Poetry Terms

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Poetry Terms

• Miss Nabetas
• 8th Grade

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THEME

• THEME
• Meaning, moral, or message.
• Example One of the many themes S.E. Hinton
  explored in The Outsiders was to Stay Gold
  (148).

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FORM

• FORM
• The way a poems lines and words are arranged on
  a page.
• Forms of poems include ballad, epic, ode,
  sonnet, and free verse.
• We will be exploring all these types of poetry
  throughout the unit!

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Form (continued)

• Read the following poem
• Green by Betty Ann Whitney
• bright early spring and the oak tree's
  beauty shimmers the eye of sunshine through her
  high waving branches revealing the squirrel's
  bushy tail and the robin red breast perched on
  twigs deep inside a glowing mass of green
  singing a sweet lullaby to her young oh how
  we love the time of spring

• Question Whats so special about this poem?
• Answer FORM! It is written in the form
  of a tree, and its about a tree.

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LINE

• LINE
• Lines are used to write poems.
• Example
• Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, Line
• And sorry I could not travel both Line
• And be one traveler, long I stood
• And looked down one as far as I could
• -Robert Frost, excerpt from The Road Not Taken
• Lines can vary in length and order to express
  specific rhythm, feelings, or thoughts.

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STANZAS

• STANZAS
• Groupings of two or more lines.
• Think Paragraphs
• Little FlyThy summers play,My thoughtless
  handHas brush'd away.Am not IA fly like
  thee?Or art not thouA man like me?
• -Robert Frost, excerpt from The Fly

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RHYME

• RHYME
• Repetition of sound at the end of words.
• Example
• What words rhyme with
• FATE
• ORANGE

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RHYTHM

• RHYTHM
• Pattern or flow of sound created by an
  arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
  in a line.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWIYzalNlhq8
• Example Try to find all the stressed syllables
  (the words or parts of words that are read with
  emphasis).
• Whose woods these are I think I know
• His house is in the village though
• -Robert Frost, from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
  Evening

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RHYTHM CONTINUED

• Red Stressed syllables
• Black Unstressed syllables
• Whose woods these are I think I know
• His house is in the village though
• -Robert Frost, from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
  Evening
• Notice that parts of some words can be stressed
  while the rest of it is unstressed, like the word
  
• vill age
• Village has two syllables, the first is
  stressed while the second is not.

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REPETITION

• REPETITION
• A technique in which sounds, words, or phrases
  are repeated.
• Repetition is used for effect or emphasis.
• Example
• Find'st not thyself, nor mee the weaker now
  'Tis true, then learne how false, feares bee
  Just so much honor, when thou yeeld'st to mee,
  Will wast, as this flea's death tooke life from
  thee
• - Jon Donne, from The Flee

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ALLITERATION

• ALLITERATION
• Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning
  of words.
• Think of Alliteration as a specific type of
  Repetition.
• Alliteration is also used for effect or emphasis
  it gets the reader to pay attention to a
  specific part of the poem!
• Examples
• Miss Hawkins happily hailed the helicopter.

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Alliteration is used throughout the fantastic
book Animalia, by Graeme Base.
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Heres an example of the page representing the
letter C.
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Heres another example for the letter L.
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ANALOGY

• ANALOGY
• A comparison between two seemingly dissimilar
  things.
• Think How is a dog similar to a human?
• - Different breeds, like different cultures
• - Each has his or her own name
• - Both have eyes, ears, feet, noses, mouths
• Analogies often show a relationship between two
  things.

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IMAGERY

• IMAGERY
• Words that appeal or evoke readers five senses.
• Example
• After two days of gentle winter rains, the
• small pond behind my house is lapping at its
• banks, content as a well-fed kitten.
• -Barbara Kingsolver, from High Tide in Tucson
• What kinds of senses (sight, sound, feel, hear,
  or taste) do you feel as you read this?

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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
• Expressions that are not literally true
• Types of figurative language include
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

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SIMILE

• SIMILE
• Comparison of two things that have something in
  common.
• Similes use to the words like or as.
• Example
• The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf
• - Eve Merriam, from Simile Willow and Ginkgo

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METAPHOR

• METAPHOR
• Comparison of two things that have something in
  common.
• Unlike similes Metaphors DO NOT use the words
  like or as.
• Example
• My sister has a heart of stone!
• Think Why would a writer choose to use a
  metaphor instead of a simile?

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PERSONIFICATION

• PERSONIFICATION
• Giving human like qualities to an animal, object,
  or idea.
• Example
• Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered. There
  was no one there.

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You should have the following terms on your first
list of poetry terms

• 1. Theme
• 2. Form
• 3. Line
• 4. Stanza
• 5. Rhyme
• 6. Rhythm
• 7. Repetition

• 8. Alliteration
• 9. Analogy
• 10. Imagery
• 11. Figurative Language
• 12. Simile
• 13. Metaphor
• 14. Personification

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Poetry Terms List 2

• 1. Lyric/Advice poem
• 2. Dialect
• 3. Symbol
• 4. Speaker
• 5. Audience

• 6. Voice
• 7. Ode
• 8. Epic
• 9. Sonnet
• 10. Haiku

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Types of Poetry

• Lyric/Advice Poetry These poems present thoughts
  and feelings of a single speaker. This is what
  most poems are, and how we often think of poetry.

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Mother to Son

• Read Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes.
• On a fresh sheet of paper, answer the following
  prompts
• 1. What imagery does the word crystal bring to
  your mind?
• 2. What kind of life do you think this mother has
  lived?
• 3. How has this mother handled the difficulties
  in her life?

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Speech to the Young

• Read Speech to the Young, by Gwendolyn Brooks.
• On your same sheet of paper, answer the following
  prompts
• 1. What do you think about the advice given by
  the speaker in the poem?
• 2. What phrases in the poem refer to people who
  have a negative effect on others?
• 3. According to the speaker, what should you, the
  reader, say to such people?

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Comparing Poems

• After reading both Mother to Son and Speech to
  the Young, which poem seems more hopeful?
  Explain your choice.
• Which of the two poems do you think offers the
  best advice for teenagers today? Give reasons for
  your choice.

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DIALECT

• DIALECT
• Language that is spoken in a specific place or by
  a specific group of people.
• Example I constantly make fun of my sister
  because she has picked up some specific
  pronunciations from living in South Dakota.

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SYMBOL

• SYMBOL
• A person, place, object, or action that stands
  for something more than what it is.
• Think What are some symbols people typically use
  for strong like or love?
• Ring
• Roses
• Cards
• Pictures

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SPEAKER

• SPEAKER
• The voice that talks to a reader.
• The speaker is NOT necessarily the author.
  Sometimes the speaker is someone who the author
  has created.
• Example
• Well, son, Ill tell you
• We can infer from these lines the speaker is
  either the sons mother or father.

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AUDIENCE

• AUDIENCE
• A particular group of people who the author is
  addressing.
• Think How would you write to a friend? a
  teacher? your Grandma?
• This is why it is important to consider who you
  are writing to before you begin. You write/speak
  differently depending on who you are addressing.

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VOICE

• VOICE
• The authors distinctive style or manner of
  expression. Voice is brought out in the way the
  author writes.
• Example
• Grandmothers are special. They talk funny they
  think differently and they are always telling us
  how much easier we have it. Im not so sure.
• -Nikki Giovanni, from Grand Mothers
• After two days of gentle winter rains, the small
  pond behind my house is lapping at its banks,
  content as a well-fed kitten.
• Barbara Kingsolver, from High Tide in Tucson

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Types of Poems (continued)

• Ode A type of lyric poetry that addresses
  serious themes such as justice, truth, or
  beauty.
• Epic A long narrative poem about adventures of a
  hero. These kinds of poems are meant to be
  recited or sung aloud. In these poems you can
  find setting, plot, and characters. Think Story!

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Types of Poems (continued)

• Sonnet Has a formal structure, containing
  fourteen lines and a specific rhyme scheme and
  meter
• means little song
• can be used for a variety of topics

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Sonnet 18by William Shakespeare

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou
  art more lovely and more temperate Rough winds
  do shake the darling buds of May, And summers
  lease hath all too short a date Sometime too
  hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his
  gold complexion dimmd And every fair from fair
  sometime declines, By chance or natures
  changing course untrimmd But thy eternal
  summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of
  that fair thou owest Nor shall Death brag thou
  wanderst in his shade, When in eternal lines to
  time thou growest    So long as men can breathe
  or eyes can see,    So long lives this, and this
  gives life to thee.

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Types of Poems (continued)

• HAIKU
• traditional form of Japanese poetry
• describes a single moment, feeling, or thing
• 3 lines
• first and third lines 5 syllables
• second line 7 syllables

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Haikus

• Dry leaves on the ground 5
• Summer now a memory - 7
• Time for egg nog soon. 5
• Leaves are falling down,
• Oak tree acorns all around -
• Life turns green again.

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