1. Notes The Elements of Poetry 2013
J. Scott 2013

2. 1. Figurative Language
Writing that is NOT meant to be taken literally.
Clichés and Idioms are great examples of speaking figuratively
We will delve into the world of clichés and idioms during our study of poetry…maybe using illustrations???

3. 2. Cliché or an Idiom An overused phrase not to be taken literally.
When it rains it pours!

4. 3. Simile Comparing two unlike things using the words like or as.
Apollo drove his golden chariot across the sky like a huge gold coin.

5. 4. Metaphor
Comparing two unlike things without using the words like or as.
John was a bear when he awoke in the morning.

6. 5. Personification
Giving human qualities to non-human things or objects.
Mrs. Potts spoke and danced in Beauty and the Beast.
The dog told me to let him outside.
Personification is used greatly in animated movies and stories about animals.

7. 6. Allusion
A reference to a well-known person, place, historical event/person, literary work, or work of art.
Examples of allusion
I violated the Noah rule: predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does." (Warren Buffett)
“I was surprised his nose was not
growing l like Pinocchio’s.

8. 7. Hyperbole Intentionally exaggerated figures of speech. Examples:
“I’ve told you a million times”
“It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets”

9. 8. Imagery
Language that appeals to the five senses; sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
The aroma of freshly baked cookies came wafting from the kitchen to tantalize my taste buds.

10. 9. Rhyme
The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them.
The Lizard
The lizard is a timid thing
That cannot dance or fly or sing;
He hunts for bugs beneath the floor
And longs to be a dinosaur.

11. 10. Repetition The repeated use of words or sounds.
Can be alliterative.
Can be within lines or at the end of the line or throughout the poem.
Example:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door Only this and nothing more."

12. 11. Rhythm
The musical quality produced by repetition of stressed and unstressed vowels or by the repetition of other sound patterns.
Hiawatha's Departure from The Song of Hiawatha By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow By the shore of Gitchie Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, At the doorway of his wigwam, In the pleasant Summer morning, Hiawatha stood and waited.

13. 12. Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
She sells seashells
Down by the seashore.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

14. 13. Humor in poems can arise from a number of sources:
Surprise
Exaggeration
Bringing together of unrelated things
Most funny poems have two things in common:
rhythm
rhyme

15. 14.
Using more spirited language makes humorous situations even more humorous.
“The Porcupine”
By Ogden Nash
Any hound a porcupine nudges
Cant’ be blamed for harboring grudges.
I know one hound that laughed all winter
At a porcupine that sat on a splinter.

16. If you take away the rhythm and rhyme, the humor vanishes.
Any hound that touches a porcupine
Can’t be blamed for holding a grudge
I know one hound that laughed all winter long
At a porcupine that sat on a piece of wood

17. 15. Rhyme Scheme The repetition of end rhymes/sounds.
To find the pattern, look at the last word in the line.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, A Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore – B While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, C As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door – B 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door – B Only this and nothing more." B

18. Let’s Try it! There was a little girl, Who found a round, white pearl
She dropped it on the ground B
When she was spinning round and round. B

19. Rhyme Scheme Continued…
The last word in the first line is assigned the letter A
The last word in the second line,
if it rhymes with the first, receives an “A”,
if not, give it a B
The last word in the third line
would get an A or a B if it rhymes with the 1st or 2nd lines,
if not, it would get a C
The last word in the fourth line would get the letter of the line it rhymes with; if it rhymes with none, the poem is not a rhyming poem.

20. Rhyme Scheme continued
In a four line stanza (group of lines) you would typically see the following patterns:
AABB
ABAB
ABCB
ABBA
ABCC

21. 16. Connotation
The feelings and emotions that have come to be associated with a word. It matters HOW you say it!
These can be negative or positive
Positive Connotation
Negative Connotation
Slim
Anorexic
Spends Wisely
Cheap
Enthusiastic
Impatient
Strong willed
Stubborn
Proud
Conceited

22. 17. Denotation The dictionary meaning of a word. Orange???
Look it up in the dictionary!

23. 18. Mood
The feeling created by the author in the a literary work

24. 19. Tone
The attitude a writer takes toward an audience, a subject, or a character.

25. 20. Stanza A group of lines in a poem that forms a unit.
Typically a poem has four lined stanzas called a quatrain.
However, a stanza can have many lines.

26. 21. Refrain
A regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem. Like a chorus in a song.
Almost Heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.
Life is old there, older than the tress;
Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze.
REFRAIN
Country roads, take me home to the place, I belong;
West Virginia, mountain, Momma; take me home, country roads.

27. 22. End Stopped Line The line ends with a definite pause.
Look for a period or a comma, some type of punctuation.

28. 23. Run on Line The meaning continues on the next line.
There is no punctuation at the end of a run on line.

29. 24. Onomatopoeia
Words that imitate sounds.

30. Types of Poems Haiku Limerick Concrete Free Verse Rhyming Alliterative
Acrostic
Cinquain
Non-Rhyming

31. 1. Haiku From Japan. Has only three lines.
Is usually about some form in nature.
Line 1 – 5 syllables
Line 2 – 7 syllables
Line 3 – 5 syllables

32. Haiku The sun was shin ing (5) The fresh moun tain air was clean. (7)
The fresh moun tain air was clean. (7)
It was a nice day. (5)

33. 2. Limerick
A humorous five lined verse that has a regular rhyme and end patterns.
Must have an AABBA rhyme scheme
Must have the following pattern of beats
Line 1 has 3 beats, A
Line 2 has 3 beats, A
Line 3 has 2 beats, B
Line 4 has 2 beats, B
Line 5 has 3 beats, A

34. Limericks There once was a man with no hair.
He gave everyone quite a scare.
He got some Rogaine,
Grew out a mane,
And now he resembles a bear.

35. Limerick About a Bee I wish that my room had a floor,
I don’t care so much for a door.
But this walking around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore.

36. Another Limerick There once was a very small mouse
Who lived in a very small house,
The ocean’s spray
Washed it away,
All that was left was her blouse!

37. Limerick Continued
There once was a man in a boat, Who wore a red leather coat, He started to sneeze, Threw out his knee. In the water he started to float.

38. You will create a limerick similar to this one…
There once was a man from Beijing.
All his life he hoped to be King.
So he put on a crown,
Which quickly fell down.
That silly old man from Beijing.

39. Fill in the blanks to create your own Limerick.
There once was a girl from _____.
All the while she hoped ________.
So she ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.

40. Miss Scott’s Limerick There once was a man from Japan.
He hoped for really dark tan.
So he lay on the beach,
And ate a ripe peach,
That came from a Georgia van.

41. 3. Ballad Tells a story with a musical emphasis.
Emphasizes strong rhythms
Emphasizes repetition of key phrases and rhythms.

42. 4. Free Verse Poetry that is “Free” of a regular meter and rhyme.
It does not rhyme
It does not have a regular rhythmic pattern.

43. 5. Rhyming Poem
A poem with a regular end rhyming pattern.

44. 6. Alliterative Poem
Using alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds, you will write two alliterative poems.

45. 7. Couplet Two lines of poetry that rhyme. For example
I want a big red dish,
For my purple fish.

46. 8. Non-Rhyming
Or free verse
There should be NO rhyme scheme!

47. 9. Cinquain Another Japanese form of poetry. Has a specific pattern.
Line 1 has 1 word which is the title
Line 2 has 2 adjectives that describe the title
Line 3 Has 3 words that express action about the title
Line 4 has 2 words that express feeling about the title
Line 5 has 1 word that is a synonym for the title.

48. 10. Concrete Poem A poem that takes the shape of it’s subject.
You will write two original concrete poems

49. 11. Narrative Poem A poem told in verse.
“Paul Revere’s Ride” (two stanzas)
By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive.
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--

50. 12. Lyric Poem
Highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker.

51. The River By: Garth Brooks
You know a dream is like a river Ever changing as it flows And the dreamer's just the vessel That must follow where it goes Trying to learn from what's behind you And never knowing what's in store Makes each day a constant battle Just to stay between the shores. (chorus) And I will sail my vessel 'Til the river runs dry Like a bird upon the wind These waters are my sky I'll never reach my destination If I never try So I will sail my vessel 'Til the river runs dry.
Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
‘till what we’ve put off till tomorrow has now become today
So don’t you sit upon the shoreline
And say you’re satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide
And I will sail my vessel
‘Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I’ll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
‘Til the rivers run dry.
And there's bound to be rough waters And I know I'll take some falls But with the good Lord as my captain I can make it through them all. Yes I will sail my vessel 'Til the river runs dry Like a bird upon the wind These waters are my sky I'll never reach my destination If I never try So I will sail my vessel 'Til the river runs dry. Yes, I will sail my vessel 'Til the river runs dry 'Til the river runs dry

52. Let’s write some poems!