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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.
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?
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”
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
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.
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.”
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”
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”)
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”).