Syntax, Rhyme, Rhythm, Diction, figurative language Poetic ANalysis Syntax, Rhyme, Rhythm, Diction, figurative language

Syntax Syntax is the ordering of words into patterns and phrases These terms are helpful when discussing poetic syntax: Caesura Enjambment End-stopped

Caesura a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and often greater than the normal pause. Example: “To err is human, to forgive divine”

the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next Enjambment A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and asleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing

End-Stopped a line with a pause at the end Example: True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance,    As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

Rhyme close similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse

Rhyme Scheme The way rhymes are arranged in a poem

Rhyming Patterns AABB – lines 1 & 2 rhyme and lines 3 & 4 rhyme Poets can choose from a variety of different rhyming patterns. (See next four slides for examples.) AABB – lines 1 & 2 rhyme and lines 3 & 4 rhyme ABAB – lines 1 & 3 rhyme and lines 2 & 4 rhyme ABBA – lines 1 & 4 rhyme and lines 2 & 3 rhyme ABCB – lines 2 & 4 rhyme and lines 1 & 3 do not rhyme

AABB Rhyming Pattern First Snow Snow makes whiteness where it falls. The bushes look like popcorn balls. And places where I always play, Look like somewhere else today. By Marie Louise Allen

ABAB Rhyming Pattern Oodles of Noodles I love noodles. Give me oodles. Make a mound up to the sun. Noodles are my favorite foodles. I eat noodles by the ton. By Lucia and James L. Hymes, Jr.

ABBA Rhyming Pattern Let me fetch sticks, Let me fetch stones, From “Bliss” Let me fetch sticks, Let me fetch stones, Throw me your bones, Teach me your tricks. By Eleanor Farjeon

ABCB Rhyming Pattern The alligator chased his tail Which hit him in the snout; He nibbled, gobbled, swallowed it, And turned right inside-out. by Mary Macdonald

Devices of Sound Poetry is meant to be read and heard There are many devices that poets use to add qualities that can be heard in poetry Rhythm Repetition Alliteration Consonance assonance

alliteration Gnus never knew pneumonia  the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the                      beginnings of words

consonance the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words Add and read Bill and ball Burn and born

Assonance The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds A land laid waste with all its young men slain

Rhythm the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables The presence of rhythmic patterns lends both pleasure and heightened emotional response to the listener or reader “To be or not to be”

Diction The way the author uses words in a literary work Formal: the level of usage common in serious books and formal discourse Informal: the level of usage found in the relaxed but polite conversation of people Diction The way the author uses words in a literary work Colloquial: the everyday usage of a group, possibly including terms and constructions accepted in that group but not universally acceptable) Slang: a group of newly coined words which are not acceptable for formal usage as yet

Figurative Language Writing that used words to mean something other than their literal meaning Types we will be discussing: Simile Metaphor Hyperbole Personification Apostrophe

Simile Compares two things using “like” or “as” Examples: My Love is like a fever The winter wind is like a howling wolf

Metaphor A direct comparison of one thing to another unlike thing Examples: My love is a fever The wind is a howling wolf

Hyperbole A deliberate, frequently outrageous and extravagant, exaggeration "I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky."

Personification A kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or ideas humanlike qualities I’d love to take a poem to lunch But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice- storm

Apostrophe Someone (usually not present), something, or some abstract idea is directly addressed as though they were present or could hear Papa Above!                  Regard a Mouse.                                   -Emily Dickinson                 Milton!  Thou shouldst be living in this hour;                  England hath need of thee . . ..                                   -William Wordsworth