Poetry Freshman A 2014

Metaphor A metaphor points of the resemblance between two unlike things. A metaphor identifies the two things as one Jim is a bear.

“I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose” by Emily Dickinson I’ll tell you how the sun rose, - A ribbon at a time. The steeples swam in amethyst, The news like squirrels ran. The hills untied their bonnets, The bobolinks begun. Then I said softly to myself, "That must have been the sun!" But how he set, I know not. There seemed a purple stile. Which little yellow boys and girls Were climbing all the while Till when they reached the other side, A dominie in gray Put gently up the evening bars, And led the flock away.

Simile Figure of speech that compares two unlike things using a word such as Like or As to suggest similarities

“The Day is Done” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight. I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me That my soul cannot resist: A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain…

Hyperbole An over exaggeration

“Appetite” In a house the size of a postage stamp lived a man as big as a barge. His mouth could drink the entire river You could say it was rather large For dinner he would eat a trillion beans And a silo full of grain, Washed it down with a tanker of milk As if he were a drain.

Allusion An implied or direct reference to something. Can be people, places, events, literary work, myths, works of art

“Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Imagery Words and phrases used specifically to help the reader to imagine each of the senses of smell, touch, sight, hearing, and taste “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale

“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone. 

Onomatopoeia The sound of a word that imitates a natural sound. Crack!

Personification Gives human qualities to something nonhuman. Through personification, a writer can describe a quality or idea in a concrete yet imaginative way. At the New year, cartoonist depict the old year as a toothless old man and the new year as a sturdy baby. Death is often portrayed as a grim and bony figure in a hooded robe.

“Silver” by Walter de la Mare Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in silver feathered sleep A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws, and silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream. 

Rhyme and Rhyme scheme Identify the rhyme pattern Identify how the pattern contributes to the sound of the poem

“The Sound of the Sea” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,   And round the pebbly beaches far and wide   I heard the first wave of the rising tide   Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep; A voice out of the silence of the deep,   A sound mysteriously multiplied   As of a cataract from the mountain's side,   Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep. So comes to us at times, from the unknown   And inaccessible solitudes of being,   The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul; And inspirations, that we deem our own,   Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing   Of things beyond our reason or control. 

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