Poetry Vocabulary Mrs. Lord
Poetry Poetry is literature that uses a few words to tell about ideas, feelings and paints a picture in the readers mind. Most poems were written to be read aloud. Poems may or may not rhyme.
Form The form of a poem is the way that it looks on the page.
What a poem looks like: Bad Hair Day I looked in the mirror with shock and with dread to discover two antlers had sprung from my head. line Stanza Rhyming words
Lines The way that poets arrange words into lines. The lines may or may not be sentences.
Stanzas Groups of lines in traditional poetry. Stanza What Bugs Me When my teacher tells me to write a poem. When my mother tells me to clean up my room. When my sister practices her violin while I’m watching TV. When my father tells me to turn off the TV and do my homework. When my brother picks a fight with me and I have to go to bed early. When my teacher asks me to get up in front of the class and read the poem I wrote on the school bus. Stanza
Free Verse Poems that do not usually rhyme and have no fixed rhythm or pattern. They are written like a conversation.
Sound Devices Elements of poetry that use one type of sound related characteristic. Rhyme Rhythm Onomatopoeia Meter and more.......
Meter A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. When poets write in meter, they count out the number of stressed (strong) syllables and unstressed (weak) syllables for each line. They repeat the pattern throughout the poem.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. Rhyme END RHYME - Sounds that are alike at the end of lines, such as snow and crow. INTERNAL RHYME - rhyme within a line of poetry: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.
Sample Rhyme scheme The Germ by Ogden Nash A mighty creature is the germ, Though smaller than the pachyderm. His customary dwelling place Is deep within the human race. His childish pride he often pleases By giving people strange diseases. Do you, my poppet, feel infirm? You probably contain a germ. A B C
Alliteration Repetition of beginning consonant sounds. EX: If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Onomatopoeia Words that imitate the sound they are naming BUZZ, BANG, BOOM , CLAP What examples can you come up with now?
Rhythm The beat of the poem. These are made up patterns of strong and weak syllables.
Repetition The repeating of sounds, words, phrases, or lines in a poem. EXAMPLE: I like popcorn! I like candy! I like chips! I like ice cream! I need to brush my teeth!
Figurative Language and other poetic devices Simile Metaphor Hyperbole Personification
Figurative Language Words and phrases that help the reader picture things in a new way. Example: She heard music when he kissed her.
Imagery Words or phrases that appeal to the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Imagery helps you paint a picture or imagine what is happening in the poem Example: The hamburgers sizzled on the grill……
Simile A comparison of two things using the words like or as. Her smile was bright like the sun! The peach was as delicious as a kiss. My dog is as mean as a snake.
Metaphor A comparison of two things WITHOUT using “as or like” His face is a puzzle to me, I can never figure out what he is thinking.
The house glowed with happiness. Personification Giving an animal or an object human qualities. Examples: My dog smiles at me. The house glowed with happiness. The car was irritated when she pumped it full of cheap gas.
Tone The writer's attitude toward his readers and his subject; his mood. A writer can be formal, informal, playful, ironic, and especially, optimistic or pessimistic.
Assonance Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of poetry Examples of ASSONANCE: “Slow the low gradual moan came in the snowing.” John Masefield “Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.” - William Shakespeare
Symbolism Something that stands for itself and for something else. = Innocence = America =Peace
Idiom When you say something that actually means something other than what it actually said. Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs.
Hyperbole An exaggeration EX: There are a million people in here! I could sleep for a year! I have a ton of homework tonight!