Poetry – Lesson #1

What is poetry?A type of literature

that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form (usually using lines and stanzas)

I'm glad to say my homework's done.I finished it last night.

I've got it right here in this box.It's not a pretty sight.

My dog chewed up my homework.He slobbered on it, too.

So now my homework's ripped to shredsand full of slimy goo.

It isn't much to look at,but I brought it anyway.

I'm going to dump it on your deskif I don't get an A.

My dog chewed up my homeworkBy Bruce Lansky

Why write poetry?People write poetry for

many different reasons:

• To express feelings• To share ideas• To say what they can’t

say out loud• To tell a story• To set a mood

Mood and FeelingPeople write poems when

they’re in a lot of different moods to express a lot of different feelings.

Just like you have many moods- happy, sad, angry, funny- poetry expresses many different moods and feelings.

Poems can be happy, sad, angry, romantic, or even funny

Point of view in poetryPOET

• The poet is the author of the poem.

SPEAKER

• The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem.

Poetry Form• FORM – the way the

words look on the page

• LINE - a group of words together on one line of the poem

• STANZA - a group of lines arranged together

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Line

{Stanza

PoetTitle

Poetic Devices

What are poetic devices?• Poets use poetic devices to make their poetry

sound more interesting.• Poetic devices include:• Rhythm• Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme• Alliteration• Onomatopoeia• Repetition and Refrain

Rhythm• The beat created by

the sounds of the words in a poem

• Rhythm can be created by using poetic devices.

Rhyme Poems do not have to

rhyme, but many do Words sound alike

because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds.

(A word always rhymes with itself.)

LAMP STAMP

Share the short “a” vowel sound

Share the combined “mp” consonant sound

End Rhyme• A word at the end of one line rhymes with a

word at the end of another line

Hector the Collector Collected bits of string.

Collected dolls with broken heads And rusty bells that would not ring.

Here’s an example in Spanish…From “Versos Sencillos” by José Martí

Yo soy un hombre sinceroDe donde crece la palma,Y antes de morirme quieroEchar mis versos del alma.

Yo vengo de todas partes,Y hacia todas partes voy:Arte soy entre las artes,En los montes, monte soy.

Yo sé los nombres extrañosDe las yerbas y las flores,Y de mortales engaños,Y de sublimes dolores.

See how the words at the end of every other line rhyme?

This is end rhyme!

Internal Rhyme• A word inside a line rhymes with another

word on the same line.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.

From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Near Rhyme• a.k.a imperfect

rhyme, close rhyme

• The words share EITHER the same vowel or consonant sound BUT NOT BOTH

ROSE LOSE

Different vowel sounds (long “o” and

“oo” sound) Share the same

consonant sound

Rhyme Scheme• A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually

end rhyme, but not always).

• Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually “see” the pattern. (See next slide for an example.)

Let’s have a look….SICK by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today.“Said little Peggy Ann McKay.

I have the measles and the mumps,A gash, a rash, and purple bumps

My mouth is wet, my throat is dryI’m going blind in my right eye.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,I’m sure that my left leg is broke.

My nose is cold, my toes are numb,I have a splinter in my thumb.

a

a

b

b

c

c

d

d

e

e

Onomatopoeia• Words that imitate the sound they are naming

BUZZ• OR sounds that imitate another sound

“The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of each purple curtain . . .”

Alliteration• Consonant sounds repeated at the

beginnings of words

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Sally sells seashells by the sunny seashore.

Alphabet Alliteration• Every single word in the sentence begins

with the same LETTER.

Aardvarks attack anthills anxiously.Chimpanzees chatter cheerfully.

Purple pandas paint pretty peculiar pictures.

Repetition and Refrain A sound or word

repeated regularly in a poem is called repetition

A phrase repeated regularly in a poem is called refrain

“Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’ ”

Example of Refrain from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”