onomatopoeia—use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meanings. (ex. Buzz, crack, whir) Form
Couplet—two lines of verse that rhyme and state on complete idea (traditional type of poetry)
Foot—one unit of meter
Meter—the rhythm or pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in the line of a poem.
Rhyme scheme—the pattern of rhyme
Quatrain—a four line stanza
Stanza—a division in a poem named for the number of lines it contains
Traditional Forms of Poetry
Ballad—a poem that tells a story, usually written in four-line stanzas (quatrains). Often the first and third have four accented syllables and the second and fourth have three. Example: The King was sick. His cheek was red And his eye was clear and bright; He ate and drank with a kingly zest, And peacefully snored at night.” “The Enchanted Shirt” by John Hay
Cinquain-is five lines in length (syllable and word cinquains) Syllable Cinquain Line 1: Title 2 syllables Line 2: Description of title 4 syllables Line 3: Action about the title 6 syllables Line 4: Feeling about the title 8 syllables Line 5: Synonym for title 2 syllables Friend/ship Pre/cious, awe/some Bright/ens gloom/y mo/ments Rain/bow's treas/ure trove dis/cov/ered Al/ways (from readinga-z.com)
Word Cinquain Line 1: Title 1 word Line 2: Description of title 2 words Line 3: Action about the title 3 words Line 4: Feeling about the title 4 words Line 5: Synonym for title 1 word Sun/beam Ra/di/ant, bright Stream/ing, pour/ing, soft/ly Al/ways makes me hap/py Gold/en (from readinga-z.com)
Elegy—a poem that states a poet’s sadness about the death of an important person. In the famous elegy “O Captain, My Captain,” Walt Whitman writes about the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Free Verse—is poetry that does not require meter or a rhyme scheme.
Limerick—a humorous verse of five lines. Lines one, two and five rhyme, as do lines three and four. Lines one, two and five have three stressed syllables: lines three and four have two. There once was a panda named Lu, a Who always ate crunchy bamboo. a He ate all day long, b Till he looked like King Kong. b Now the zoo doesn’t know what to do. a
Sonnet—a fourteen line poem that states a poet’s personal feelings. Rhyme scheme: abab/cdcd/efef/gg. Each line is ten syllables in length and every other syllable is stressed, beginning with the second syllable.
Invented Forms of Poetry
Alphabet Poetry—states a creative or humorous idea using the alphabet. Example:
Snowflakes
Astonishingly beautiful Cold, darting Exciting frost Graceful heavens Icy jewels Keen lace Majestic needles of pretty, quiet, Raining snow Turning under Vibrant Winds Xciting, yearly Zanyby Paul West: www.manassas.k12.va.us
Clerihew Poetry—humorous or light verse created by Edmund Clerihew Bentley; consists of two rhyming couplets. The name of some well-known person creates on of the rhymes.
Concrete Poetry—the shape or design helps express the meaning or feeling of the poem.
Definition poetry—defines a word or an idea creatively.
Name Poetry—the letters of a name are used to begin each line in the poem ( variation of acrostic poetry).