1. POETRY: Study Guide for Sound Techniques & Figurative Language Test

2. How do writers use sound techniques in poetry?

3. Lines and Stanzas A line is a single row of words in a poem.
A stanza is a group of lines in a poem separated by space (like a paragraph)

4. What is rhyme?
Words sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds.
(A word always rhymes with itself.)
LAMP
STAMP
Share the short “a” vowel sound
Share the combined “mp” consonant sound
Activity: Rhyme group game

5. What is a Rhyming Poem?
A rhyming poem is a verse poem that contains rhyming words at the end of certain lines.
Example: Night time by Lee Bennet Hopkins
How do dreams know
when to creep
into my head
when I fall off
to Sleep?

6. END RHYME
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.

7. RHYME SCHEME
A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end rhyme, but not always).
Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually “see” the pattern. (See next slide for an example.)
Activity: Rhyme Scheme group game

8. SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME The Germ by Ogden Nash
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ. a b c

9. A Rhyming Poem Marty Smarty went to a party In her jumbo jet.
After tea she jumped in the sea
And got her pants all wet.
John Foster
Can you identify the rhyming pattern in this poem?

10. A Rhyming Poem Marty Smarty went to a party In her jumbo jet.
Rhyming words
Marty Smarty went to a party
In her jumbo jet.
After tea she jumped in the sea
And got her pants all wet.
John Foster
Can you identify the rhyming pattern in this poem?

11. A Rhyming Poem Marty Smarty went to a party In her jumbo jet.
After tea she jumped in the sea
And got her pants all wet.
John Foster
Rhyming words
Can you identify the rhyming pattern in this poem?

12. A Rhyming Poem Marty Smarty went to a party In her jumbo jet.
pattern
Marty Smarty went to a party
In her jumbo jet.
After tea she jumped in the sea
And got her pants all wet.
John Foster A B A B
Can you identify the rhyming pattern in this poem?

13. What is alliteration?
When two or more words in a poem begin with the same letter or sound
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Activity: Alliteration group game

14. ALLITERATION Sheila Shorter sought a suitor;
Shelia sought a suitor short.
Sheila’s suitor’s sure to suit her;
Short’s the suitor Sheila sought!
by Michael Rosen

15. ALLITERATION Down the slippery slide they slid
Sitting slightly sideways;
Slipping swiftly see them skid
On holidays and Fridays.

16. ALLITERATION A fly and a flea flew up in a flue.
Said the fly to the flea, “What shall we do?”
“Let’s fly,” said the flea.
“Let’s flee,” said the fly.
So they fluttered and flew up a flaw in the flue.

17. What is repetition? Repeated words or phrases
Repetition of sounds, words, and ideas adds to the power and precision of poetry.
Sometimes the first line of the poem is repeated at the end.
Sometimes a word or phrases is repeated within the poem to enhance the rhythm.

18. REPETITION
Give me the splendid silent sun with all its beams full-dazzling,
Give me juicy autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmowed grass grows,
Give me an arbor, give me the trellised grape,
Give me fresh corn and wheat, give me serene-moving animals teaching content.
Give me nights perfectly quiet as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I am looking up at the stars.
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.
by Walt Whitman

19. What is onomatopoeia? Words that imitate the sound they are naming
BUZZ
ZIP

20. Time For Review! What is a line? What is a stanza?
What is a rhyme? Give an example.
What is a rhyme scheme? Give an example.
What is alliteration? Give an example.
What is repetition? Give an example.
What is onomatopoeia? Give me an example.

21. How do writers use literary devices in poetry?

22. What is figurative language?
A tool that an author uses to help the reader visualize what is happening in a story or poem
Some common types are: simile, metaphor, personification, and imagery.

23. What is a simile? A comparison using “like” or “as”
It usually compares two dissimilar objects.
“She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”

24. What is a metaphor? States that one thing is something else.
It is a comparison, but it does NOT use “like” or “as” to make the comparison.
“All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.”
- William Shakespeare

25. What is personification?
Giving human qualities, feelings, actions, or characteristics to an inanimate (non-living) object (thing, idea, or animal).

26. PERSONIFICATION
Ex: “The window winked at me.” The verb, wink, is a human action. A window is an inanimate object.

27. What is imagery?
The use of vivid description, usually rich in sensory words, to create pictures or images in the reader’s mind
Most images are visual, but they can also appeal to the senses of sound, touch, taste, or smell.
Involves one or more of your five senses
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather . . .
from “Those Winter Sundays”

28. IMAGERY excerpt from The Mouse and the Cake Eliza Cook
A mouse found a beautiful piece of plum cake,
The richest and sweetest that mortal could make;
‘Twas heavy with citron and fragrant with spice,
and covered with sugar all sparkling as ice.

29. Time For Review!
What is figurative language? What are some types of figurative language?
What is a simile? Give an example.
What is a metaphor? Give an example.
How are similes and metaphors the same? How are they different?
What is personification? Give an example.
What is imagery? Give an example.