Poetry Unit Mrs. Driscoll’s 8th Grade Language Arts Woodland Middle School

Prose VS. Poetry Prose is any writing that is not poetry. Essays, short stories, novels, newspaper articles, and letters are all written in prose. Prose is usually composed in paragraphs. Poetry is a kind of rhythmic, compressed language that uses figures of speech and imagery designed to appeal to our emotions and imagination.

Figures of Speech Simile Metaphor Personification Idiom Cliché Euphemism Oxymoron Hyperbole Pun

Imagery Imagery is language that appeals to the senses. Most images are visual Images can also appeal to the senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Often images can appeal to several senses at once.

Poetic Structure Poetry is usually arranged in lines. A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit is a stanza. It often has a regular pattern of rhythm and may have a regular rhyme scheme (exception = free verse).

Stanzas in Poetry A stanza in a poem is something like a paragraph in prose: It often expresses a unit of thought. A stanza may consist of any number of lines; it may even consist of a single line. In some poems, each stanza has the same rhyme scheme.

Speaker in Poetry Speaker : Poetry :: Narrator : Prose The speaker in poetry is the voice talking to us in a poem. The speaker is sometimes, but not always, the poet. It is best to think of the voice in the poem as belonging to a character the poet has created. The character may be a child, a woman, a man, an animal, or even an object.

Poetic Sound Devices Rhythm Rhyme Refrain Onomatopoeia Alliteration Assonance

Rhythm in Poetry Rhythm is a musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables or by the repetition of certain other sound patterns. A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry is called meter. Scanning is marking the meter of a poem with stressed and unstressed syllables.

Rhyme in Poetry Rhyme is the repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem. Purposes=building rhythm, lending a songlike quality, emphasizing ideas, organizing poems, providing humor or pleasure for the reader, and aiding memory. Types of rhymes: end, internal, approximate (near or slant), and eye (visual).

Types of Rhymes End rhymes: rhymes at the end of lines. Internal rhymes: rhymes within lines. Approximate/near/slant rhymes: rhymes involving sounds that are similar but not exactly the same (leave/live). Eye/visual rhymes: “rhymes” involving words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently (tough/cough as opposed to tough/rough).

Rhyme Scheme in Poetry Rhyme scheme = the pattern of end rhymes in a poem. To indicate the rhyme scheme of a poem, use a letter of the alphabet for each end rhyme. “A Time to Talk” pg 17 abcadbceed

Refrain in Poetry A repeated sound, word, phrase, line, or group of lines. Usually associated with songs and poems but are also used in speeches and other forms of literature. Purposes: build rhythm, provide emphasis, create suspense, or help hold a work together. From “America” by Neil Diamond Everywhere around the world They're coming to America Every time that flag's unfurled They're coming to America Got a dream to take them there They're coming to America Got a dream they've come to share They're coming to America

Onomatopoeia The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning Examples: buzz, rustle, boom, ticktock, tweet, and bark Lines to right = suggestion of sound of sleigh bells From “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe Hear the sledges with the bells- Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the Heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight.

Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close together. Usually at the beginning of words, but also occur within or at end of words Mostly in poetry but can be in prose From “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright- And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night.

Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together. Usually at the beginning of words, but also occur within or at end of words Mostly in poetry but can be in prose By Buson Sun low in the west… moon floating up in the east flowers in shadows