6 TH GRADE POETRY UNIT

WHAT IS POETRY? QUICK WRITE (5 MINUTES) – ANSWER THE QUESTION ABOVE. CLASS DISCUSSION

PERSONIFICATION Personification: Giving something that is not a person human traits

PERSONIFICATION The run down house appeared depressed.

PERSONIFICATION The first rays of morning tiptoed across the meadow.

PERSONIFICATION YOUR TURN! Write one sentence personifying either the car or balloons.

Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room. "Ah, William, we're weary of weather," said the sunflowers, shining with dew. "Our traveling habits have tired us. Can you give us a room with a view?" They arranged themselves at the window and counted the steps of the sun, and they both took root in the carpet where the topaz tortoises run. William Blake ( ) William Blake

April Rain Song Let the rain kiss you Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops Let the rain sing you a lullaby The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk The rain makes running pools in the gutter The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night And I love the rain. by Langston Hughes

The sky is low THE sky is low, the clouds are mean, A travelling flake of snow Across a barn or through a rut Debates if it will go. A narrow wind complains all day How some one treated him; Nature, like us, is sometimes caught Without her diadem. Emily Dickinson

SIMILE SIMILE: comparing two unlike things using ‘like’ or ‘as’

SIMILE Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. – Carl Sandberg Shrek: Ogres are like onions. Donkey: They stink? Shrek: Yes. No! Donkey: They make you cry? Shrek: No! Donkey: You leave them out in the sun, they get all brown, start sprouting little white hairs. Shrek: No! Layers! Onions have layers! (Shrek, 2001)

SIMILE They are as alike as two peas in a pod. She is as cute as a kitten. Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.

YOUR TURN Write a simile describing one of the images on the right.

GINKO AND WILLOW The willow is like an etching, Fine-lined against the sky. The ginkgo is like a crude sketch, Hardly worthy to be signed. The willow’s music is like a soprano, Delicate and thin. The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus With everyone joining in.

METAPHOR comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common

METAPHOR Swords of light pierced through the trees.

METAPHOR The puppy was a little white cloud, drifting to sleep.

YOUR TURN Write a metaphor describing one of the images on the right.

ONOMATOPEOIA Words that make the sound they represent

BEEP, SWISH, BUZZ, POP, PLOP, SQUEAK

IDIOMS Expressions that mean something other than what the words literally say

“It’s raining cats and dogs.” “ Bite your tongue.” “ Skating on thin ice.” “Watch your step.”

ALLITERATION Repeating the initial consonant sound.

The boy bounced the big ball outside. Gerry jumps for joy when she sees jellybeans. Carefully, Ken cooks caramel apples.