Characteristics and Forms Poetry Characteristics and Forms

Poetry Poems are divided into lines and then grouped into stanzas, or verses. *Stanzas: poetry’s paragraphs: this is the way that the lines in a poem are grouped.

Characteristics of Poetry Figurative Language and Sound Devices

Figurative Language writing or speech not meant to be taken literally. Metaphor: describes one thing as if it were something else. Personification: gives human qualities to a non-human object. Simile: uses like or as to compare two apparently unlike things. Symbol: anything that represents something else.

Figurative Language Review Identify each of the following as either a simile, metaphor, symbol, or personification. He sits there like a lump on a log. The dog screamed in excitement. The bus lot is a zoo this morning! Thumbs up means everything is good.

Figurative Language Create an example of each: simile, metaphor, personification and symbol.

Sound Devices Meant to enhance a poem’s mood and meaning Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in the beginning of words: slippery slick slope Repetition: the use of any element of language – a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence – more than once. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in stressed syllables: blade and maze

Sound Devices Meant to enhance a poem’s mood and meaning Consonance: the repetition of similar consonant sounds a the ends of accented syllables: wind and sand Onomatopoeia: the use of words that imitate sounds. Crash, bang, hiss Rhyme: repetition of sounds at the ends of words: speech, teach Rhyme scheme: a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem – labeled using lowercase letters. First line ALWAYS starts with an A. Rhyming is identified by the last word on each line. -twinkle twinkle little star – a how I wonder what you are – a up above the world so high – b like a diamond in the sky – b Rhyme scheme: aabb

Sound Devices Meant to enhance a poem’s mood and meaning Meter: The rhythmical pattern in a poem. Imagery: the use of vivid vocabulary and specific details that appeal to the senses. Examples: hear, touch, taste, smell, sight.

Flo-cab Figurative Language

Forms of Poetry Brainstorm: complete the bubble map on your handout naming any/all types of poetry you know.

Narrative Tells a story in verse. Has elements similar to a short story Plot, characters, etc.

Haiku Three line Japanese form – typically focuses on nature. First and third lines have 5 syllables Second line has seven.

Free Verse Lacks strict structure. No regular meter, rhyme, fixed length, or stanza size.

Lyric Expresses thoughts and feeling of a single speaker, often in music.

Ballad Songlike poems that tell a story Often deal with adventure and romance

Concrete Shaped to look like their subject. Lines are shaped to create an image.

Limerick Humerous rhyming five-line poem with a specific rhythm pattern and rhyme scheme. Example: “Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, And down he run, Hickory, dickory, dock.”

Rhyming couplets Pairs of rhyming lines, usually of same meter or length. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/ Humpty Dumpty had a great fall/ Syllable count? All the king's horses and all the king's men/ Couldn't put Humpty together again!“

Others Cinquain – five line poem using designated parts of speech to describe a topic. Acrostic – uses the topic and each line must start with the first letter of the line. Alphabet poem – Uses A-Z: write like an acrostic. Found poem – a collage of a text: read text, highlight words/phrases that stand out to you, compile them in a poem that describes text. Autobio/bio poem– describes yourself/ someone else