1. Poetry Terms
Mrs. Withers
English 9

2. Poetry Videos Rudy Francisco – “Love Poem Medley”
Jonathan Reed – “The Lost Generation” (Palindrome)
Maya Angelou – “Still I Rise”

3. Figurative Language Figurative Language
Language that can not be taken literally; words or phases that describe one thing in terms of another.

4. Figurative Language Simile Metaphor
A comparison of two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”
Example: She is like a rose.
Metaphor
A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as.
She is a rose.

5. Figurative Language Personification Hyperbole
Giving human qualities to something that is not human
Example: They say the house died.
Hyperbole
An exaggeration done for effect
Example: My teacher gave me a million pages to read for homework!

6. Types of poems Lyric Poetry Free Verse
Poems that express an author’s thoughts and feelings; they do not tell a story.
Example: “The Way It Is”
Free Verse
Poetry that does not have regular rhythm or rhyme scheme
Example: “Medicine”

7. Types of Poems
Ode
A long, elaborate poem dealing with a serious subject and treating it reverently **written or dedicated to a specific subject**
Example: “Ode to Autumn”

8. Types of Poems Sonnet A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter that
has a rhyme Scheme
Example: Sonnet 18

9. Types of poems Elegy Ballad
Poem that laments the death of a person; sad and thoughtful
Ballad
A poem that tells a story; usually very long; imitating folk ballads
Example: Ballad of Birmingham

10. Sound Devices Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhymes used in a poem; usually marked by letters to correspond to the rhyme.
Little Bo Peep A
Has lost her sheep A
And she doesn’t know where to find them B

11. Sound Devices Rhythm Meter
The ordered or free occurrences of sound in poetry.
Meter
A unit of rhythm in poetry; the pattern of the beats.
Example: Iambic Pentameter

12. Sound Devices Alliteration Assonance
Repetition of initial sounds of words in a row
Example: Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Assonance
A similarity of vowel sounds inside of words in a line of poetry
Example: We went on a wild ride.

13. Sound Devices Consonance Onomatopoeia
Repetition of internal or ending consonant sounds of words close together
Example: The locket was in the thick mud, and I had to pick it out.
Onomatopoeia
Words that sounds like sounds.
Example: bang, honk, drip

14. Sound Devices Repetition Approximate/ Slant Rhyme
The repeating of a word or a phrase of a poem to create a sense of rhythm
Example: “His laugh, his smile, his eyes, his sparkle”
Approximate/ Slant Rhyme
Not a perfect rhyme.
Example: “Near” and “Bear”

15. Sound Devices Couplet Two lines of poetry that have an end rhyme.
Example: Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight.
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

16. Other Speaker Stanza The narrator in a poem
Divisions of a poem; paragraphs of a poem

17. Other Tone Imagery The speaker’s attitude towards a subject.
Language that appeals to the senses; paints a picture in the reader’s mind
Example: One bite of the sour lemon caused my lips to pucker.