PoetryTerms and Devices

What is Poetry?

A form of literature that uses images, rhythm, and symbolism to evoke emotion within the reader

Has a lyrical style, as opposed to a prose style (regular writing)

Langston Hughes

Image Credit: Literary Fiction

Poetic Terms

Stanza

Rhyme

Rhyme Scheme

Imagery

Figurative Language

Image Credit: Word Is Bond

Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest

Stanza

Stanza: a section of a poem.Think of it as the poem’s “paragraph”.

Example: The tree is green.I haven’t seenThe sun in days,As the tree waves.

I never knew,A sky so blue.What’s up with that,Cool rhyming cat?

Stanza 1:

Stanza 2:

Rhyme

Rhyme: when the ends of words have the same sound.

Example:Balloon rhymes with Cartoon

Rhymes create a lyrical effect in a poem

Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme Scheme: the pattern in which rhymes are laid out in a poem

Example: The tree is green.I haven’t seenThe sun in days,As the tree sways.

I never knew,A sky so blue.What’s up with that,Cool rhyming cat?

AABB

CCDD

The tree is green.I never knew,I haven’t seenA sky so blue.

What’s up with that?Hot sunny blaze.Cool rhyming cat?It spend its days.

ABAB

CDCD

Imagery

Imagery: Visually descriptive language

Figurative language helps to create imagery

Appeals to the FIVE SENSES:

Sight

Smell

Taste

Sound

Touch

Image Credit: Ms. Clark English Blog

PoetryFigurative Language

Figurative Language

Figurative Language: Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different that its literal interpretation.

Example: “Know the ropes.”Literal Meaning: Knowing how to tie different kinds of knots with different ropes.

Figurative Meaning: Knowing how to do something.

Figurative Language Types

Simile

Metaphor

Alliteration

Personification

Onomatopoeia

Hyperbole

Idiom Image Credit: Flickr

Simile

A comparison that uses “like” or “as”

Examples:He eats like a pig!

He’s as tall as a giraffe!

Image Credit: Daily Mail

Metaphor

A comparison that doesn’t uses “like” or “as”

Examples:I am an island.

He’s a rock.

Image Credit: Private Islands Magazine

Alliteration

A series of words that uses the same first sound (not letter).

Non-Example: The cyclist carries chocolate.

Example:Please put your pen away and play the piano.

Goodness, the globe got going and galloped.

Personification

Giving human qualities to a non-human thing.

Examples: The camera loves me. The car flexed its muscles.

Image Credit: Disney/Pixar

Onomatopia

Creating a word for an actual sound

Example: Pow! Pop! Bam! Zap!

Image Credit: WriteRoutine

Idiom

Terms that people use in everyday language that don’t make sense literally, but make sense figuratively.

Example: Break the ice.Literal: Take a hammer and chisel and break a block of ice in half.

Figurative: Make an awkward situation more comfortable.

Image Credit: Go Promotional

Hyperbole

EXTREME exaggeration

Examples:I’m so hungry that I could eat a whole cow!

I have a million things to do.

I have a ton of homework.

Image Credit: Creative Commons