Poetry

1. Poetry A literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.

2. Sounds of Words

3. Alliteration • Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. A somewhat looser definition is that it is the use of the same consonant in any part of adjacent words. • Example: fast and furiousExample: Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot

4. Assonance • Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. • Example: Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot

5. Consonance • Repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. This produces a pleasing kind of near-rhyme. • Example: boats into the pastExample: cool soul

6. Onomatopoeia • Words that sound like their meanings. • Example: boom, buzz, crackle, gurgle, hiss, pop, sizzle, snap, swoosh, whir, zip

7. Repetition • The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their unifying elements. • Example: I was glad; so very, very glad. • Example: Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward... ... Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them,

8. Rhyme • This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme. • Example: time, slime, mime • Double rhymes include the final two syllables. Example: revival, arrival, survival • Triple rhymes include the final three syllables. Example: greenery, machinery, scenery

9. Rhythm • Rhythym is a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.

10. Meanings of Words

11. Allegory • A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning. Sometimes it can be a single word or phrase, such as the name of a character or place. Often, it is a symbolic narrative that has not only a literal meaning, but a larger one understood only after reading the entire story or poem

12. Allusion • A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, or Biblical or mythological situation or character.

13. Cliché • Any figure of speech that was once clever and original but through overuse has become outdated. If you’ve heard more than two or three other people say it more than two or three times, chances are the phrase is too timeworn to be useful in your writing. • Example: busy as a bee

14. Connotation • The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. Often, this is what distinguishes the precisely correct word from one that is merely acceptable.

15. Denotation • The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations or connotations.

16. Hyperbole • An outrageous exaggeration used for effect. • Example: He weighs a ton.

17. Irony • A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true. • Example: Wow, thanks for expensive gift...let’s see: did it come with a Fun Meal or the Burger King equivalent?

18. Metaphor • A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other. • Example: He’s a zero. • Example: Her fingers danced across the keyboard.

19. Oxymoron • A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other. • Example: a pointless point of view; bittersweet

20. Personification • Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea. • Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.

21. Simile • A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.” • Example: He’s as dumb as an ox. • Example: Her eyes are like comets.

22. Symbol • An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation. • Example: A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of Johnny’s death.

23. Types of Poems Style and Structure

24. Stanza • Series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. couplet (2 lines) tercet(3 lines) quatrain (4 lines) cinquain(5 lines) sestet (6 lines) septet (7 lines) octave (8 lines) 

25. Form • A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, and/or rhyme scheme but it can still be labeled according to its form or style. • There are three most common types of poems according to form.

26. Lyric Poetry • Any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong thoughts and feelings. • Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems.

27. Narrative Poem • A poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story • [i.e. the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement].

28. Descriptive Poem • Apoem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. • While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective.

29. Form Con’t • In a sense, almost all poems, whether they have consistent patterns of sound and/or structure, or are free verse, are in one of the three categories above. • They may be a combination of 2 or 3 of the above styles! • Here are some more types of poems that are subtypes of the three styles above:

30. Ode • Usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern.

31. Elegy • A lyricpoem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with eulogy. • It has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality.

32. Sonnet • A lyricpoem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually written in iambic pentameter. • There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet.

33. Ballad • A narrativepoem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. • A ballad is usually organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people.

34. Epic • A long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero.    

35. Haiku • Has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually 5,7,5 syllables, respectively. • It's usually considered a lyric poem.

36. Limerick • Has a very structured style, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain), in an aabba rhyming pattern. • It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald anecdote.