Poetry

Terms to make things easier

Rhyme• The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all

sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem.

In the wild ol’ West there lived a man,A man by the tile of Maiden-Savin’ Sam.Saving maidens was his hobby and he did it

very well,Bragged about his victories-great stories

he did tell.

Rhythm

• A musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables or by the repetition of certain other sound patterns. (often has a sing-song like sound)

A gentleman dining at CreweFound quite a large mouse in his stew

Said the waiter, “Don’t shout,And wave it about,

Or the rest will be wanting one too!”

End Rhyme

• Rhymes at the ends of lines

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.

Rhyme Scheme• The pattern of end rhymes in a poem

Listen, my children, and you shall hear AOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere, AOn the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; BHardly a man is now alive BWho remembers that famous day and year. A

The rhyme scheme for this stanza is the following: AABBA

Internal Rhyme• Rhyme occurring within a line of a poem

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-

Only this, and nothing more."

Slant Rhyme

• The use of sounds that are similar but not exactly the same (sometimes the poet will make words rhyme because they look the same or will have the reader pronounce them differently so that it will work for the poet’s purpose)

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

Cold, on the stroke of midnight,The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

Stanza• A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a

single unit (basically a paragraph in the world of poetry)

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.They had bound a musket beside her, with the muzzle beneath her breast!“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—Look for me by moonlight;

Watch for me by moonlight;I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way! She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held goodShe writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,

Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

Refrain• A repeated sound, word, phrase, line, or group of

lines found in a poem.

“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night,But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day.

Then look for me by moonlight,Watch for me by moonlight,

I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

Later found in the poem

The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest.Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;

For the road lay bare in the moonlight;Blank and bare in the moonlight;

And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love’s refrain.

Narrative Poem

• A poem that tells a story

“The Highwayman”

“The Cremation of Sam McGee”

“Paul Revere’s Ride”

“The Raven”

Lyric Poem• A poem that does not tell a story but expresses the

personal feelings of a speaker. They are usually short and imply a single strong emotion

A word is dead by Emily DickinsonA word is deadWhen it is said,Some say.

I say it justBegins to liveThat day.

Ode• A long lyric poem, usually praising some subject,

and written in sophisticated language

Excerpt from “Ode to Thanks” by Pablo Neruda

Thanks to the word

That says thanks!

Thanks to thanks,

word

that melts

iron and snow!

Free Verse• A poem without any particular rhyme scheme or

rhythm“The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Alliteration

• The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words that are close together.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"-                  Merely this, and nothing more.

Assonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together.

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage, against the dying of the light."

Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night"

Onomatopeia

• The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning.

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horsehoofs ringing clear;

Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?

Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,The highwayman came riding—

Riding—riding—

The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.

Symbolism• When a person, place, thing, or an event has

meaning in itself and stands for something beyond itself as well.

The American flag=freedom“The Lightening Is A Yellow Fork”

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

 The lightening is a yellow Fork

From tables in the skyBy inadvertent fingers dropt

the awful Cutlery 

Of Mansion never quite disclosedAnd never quite concealedThe Apparatus of the Dark

To ignorance revealed.

Simile

• A comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky,

With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.

Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;

When they shot him down on the highway,Down like a dog on the highway,

And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.

Metaphor

• An imaginative comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding—

riding—riding—

The highway man came riding, up to the old inn door.

Personification• A figure of speech in which an object or animal is

spoken as if it had human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

Excerpt from “Valentine for Ernest Mann”Still, I like your spirit.Anyone who says, “Here’s my address, write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.So I’ll tell a secret instead:poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the momentbefore we wake up. What we have to dois live in a way that lets us find them.

Imagery

• Language that appeals to the senses.

O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! Heart! Heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

Hyperbole

• A gross exaggeration

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

She could die from embarrassment.