Elements of Poetry

Quick Review: What is Poetry?  Genre of literature that uses sounds, rhythms, and meaning to set the imagination in motion.  Expresses feelings.  Uses elements of figurative language.

Some Elements of Poetry  Lines  Stanzas  Refrain or Repetition  Meter  Iambic Trimeter  Feet  Rhyme Scheme  AABBCCDD

Iambic Trimeter  The poem is written in iambic trimeter.  An iamb is a metrical foot that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllableiambfoot  Example: Sounds like – daDUM or "then leaf " or "so dawn."  Trimeter means there are three iambs in every line.  Check out line 2:  Her hard est hue to hold

Some Types of Figurative Language  Similes  Metaphors  Imagery  Personification  Onomatopoeia  Allusion  Alliteration

Quick Review on Similes and Metaphors  Similes:  Uses the word like or as to compare two seemingly unlike things.  Example: Her lips are as red as rose.  Metaphors:  Describes one thing as if it were something else.  Example: My chores were a mountain waiting to be climbed.

Imagery  Descriptions that appeal to the five senses.  Poets use imagery to convey what they see, hear, smell, taste, or touch.  Paints a vivid picture or image in the reader’s mind.  Example:  Without imagery- I walked to the pond.  With Imagery- I took a casual stroll down the pebbled path surrounded by glossy, sweet blueberry bushes towards the shimmering, cool pond accompanied by singing hummingbirds.

Personification and Onomatopoeia  Personification:  Gives human qualities to a nonhuman object.  Example: The fingertips of the rain tapped a steady beat on the windowpane.  Onomatopoeia:  Is the use of words that imitate sounds.  Example: Hiss, Oink, Splat, Gurgle, BOOM!

Allusion  An allusion is, plain and simple, a reference.  You'll find allusions (or shout-outs, as we like to call them) when the book you're reading makes a reference to something outside of itself, whether another work of literature, something from pop culture, a song, myth, history, or even the visual arts. shout-outs literature song myth history  Why use allusions?  Allusions deepen and enrich a work's meaning.

Alliteration  The repetition of consonant sounds in the beginnings of words  Example:  Slippery Slope  Line 1: Nature’s first green is gold.

Denotation vs. Connotation  D enotation is the dictionary definition of a word.  Connotation is the ideas and feelings the word brings to mind.  Words can have a positive or negative connotation depending on the context in which they are used.  Lets look at Study Island!

Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost,  Nature’s first g reen is gold,  Her h ardest h ue to hold.  Her early leaf’s a flower ;  But only so an hour.  Then l eaf subsides to leaf.  S o Eden s ank to grief,  So d awn goes d own to day.  Nothing gold can stay.  Rhyming Scheme  Red, Orange, Yellow, Burgundy  AABBCCDD  Alliteration  Blue  Personification  Green  Allusion  Pink  Metaphor  Circled  Imagery  Underlined