Poetry (also called verse) Poetry defined: Poetry is a major type of literature. It features imaginative and musical language carefully chosen and arranged to communicate experiences, thoughts, or emotions.

Characteristics: Poetry differs from prose in that it compresses meaning into fewer words and often uses meter, rhyme, and imagery. Poetry is usually arranged in lines and stanzas as opposed to sentences and paragraphs and it can be more free in the ordering of words and use of punctuation.

Meter Meter is a regular rhythmic pattern in poetry. This pattern is determined by the number of beats, or stresses, in each line. Stressed and unstressed syllables are divided into rhythmical units called feet.

Types of Feet: Iambic – an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (Example: insist) Trochaic—a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (Example: freedom) Anapestic—two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (unimpressed)

Types of Feet continued Dactylic—one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables Spondaic--two stressed syllables

Terms used to describe the number of feet in a line: Monometer—one foot line Dimeter—two-foot line Trimeter—three-foot line Tetrameter—four –foot line

…continued Pentameter—five-foot line Hexameter—six-foot line Heptameter—seven-foot line Octameter-eight-foot line Note: The most common meters are iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter.

Types of Rhyme: End rhyme—use of rhyming words at the ends of lines Internal rhyme—the use of rhyming words within lines Exact rhyme--rhyming words end with the same sound as in moon and June

…continued Slant rhyme—rhyming sounds are similar but not identical as in “rave” and “rove” Sight rhyme—words are spelled similarly but pronounced differently, as in “lost” and “ghost” or “give” and “thrive”

Rhyme Scheme the pattern of end rhymes designated by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each rhyme (Ex: ababc)

Types of Poetry: Lyric (ode, sonnet, ballad, elegy) Narrative (dramatic) Epic Haiku Blank verse Free verse

Lyric a highly musical type of poetry the purpose of which is to expresses the emotions of a speaker. Lyric poems are often contrasted with narrative poems, which have storytelling as their main purpose.

Narrative Purpose: Tells a story

Ode a poem that’s purpose is to honor or praise someone or something.

Dramatic relies heavily on literary devices such as monologue or dialogue. The purpose of dramatic poems is to tell stories or explain a speaker’s thoughts. (Includes dramatic monologue and soliloquy.)

Sonnet a fourteen-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, that follows one of a number of different rhyme schemes, considered a “little song,” as sonnet’s purpose is to express thoughts, ideas, or feelings

Epic a long story, often told in verse, involving heroes and gods. Grand in length and scope, an epic’s purpose is to provide a portrait of an entire culture, of the legends, beliefs, values , laws, arts, and ways of life of a people.

Free Verse Poetry that does not use regular rhyme, meter, or stanza division. Free verse may contain irregular line breaks and sentence fragments and the purpose of this irregularity is to mimic the rhythm of ordinary speech. Most contemporary poetry is written in free verse.

Blank Verse Poetry with unrhymed lines but with a set syllable pattern or beat Example: “Mending Wall” I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go.

Haiku A form of Japanese pattern poetry, usually consisting of three lines in which the syllables alternate in a pattern of 5-7-5; the purpose of this form is, like other forms, to communicate feelings, sentiments, impressions, perceptions to other persons in a “minimalist” (simplified) form.

Haiku Example An old silent pond A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

Elegy a poem that’s purpose is to express sorrow over a loss

Ballad a traditional song that tells a story, passed along from generation to generation; consists of simple stanzas; usually has a refrain and often about love, tragedy, or heroic deeds

Limerick A short, humorous poem composed of five lines. It usually has the rhyme scheme aabba and has a sing-song rhythm.

Example Limerick There was an Old Man of Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket. His daughter, called Nan, Ran away with a man, And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

New Literary Terms Enjambment – the running over of a sentence from one line to the next (chops up the ideas/reader’s thoughts) Antithesis—contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (Example: “You win some; you lose some.”

Apostrophe addressing an absent person or personified thing

Oxymoron a combination of contradictory words, as in “cruel kindness” or “loving hate”

Paradox A statement that is seemingly contradictory to common sense and yet is true Examples: I’m alone in a crowd. Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink I must be cruel only to be kind.

Paradox examples I always tell lies. We must go to war to make peace. I can resist anything except temptation

Alliteration The use of words that begin with the same sound Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Imagery/Sensory Details A description that creates clear pictures in the reader’s mind; appeal to the five senses. When you read a description of something that causes you to imagine the way something tastes, smells, sounds, feels, or looks like

Onomatopoeia The use of words that sound like the thing they describe Examples: “hiss,” “boom,” “buzz”

Repetition The use of the same words or phrases over and over