1. Terminology to help us write and read poetry!
Poetic Devices
Terminology to help us write and read poetry!

2. Figurative Language Figurative language: writing not meant to be
interpreted literally
Ex: My eyes are on fire!
Literal language: the explicit or primary meaning
(surface level)
Ex: My eyes are irritated.

3. More Figurative Language…
Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration or
overstatement
Ex: Her mouth was as big as the Grand Canyon.
Oxymoron: words used together that
actually contradict in meaning.
Ex: jumbo shrimp, old news, freezer burn

4. More Figurative Language…
Personification: giving human traits and
qualities to non-human objects.
Ex: The sunflowers stretched toward the sun
and smiled happily.

5. More Figurative Language…
Simile: a comparison of two unlike things for
an effect using like or as
Ex: He is as busy as a bee.
She is as cute as a button.
They fought like cats and dogs.

6. More figurative language
Metaphor: a direct comparison of two unlike
things for an effect: “something is
something”
tenor: original idea/topic—what the writer is trying to make more understandable
The tenor is unfamiliar to reader.
vehicle: the thing to which the tenor is being compared
The vehicle is familiar to reader.
Example: My love is a red, red rose.
Tenor: love
Vehicle: rose

7. Sensory Language Sensory language: language that appeals
to the five senses
Ex: The gravel crunched underneath my ragged, filthy sneaker. Blasts of acidic air pierced my nostrils, burning my throat and stifling my breath. I could taste the rancid garbage as I walked by the dumpster, where hungry dogs barked and growled. My frozen hand struggled to form a tighter grip around my bag.

8. More Sensory Language…
Imagery: the use of pictures, figures of speech, or
description to evoke actions, ideas, objects, or
characters:
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way
Alliteration: repetition of initial/beginning
consonant sounds
Ex: We walked with Wes on Wednesday.

9. More Sensory Language…
Assonance: close repetition of similar vowel
sounds within words
Ex: The flat slap of hands
Consonance: close repetition of consonant
sounds in words
Ex: pitter patter butter

10. More Sensory Language…
Onomatopoeia: a word whose sound
suggests its meaning; it imitates sound
Ex: Moo. Tick-tock! Buzz.
Lyric poetry: musical verse which
expresses a single speaker’s thoughts or
feelings on a subject

11. Form/Structure
stanza: a group of lines in a poem considered as a unit (the poem’s version of a paragraph)
blank verse: poetry with a consistent meter (iambic pentameter) but no rhyme.
free verse: poetry with varying rhythm and rhyme

12. Form/Structure
Concrete poetry: a poem with a shape that suggests its subject or the movement of its subject
Dove
Enjambment: when the meaning extends from one line to the next.
Ex. She walked upstairs and fell
flat on the floor.

13. Form/Structure
Refrain: stanza repeated for emphasis (often in songs or lyric poetry)
Haiku: three lined Japanese verse form
1st and 3rd lines – five syllables
2nd line – seven syllables
Limerick: a short, usually comic, verse of five lines rhyming aabba
1st, 2nd, and 5th lines have three stresses
3rd and 4th lines have two stresses

14. Form-Structure Sonnet: 14 line poem focused on a single theme
Shakespearean sonnet: 14 line poem with
three quatrains (four lines)
a couplet (two lines)
rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

15. Form/Rhythm and Rhyme rhyme scheme: regular pattern of rhyming words
in a poem (indicated by letter notation)
Ex: Some say the world will end in fire, a
Some say ice . b
From what I’ve tasted of desire a
I hold with those who favor fire . a
But if I had to perish twice, b

16. Form/Rhythm and Rhyme End rhyme: when rhyming words are repeated
at the end of a line
Ex: Whose woods these are I think I know, His house is in the village, though.
Internal rhyme: when rhyming words fall within a line:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

17. Form/Rhythm and Rhyme
Half rhyme/Slant rhyme: Consonance of the last consonants of two words.
Ex: Fill and shell.
Couplet: a pair of rhyming lines
Ex: Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are!

18. Form/Rhythm and Rhyme
Rhythm: the pattern of beats, or stresses, in a line of poetry
Meter: regular or repeated rhythm pattern in a poem.

19. Form/Rhythm and Rhyme
Iambic pentameter: a line of poetry with five iambic feet, each with one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Ex: u / u / u / u / u /
I went / up town / to buy / a loaf / of bread

20. Structured poems for portfolio
Haiku
Concrete poem
limerick
sonnet

21. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end, Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.   
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand    Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand

22. Responding to Poetry
Context: the circumstances surrounding the poem, such as:
Information about the author
Historical information relating to the poem
The time and place in which the poem was written
allusion: a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

23. Responding to Poetry
POINT OF VIEW: The position of the speaker in relation to the events, ideas, or details of the poem

24. Performing Poetry Punch
A punch is an extra stress or emphasis on a particular word. Use this to add an extra “kick.”
The waves crashed on the shore.
Her smile, tearing my heart

25. Performing Poetry Pause
A pause is a brief rest following a particular word. It allows the previous word to set in and gives the listening time to think about its meaning.
EX: Sunrise fills me with hope (pause)
Her eyes (pause), bright blue orbs shining
down the hall

26. Performing Poetry When to Pause? Line breaks
Punctuations (periods, commas, dashes, etc.)
Any place you’d like to add emphasis

27. Paint
Painting is expressing a certain emotion that fits with the meaning of the word, such as saying the word “fun” in a happy voice.
EX: Anger swallows me
EX: Winning shot brings pure joy