Poetry and Figurative Language Focused Notes

Instructions: For today’s activity, you will be responsible for creating your own notes using the following PowerPoint. Please do not write down the information word for word. The PowerPoint is designed as a learning tool for note taking as well as a review for poetry and figurative language. You will be responsible for a minimum of one full page, front and back, of C-Notes (focused notes). Please have an entry for each of the vocabulary words present in the PowerPoint. If you choose, write down and example or draw a picture to help you better understand the material. I will be walking around the make sure you are diligently working. Helpful Reminders: Write down only what is important Write only on the “NOTES” side of your C-Notes paper. Complete the summary at the end of class on what you have learned.

How does an understanding of figurative language and poetry terms expand my comprehension of the authors’ intended meaning?

Epic Poem Epic poetry is usually very lengthy and tells a narrative type story. Many examples have been published throughout history and remain very popular. These poems tend to be serious and are significant to history or cultural all over the world. Examples Include: “Iliad” “Paradise Lost” “Beowulf”

Lyric Poetry Lyric poetry is a form of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, the lyric, which was defined by its musical accompaniment, usually on a stringed instrument known as a lyre.

Imagery Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture. Imagery needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia etc. in order to appeal to the bodily senses.

Imagery Examples It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. – “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense. He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense. The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. – The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch or tactile sense. The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. – “ juicy” and “sweet” when associated with oranges have an effect on our sense of taste or gustatory sense.

Simile A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

Simile Examples Our soldiers are as brave as lions. Her cheeks are red like a rose. He is as funny as a monkey. The water well was as dry as a bone. He is as cunning as a fox.

metaphor Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically. “He is the black sheep of the family” is a metaphor because he is not a sheep and is not even black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal and typically stays away from the herd, and the person you are describing shares similar characteristics.

Extended metaphor The term “extended metaphor” refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph, or lines in a poem. It is often comprised of more than one sentence, and sometimes consists of a full paragraph. An extended metaphor can help develop a theme or central topic for a piece.

Graphic elements Graphic elements have an important influence on the meaning of the poem and include the use of capitalization, line length, and word position. Shows relationships between words and ideas.

repetition Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. There are several types of repetitions commonly used in both prose and poetry. As a rhetorical device, it could be a word, a phrase or a full sentence or a poetical line repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text. Repetition is not distinguished solely as a figure of speech but also as a rhetorical device.

Symbolism Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you. Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain”, for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. It also depends on who reads them.

line A line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided, which operates on principles which are distinct from and not necessarily coincident with grammatical structures, such as the sentence or clauses in sentences.

Stanza In poetry, a stanza is a division of lines having a fixed length, meter or rhyming scheme. Stanzas in poetry are similar to paragraphs in prose. They help separate ideas and organize the poets thoughts.

poet The author of a poem.

speaker The speaker of the poem is not always the author. The speaker is the intended voice of the poem. The speaker can sometimes be related back to how readers might see a narrator.