Poetry English Language

Arts

Understanding the Content of Poetry

1. Check the Title- For key words, suggestions, or images- Foreshadow ideas- Present background information- Indicate an intended audience

Understanding the Content

2. Define Unfamiliar Words- Look up words in the dictionary- (500 most commonly used English words

have over 14, 000 meanings)- Primary and secondary definitions may not

be the ones the poet intended

Understanding the Content

3. Paraphrasing Difficult Lines- Paraphrase: to put the poet’s language into

your own words- Paraphrasing gives insight into the literal

and figurative meaning- Note: - uncommon sentence structures- Gain emphasis- Organize ideas- Develop a poet’s style

Understanding the Content

4. Read with Punctuation- do not read the line only- punctuation determines where and when

the idea ends

Understanding the Poet’s Purpose

• CONTEXT: information that surrounds the passage

• ask the question: What is the…• background?• the plot?• the situation?

Understanding the Poet’s Purpose

• TONE: the poet’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience

• determined by…• words• phrases• poet’s feelings on the subject

Understanding the Poet’s Purpose

• MOOD: State of mind or feeling created in the reader by the poem

• created by…• words and phrases• situation• subject matter

Understanding the Poet’s Purpose

• THEME: the central idea or message of poem• Thematic statement is the general point about

some aspect of life or human condition expressed by the poet.

Figurative Language

• Heightened, imaginative language (all of the terms)

Alliteration• the repetition of the same first sound

in a group of words– Ex:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper

picked?

Allusion

• Making an indirect reference to something known to society

Apostrophe

• Words that are spoken to an absent or imaginary person or to an object or abstract idea.– ie. "Oh, Death, be not proud."

--John Donne

Assonance

• the repetition of similar vowel sounds in words close by each other– Ex:

“cat” and “laugh”

“fight” and “try”

Cacophony

• Harsh or unmusical sounding language

Consonance

• the repetition of similar consonant sounds within words

• Ex: “cat” and “bit”

“link” and “rank”

Connotation

• an added meaning that suggests something positive or negative, what comes to mind– Ex:

pig-headed connotes frustration in dealing with someone

Denotation

• The most specific or direct meaning of a word

Euphony

• Harmonious sounding language

Free Verse• poetry that does not have a regular,

metrical, pattern. It does not rhyme!– Ex:

Feelings, Now:Some kind of attraction that is neitherAnimal, vegetable, nor mineral, a power notSolar, fusion, or magneticAnd it is all in my head that I could see into hisAnd find myself sitting there.

Copyright © 1996 by Katherine Foreman.

Hyperbole

• an extreme exaggeration• Ex:

“He was so hungry he could have eaten a horse.”

Imagery

• a technique that poets use to describe and appeal to the senses, words that create pictures in the mind

• Ex: “Yellow matted custard dripping from a dead

dog’s eye” (John Lennon)

Irony• When the outcome is different from what was expected. I.e. “Richard Cory”

“Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at

him;

He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said, “Good-morning,” and he glittered when

he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king— And admirably schooled in every

grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his

place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and

cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through

his head.”

Metaphor

• a comparison between two things, saying something is something else

• Ex: “My love is a red rose.”

Meter

• The measured arrangement of words in poetry

Metonymy

• One word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

• i.e. “Washington” for “the United States government”

Or i.e. “pigskin” for “a football”

Onomatopoeia

• sound effect words • Ex:

– “clip, clop…” (for the sound of a horses’ hooves)

Personification

• when non-human things (animals, objects or ideas) are described as if they were human– Ex:

“The leaves danced in the courtyard.”

Rhyme

• the repetition of sound in different words, especially at the end of lines. A main technique used in poetry

• Ex. ………………………….…cat - a ……………………………fire -b

……………………………. bat -a……………………………. liar- b

Rhyme Scheme

• the pattern of end rhymes used in a poem– Ex:

“a/b/a/b” or “a/a/b/b”, etc.“Bid me to weep, and I will weep,While I have eyes to see; And having none, yet I will keep A heart to weep for thee.”

Rhythm

• the arrangement of beats in a line of poetry–Ex:

“The Highwayman came riding, riding, riding,… The Highwayman came riding Up to the old inn door.” (“The Highwayman”)

Simile

• a comparison using like or as• i.e. “Her teeth were like kernels of

corn.”

Stanza• the groups of lines in poetry, the

‘paragraphs’ in poetry• EX:

Hate You Because by Kristina Allison I hate you because you hate me just because I'm not you you think I am a burden but its not true

I'm stuck in this world on my own with no emotions shown no one to love me and people that pretend

My heart is in no condition to even mend I'm tired of all the lies you have no consideration for me and my tries

Nobodies perfect and neiter are you beleive it or not this statement is true I am who I am your approval is not needed I love me, I guess I'm conceited

I would never change especially for a person like you, if I had a chance to changes live with someone it most definatly wouldnt be you.

Like it or not I live my life the way I can I'm going to try... I'm going to try the best I can to prove you wrong It wont take very long

All I have to do is take your blows, your insults, whatever you dish out and be strong...

Symbol

• Using something to represent an idea (symbolism = using symbols)

• i.e. maple leaf = CanadaHeart = loveDove = peaceCross = God, church, religion

Synecdoche• A part is used for the whole

(as “hand” for “sailor”), the whole for a part (as “the law” for “police officer”), the specific for the general (as “cutthroat” for “assassin”), the general for the specific

(as “thief” for “pickpocket”), or the material for the thing made

from it (as “steel” for “sword”).

Tone

• The general atmosphere in a piece of writing

Understatement

• A lack of emphasis in expression

• All images obtained through “google images” via public domain