Poetry Terms
How do the elements of sound in a poem add to its appeal? Repetition Alliteration Onomatopoeia
Repetition The repeated use of words, phrases, or lines in poetry. Poets use repetition to create a sound or to emphasize a point. “The highway man came riding, riding, riding, up to the old inn door.”
Alliteration The repetition of beginning consonant sounds. The big, blue basketball bounced down the boulevard.
Onomatopoeia A word which imitates a sound. Buzz! Zoom! Zip!
How do poets create structure in their poems? Rhyme Rhyme scheme rhythm
Rhyme The repetition of the same or similar sounds in words appearing near each other. The rain in Spain flows mainly on the plain.
Rhyme Scheme The pattern of rhyme in a poem. My love is like a red, red rose A That’s newly sprung in June; B My love is like a melody C That’s sweetly sung in tune. B
Rhythm The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. The beat of the poem. Example: Then I saw the Congo Creeping through the black; Cutting through the jungle with a golden track To the tune of Boom a lay, Boom a lay, Boom!
Why would poets use figurative language in their poetry? Imagery Simile Metaphor Personification Hyperbole
Imagery Language which appeals to the senses. So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow Glazed with rainwater Beside the white chickens William Carlos Williams
Simile A comparison using the words like or as As mean as a snake Shiny like a new penny As happy as a clown.
Metaphor A comparison which says something is something else. His hands were ice cubes. He was a giant. His cheeks were roses.
Personification Giving human traits to something that is not human. Sunshine kissed her cheek. The slopes greeted the skiers.
Hyperbole A figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. Hyperbole is a type of figurative language that depends on intentional overstatement. Glenda’s chicken lays so many eggs that she sits on a ten foot pyramid of neatly stacked white eggs each day.
Free Verse No pattern of rhyme or rhythm No rules about line length Try to keep words that belong together on the same line, but sometimes break them to create a visual shape.
Concrete Poems
Lyric Poetry Poetry which is a brief, musical expression of the poet’s thoughts and feelings. I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Narrative Poetry Poetry that tells a story Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.