1. Poetry Terms

2. Hyperbole Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration The books weigh a ton.
I could sleep for a year.
I have a million things to do.

3. Personification
Personification: When a non-living object has been given qualities of a person
The wind whispered through the trees
The moon danced on the water
“Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie.”

4. Figurative Language
Simile: A comparison of two nouns using the words like or as
“My love for you is like a red, red rose”
Metaphor: A comparison of two nouns saying that one thing is another
“All the world is a stage”

5. Figurative Language cont.
A Symbol: a person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well.
Examples: the American flag symbolizes freedom, liberty, and love for America.
A wedding band symbolizes_______.
A white flag symbolizes__________.

6. Figurative Language cont.
Prominent Symbols in Literature
The Four Seasons:
Spring: birth, rebirth, new beginnings, new life, etc.
Summer: the prime of life, youthful, energetic, growing
Fall: the decline, the approach of death, getting old
Winter: death, the end of life, something comes to an end
Day: life, goodness, knowledge, honesty, happiness, energy, purity, positive, light, understanding, clarity
Night: death, evil, darkness, mystery, bad, the end, scary, uninformed, unknown

7. Imagery
Visually descriptive or figurative language especially in a literary work
Powerful use of the 5 senses
Example: “The gushing brook stole its way down the lush green mountains, dotted with tiny flowers in a riot of colors and trees coming alive with gaily chirping birds.”

8. Rhythm
Repetition: The repeating of a word or phrase to add rhythm or to emphasize an idea
“And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” –Robert Frost, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
“The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding- Riding-riding- The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.” –Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”

9. Refrain
A refrain is a repeated part of a poem, particularly when it comes either at the end of a stanza or between two stanzas.
Example:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

10. Onomatopoeia:
The use of words whose sound makes one think of its meaning
Wham! Bonk!
Ding-dong
“Cuckoo”
Tick-tock
“snap, crackle, pop”