Poetry 7th grade literature

Poetry Like other forms of fiction, poetry can be written about anything. Poems pack all kinds of ideas, feelings, and sounds into a few carefully chosen words. Poetry is compact, imaginative, and rhythmic

Key elements of Poetry Form Speaker Sound Imagery Figurative language

Form Form is the way a poem looks on a page. Poems are written in lines, which may or may not be complete sentences In some forms of poetry, lines are grouped into stanzas. If lines in a stanza have a regular, repeated pattern, the poem has a structured form. Poems that have no regular pattern are called free verse poems.

Speaker The speaker of the poem refers to the voice that relates the story or ideas in the poem. The speaker may be the poet or a character or voice created by the poet. The voice may include the use of dialect, a form of language spoken in a certain place by a certain group of people. The poet may also use idioms to make the speaker’s voice seem realistic. Idioms are descriptive expressions that mean something different from the combination of the words that make it up. Ex: Hold on a minute.

Sound Most poems are meant to be read aloud, so poets often choose and arrange words to create sounds that appeal to the listener. Four techniques that poets use to create sound are rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and onomatopoeia.

Sound, cont. Rhyme: the repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words. Ex: place and face Many poems with structured form contain rhyming words at the end of lines. Free verse poems do not usually contain rhymes Rhythm: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line Stressed syllables (‘)are read with more emphasis, and unstressed syllables ( ) are read with less emphasis. Some poems have regular, repeated arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables called meter.

Sound, Cont. Repetition: can occur in sounds, words, phrases, or whole lines and is a device that poets use to emphasize an idea or create a certain feeling. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words such as the “w” in the line, “And wait to watch the water clear, I may.” Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sounds suggest their meanings, such as crack, boom and bang.

imagery Imagery is language that appeals to the reader’s five senses. Sometimes writers use figurative language to help readers picture ordinary things in new ways. There are four main types of figurative language: Similes Metaphors Analogies Personification

Figurative Language Simile: a comparison that uses the signal words like or as. An example is “her eyes shone like stars.” Metaphor: a direct comparison, with no signal words. “Into the sea of death” is a metaphor that compares death to the sea. Analogy: a comparison between two things that seem dissimilar in order to show the ways in which they might be similar. Personification: when a poet describes an animal or object as if it were human or had human qualities.

Symbols Poets often use symbols. Symbols are words or phrases that have special significance beyond the original meaning. For example, in Robert Frost’s poem, the line “Two roads diverged” refers to his choice of two paths in life.

Reading poetry Preview the poem and read it aloud a few times. Notice its form, the shape it has on the page, how long it is, how long the lines are, and whether or not it has stanzas. Look for end punctuation to help you find where each thought ends. As you read, listen for rhymes and rhythm and for the overall sound of the words. Visualize the images. Clarify the words and phrases. Pay attention to word choice. Think about the poem’s speaker. Look for clues that help you make inferences, logical conclusions based on evidence.

Reading poetry, cont. Evaluate the poem’s theme, or underlying message. Let your understanding grow. Relate the poem to your own life when possible. Look at things in a new way.