Poetry Terms and Techniques The World of Poetry Poetry Terms and Techniques

Why do we study poetry? The poet doesn’t invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau Poetry is important because it reflects the emotions and character of society. It is a mirror to humanity, just like all literature and fine art.

Meaning + Sound + Form = Poetry A collage of images, thoughts, and sounds that evoke feeling and meaning. You must look at form, meaning, and sound elements to truly take meaning from a poem.

Why is poetry difficult to read and understand? Denotation (the literal) vs. Connotation (the understood)

Meaning Connotative (Figurative) Language: Using language that is not meant to be taken literally, but has underlying meaning. This is my home. It feels natural to be here and this is where my heart belongs. Denotative (Literal) Language: A basic, strict dictionary meaning of a word or phrase. This is my home. This is where I live, sleep and eat. This is my shelter from the elements.

Imagery: Language that evokes the senses. Visual – Sight Aural – Hearing Tactile – Touch Gustatory – Taste Olfactory – Smell

Similes and Metaphors Simile : A figure of speech likening one thing to another by the use of “like” or “as”. Metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were another. Extended Metaphor: A metaphor in which the initial comparison between two unlike things is made, and then additional comparisons are made based on that initial comparison.

Personification: Giving living characteristics to non-living things. Fog The fog comes On little cat feet. It sits looking Over harbor and city On silent haunches And then moves on. ~Carl Sandburg

Symbolism Symbolism: When a thing or object actually represents a concept, emotion or idea. What might the following image symbolize for you?

Vagabonds We are the desperate Who do not care, The hungry Mood: The feeling the reader gets from the poem. Tone: The tone of voice the author is using. Vagabonds We are the desperate Who do not care, The hungry Who have nowhere To eat, No place to sleep, The tearless Who cannot Weep. Langston Hughes

Theme: Theme: the universal message about humanity and human nature that the poem explores. Like every novel, short story, and film each poem has many themes that you can relate to. It makes you feel and connect. Have you ever experienced loss, first love, fear of death, the tragedies of war? So has the poet.

Theme: What is the main subject of the work? + What is the author saying about the subject? __________________ = Theme Statement

Other ways to make meaning: Apostrophe:a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as “O Death, where is thy sting?” Paradox: Oxymoron:

Sound In many ways, poetry is like music. A poet will use and manipulate the language to make certain sound qualities that are not usually found in prose. (Prose is any form of writing that is not poetry or drama. )

Two Types of Basic Sound Cacophony: A harsh discordance of sounds; a mixture of sounds unpleasant or unpleasing sounds. Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll ) 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

The quality of having a pleasing sound: a combination of agreeable sounds. To Autumn (John Keats) Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; Euphony

Cacophany Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll ) Cacophony: A harsh discordance of sounds; a mixture of sounds unpleasant or unpleasing sounds. Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll ) 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Cacophany

Rhyme Internal vs. End Line Internal: Two or more words found inside one line that rhyme. End Line: Words at the end of lines that rhyme. My mind is not kind. My name I have signed.

Rhyme Perfect vs. Slant Perfect: Words that have the same end sound. Smart/Heart Slant: Words that are have the same first and last sounds but different vowels in the middle. Ball/Bell

Rhyme Pattern The pattern of rhyme is determined and labeled using letters. So sweet, A My love, B My dove, B When we meet. A

Meter and Rhythm Meter: The counted syllables in a line. Poems without a set pattern are called free verse. Meter can be used to help set mood or feeling. Is the beat strong and fast or soft and slow?

Meter and Rhythm We Real Cool We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike Straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die Soon. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks

Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance and Onomatopoeia Alliteration: the repetition of the same beginning consonants Assonance: the repetition of the same vowel sounds in the middle of words Consonance: the repetition of the same ending consonants Onomatopoeia: words that are spelled much like how they sound.

What sound techniques are used in the following lines? I heard the crunch of bones. My dinner was decidedly delicious. I think we should crank up the funk. She is tall, gaunt and always around.

Form Stanza Couplet Quatrain Cinquain Sestet Octet Lyric Poetry Sonnets Narrative

TPCASSSTT Title – What do you think the poem will be about? Paraphrase – What basically happens in the poem? Connotation – What figurative language exists in the poem? Attitude – Describe the mood and tone. Shift – Is there a shift in subject or tone? Sound – Does the poet use any sound devices? Structure – What form does the poem take? Title – After reading the poem, what does the title mean? Does it have new meaning? Theme – What is one common human experience that this poem explores?

“Interior” Her mind lives in a quiet room, A narrow room and tall, With pretty lamps to quench the gloom And mottos on the wall. There all things are waxen neat And set in decorous lines; And there are posies round and sweet , And little straightened vines. Her mind lives tidily; apart From cold and noise and pain, And bolts the door against her heart, Out wailing in the rain. Dorothy Parker 1893 - 1967

TPCASTT Title – I think the poem will be about the inside of something. Paraphrase – In the poem, a person’s mind is personified by being able to live in a beautiful room. The heart is also personified and is stuck outside of the beautiful room in a cold and dark environment. Connotation – Positive and comforting imagery is offered with words like “pretty”, “decorous”, “sweet”, and “straightened”. However, these are contradicted by words like “cold” and “noise” and “pain” in the second ½ of the poem. Attitude – The tone is confusion and isolation, and the mood is worried and/or fearful. Shift – There is a definite shift in tone in line 9 beginning with the word “apart”. Sound – There is end line rhyme used throughout the poem. This is pleasant at first, but it switches to being more intense in the latter ½. The beginning is more euphonic while the ending is more cacophonic. Structure – It’s one stanza of 12 lines; 6 couplets, and has a meter of between 6 & 8 syllables per line. Title – “Interior” refers to what is going on inside a young girl’s mind. Theme – There is a common human tendency to not let our emotions impair our judgment in logical decision making, but there is a fine line between that and living in denial.

Explication for “Interior” “Interior”, by Dorothy Parker, is a poem that explores the relationship between our heartfelt emotions and our mind. Parker uses an abundance to personification to characterize the heart and the mind. The mind “lives in a quiet room” and the heart is “out wailing in the rain”. The pretty room and the rainy environment are juxtaposed against one another to show a separation between the heart and mind. There is an identifiable meter and rhythm in the poem which starts out euphonic. This is appropriate to match the “pretty” interior of the room. The tone shifts towards the end with more cacophonic sounds to match the darker imagery that Parker presents. Essentially, Parker is trying to show that there is a common human tendency to not let our emotions impair our judgment in logical decision making, but there is a fine line between that and living in denial.