1. Elements of Poetry
Poets have many tools they use to add to the poem’s sound, meaning, and emotional effect on the reader.

2. Poetry is… The art of expressing one’s thoughts in verse.
Meant to be read aloud.
Mainly about arousing emotions.

3. Stanzas A group of lines Gives poems structure
Often have 4, 5, or 6 lines.
Each stanza signals a new image
“First and Last” by David Cord
1 A tadpole hasn’t a pole at all,
And he doesn’t live in a whole in the wall
2 You’ve got it wrong: a polecat’s not
A cat on a pole. And I’ll tell you what:
3 A bullfrog’s never a bull; and how
Could a cowbird possibly be a cow?
4 A kingbird, though, is a kind of king,
And he chases a crow like anything.
Four stanzas in Couplets

4. Lines Often organized into stanzas. 2 lines – couplet
3 lines – triplet
4 lines – quatrain
5 lines – cinquain
“To a Snow Flake”
1 Hello little snowflake!
2 Where are all your friends?
3 Should I expect a lot of them
4 Before the morning ends?
5 I love it when you come to me
6 and you all fall down together,
7 and I get dressed to visit you,
8 toasty warm in cold, cold weather
The poem above has 8 lines.
The lines are organized into
quatrains.

5. “Ten Minutes til the Bus”
Rhyme
“Ten Minutes til the Bus”
By David L. Harrison
Ten whole minutes,
Til the bus,
Scads of time,
What’s the fuss?
Two to dress,
One to flush,
Two to eat,
One to brush,
That leaves four
To catch the bus,
Words rhyme when they have the same sound
Rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhymes in a poem. A B

6. Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme Scheme is the pattern of rhyme in a poem. It is written in letters; aabb is a stanza whose first two and last two lines rhyme.
End Rhyme: occurs when the end of the lines share the same sound.
Internal Rhyme: is when a rhyme occurs within a single line, as in This Samuel Coleridge line: “In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud.”
Rhyming Couplets: are a pair of rhyming lines that usually have the same meter and length.

7. Meter
Meter is the arrangement and number of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Causes the reader to feel a rhythmic pattern
Ex: “Double, double, toil and trouble.”

8. Rhythm
Patterns of beats or a series of stressed and unstressed syllables in poem.
“Windy Nights” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

9. Free Verse Poetry written without a regular rhyme, rhythm, or form.
Poets use free verse because it allows them to experiment with the shapes and sounds of poetry.

10. Figurative Language
Figurative language is what we call figures of speech, any language that is not meant to be taken literally.

11. Similes
Uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas.
Examples:
She was as pale as a ghost.
The rumor spread like wildfire.
That student is as clever as a fox.

12. Metaphors
Is when something is described as though it were something else. It does point out a similarity between two unlike things.
Example
“My dad is a bear when he wakes up in the morning”.
Or, “The rapper’s hand was covered in ice”.

13. Hyperbole
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect.
Example:
I could sleep for a year.
This book weighs a ton.

14. Idioms
Idioms are phrases which people use in everyday language which do not make sense literally but we understand what they mean
Example:
To stick your neck out is to say or do something that is bold and a bit dangerous. A similar idiom that is used for slightly more dangerous situations is to "go out on a limb." In both idioms, the idea is that you put yourself in a vulnerable position.
To break the ice is to be the first one to say or do something, with the expectation that others will then follow. Another idiom that means something similar is "get the ball rolling."

15. Personification
Is a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.
Example:
The flowers danced in the wind.
The friendly gates welcomed us.
The Earth coughed and choked in all of the pollution.

16. Symbol
A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else.
Example:
Heart can symbolize love.
Four leaf clover symbolizes luck.

17. Extended Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.
Song Lyrics
Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten”
What is the extended metaphor?
Song Lyrics Project – due November 22nd