©2009,Lisa A. Cooper, 2019 update Kristy Massie1

Poetry Lesson 1The Elements

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.Edgar Allen Poe

What is poetry?– Why read it? Why write it?

– The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines poetry as “a composition in verse.”

– The rhythmic expression of imagination and ideas

– A form of art

– Ideas drawn from real life experiences

– Mode of expression that touches the emotions

What is prose?

The ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

What are the characteristics of poetry?

Elements of Poetry– Looking Inside the Poet’s Toolbox

Rhyme & Rhythm

Waiting At The Window

By A. A. Milne

These are my two drops of rain AWaiting on the window-pane. A

I am waiting here to see BWhich the winning one will be. B

Both of them have different names. COne is John and one is James. C

All the best and all the worstComes from which of them is first.

James has just begun to ooze.He's the one I want to lose.

John is waiting to begin.He's the one I want to win.

James is going slowly on.Something sort of sticks to John.

John is moving off at last.James is going pretty fast.

John is rushing down the pane.James is going slow again.

James has met a sort of smear.John is getting very near.

Is he going fast enough?(James has found a piece of fluff.)

John has quickly hurried by.(James was talking to a fly.)

John is there, and John has won! Look! I told you! Here's the sun!

v Meter: A repeated rhythm or beat in a poem

v Stanza: A grouping of two or more lines in a poem

Alliteration, Consonance, & AssonanceThese elements add a lyrical feel and enhance imagery through the sounds of the words.

Alliteration – The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds on the stressed syllables.

Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds that contribute to rhyme.

Assonance – the repetition of identical vowel sounds

SneezlesBy A. A. Milne

Christopher Robin Had wheezlesAnd sneezles,They bundled him Into His bed.They gave him what goesWith a cold in the nose,And some more for a coldIn the head. …

Little Boy Blue,Come blow your horn,The sheep’s in the meadow,The cow’s in the corn;Where is that boyWho looks after the sheep?Under the haystackFast asleep.Will you wake him?Oh no, not I,For if I doHe will surely cry.

OnomatopoeiaWords that imitate the sound they are describing

FossilsBy Ogden Nash

At midnight in the museum hallThe fossils gathered for a ballThere were no drums or saxophones,But just the clatter of their bones,A rolling, rattling, carefree circusOf mammoth polkas and mazurkas.Pterodactyls and brontosaurusesSang ghostly prehistoric choruses.Amid the mastodontic wassailI caught the eye of one small fossil."Cheer up, sad world," he said, and winked-"It's kind of fun to be extinct."

Repetition & Anaphora– Repeating different words or phrases creates structure within a poem.– Help readers focus on a specific thought or emotion the poet would like them

to notice. – Anaphora—repetition of the beginning word or phrase

Listen To The MUSTN'TSBy Shel Silverstein

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,

Listen to the DON'TS

Listen to the SHOULDN'TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT'S

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me--

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

Imagery ToolsSome poet’s tools appeal to the ear; the next ones appeal to the eye of the mind.

Figurative Language—PersonificationGiving human qualities to something not alive.

Cynthia in the SnowBy Gwendolyn Brooks

It SUSHES.It hushesThe loudness in the road.It flitter-twitters,And laughs away from me. It laughs a lovely whiteness,And whitely whirs away,To be,Some otherwhere,Still white as milk or shirts.So beautiful it hurts.

What sound tools do you see here that contribute to the imagery?

Figurative Language: SimileSimiles compare unlike things using like or as.

Figurative Language: MetaphorMetaphors compare unlike things without using like or as.

DreamsLangston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.