1. Poetry
Vocabulary
Free powerpoints at

2. Alliteration:
Repetition of initial consonant sounds
Example: Sister Suzy sat on the seashore until suddenly she was swallowed by a shark.
Allusion:
A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

3. 3. Ballad:
A song-like poem that tells a story
Blank Verse:
Poetry written in unrhymed, iambic pentameter.
Concrete Poem:
A poem with a shape that suggests its subject
Example: George Herbert’s Easter Wings and The Alter

4. 6. Figurative Language:
Writing that is not meant to be taken literally
Example: He made me so mad I wanted to die.
7. Free Verse:
Poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern or meter

5. 8. Image: Lyric Poem: Metaphor:
A word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses
Lyric Poem:
Highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker
Metaphor:
A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else
Example: He is such a pig when he eats!

6. 11. Mood: 12. Onomatopoeia: Personification:
The feeling created in the reader by a literary work
12. Onomatopoeia:
The use of words that imitate sounds
Example: The buzz of the bee was very loud.
Personification:
A type of figurative language in which a non-human subject is given human characteristics
Example: The tree waved excitedly in the wind.

7. 14. Repetition: 15. Rhyme: 16. Rhyme Scheme:
The use, more than once, of any element of language
15. Rhyme:
Repetition of sounds at the end of words
Example: Roses are red, violets are blue…..
16. Rhyme Scheme:
A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

8. Pattern of beats or stresses in spoken or written language 18. Simile:
17. Rhythm:
Pattern of beats or stresses in spoken or written language
18. Simile:
A figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas
19. Stanza:
A formal division of lines in a poem considered as a unit
My love is like a red rose.

9. 20. Motif – Main or reoccurring theme.
21. Extended Metaphor – a comparison developed over several lines of poetry.
22. Pun – Humor from a double meaning

10. 23. Confessional poetry – confession of an activity or an emotion.
24. Elegy – Pays tribute to a person (usually dead)
25. Imagist poetry – uses lots of images to paint a picture for the reader.

11. Humor
Humor in poetry can arise from a number of sources:
Surprise
Exaggeration
Bringing together of unrelated things
Most funny poems have two things in common:
Rhythm
Rhyme

12. Rhythm & Rhyme “The Porcupine” By Ogden Nash
Using more spirited language makes humorous situations even more humorous
“The Porcupine”
By Ogden Nash
Any hound a porcupine nudges
Can’t be blamed for harboring grudges.
I know one hound that laughed all winter
At a porcupine that sat on a splinter.

13. 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

14. Limericks
A limerick is a poem of five lines
The first, second, and fifth lines have three rhythmic beats and rhyme with one another.
The third and fourth lines have two beats and rhyme with one another.
They are always light-hearted, humorous poems.

15. There once was a man with no hair. He gave everyone quite a scare.
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!

16. I wish that my room had a floor, I don’t care so much for a door.
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.

17. There once was a very small mouse Who lived in a very small house,
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!

18. 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 small silly man from Beijing.

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

20. There once was a _____ from _____.
The Class Limerick
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.