1. Poetry Notes

2. Types of Poetry
1. Lyric Poetry – expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Lyrical poems are inward- focused. Most modern poems are lyrical.

3. Types of Poetry
2. Narrative Poetry – tells a story. The structure resembles a plot line (introduction of characters and conflict, rising action, climax, etc.)

4. Types of Poetry
3. Descriptive Poetry – describes the world that surrounds the speaker. Descriptive poems are outward-focused.

5. Stanzas
Stanzas are a group of lines in poetry separated by a break. Couplet = 2 lines Tercet = 3 Quatrain = 4 Cinquain = 5 Sestet = 6 Septet = 7 Octave = 8

6. What’s the purpose of stanzas?
1. Stanzas make poetry easy to memorize 2. Changing the number of lines in stanzas can make the pace go faster or slower in order to enhance the tone or mood of the poem 3. Stanzas help to separate ideas within a poem (see the quote on the next slide)

7. “Stanza are, at least in their original meaning in Italian, rooms, but also stopping places. Imagine your poem is like a house that others will visit. They will move from room to room and stop for a while in each. Because you have excellent taste, they will see that every room makes sense on its own terms (the carpet doesn’t clash with the curtains, the way that vase is positioned sets off that table beautifully). And yet, at the same time, when your visitors go to the next room, they feel like they are still in the same house: they haven’t just walked out of your 50s diner-style kitchen into an oak- panelled dining room. Each little unit makes sense, but so does the whole. So, keeping things moving in interesting ways from stanza to stanza doesn’t have to mean you lose coherence, if you build your stanzas well.” - David Clarke

8. Connotation
Connotation in the feeling or emotion that a particular word or sound evokes in the reader. It extends beyond the dictionary definition (denotation) of a word or sound. Example – the word “stone” may evoke a feeling of coldness or stubbornness, or the word “fire” may evoke a feeling of passion or destruction even though these concepts would not appear in a dictionary definition of these words.

9. Alliteration – the repetition of the initial sound of a group of words
Word Sounds
Alliteration – the repetition of the initial sound of a group of words
(Thoughts of death drag me down to the depths of my doom.)

10. Word Sounds
2. Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds in a group of words (He pleads on his knees to the conceited king.)

11. Why are alliteration and assonance useful?
Can be used to highlight important lines
Can be used to create a particular pace, rhythm, or mood. For example, if a poem uses heavy “b” sounds, it can create a rhythm in the readers head.
Can evoke a particular connotation in the readers mind. For example, a repeated “s” sound may sound like the hissing of a snake and evoke of feeling of slyness or danger in the reader.

12. Word Sounds
3. Onomatopoeia – words that sound like the thing they are describing (BANG! CRASH! SPLASH! BOOM! POP! POW!)

13. Symbolism
Symbolism is the use of objects or words to represent an abstract idea. Dog = loyalty Toy = childhood City = order Woods = chaos

14. Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines of poetry One marks rhyme scheme by assigning letters to each end sound.

15. Rhyme Scheme
Roses are red A Violets are blue B Sugar is sweet C And so are you B (The first line of poetry is always marked as “A”)

16. Imagery
Creative language that appeals to the audience’s sense of smell, sight, taste, touch, or hearing. It is meant to create an “image” in the reader’s head.