Poetry Terms
What Is Poetry?What is poetry?, you say
As you fix my eyes with yours of blue. What is poetry! .... You ask me that? Poetry... It is you!
-Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
Types of PoetryThere are many different types of poetry
in the worldAcrosticBiopoemColourHaikuDiamanteRhyming
Acrostic PoetryAn acrostic poem uses the letters in a
topic word to begin each line. All lines of the poem should relate to or describe the topic.Shines brightlyUp in the skyNice and warm on my skin
BiopoemLine 1: Your first nameLine 2: Four adjectives that describe youLine 3: Brother/sister of ___ or son/daughter of __Line 4: Lover of (name three things that you love)Line 5: Who feels (name three feelings)Line 6: Who finds happiness in __Line 7: Who needs __Line 8: Who fears __Line 9: Who wants __Line 10: Resident of (community)Line 11: Your last name
Colour PoemColour poems are poems about your favourite
colour. You express your feelings about one colour by comparing them to other things or listing nouns that are that colour or that remind you of that colour.
A colour poem can look like this:Colour looks like…Colour smells like…Colour feels like…Colour sounds like…Colour tastes like…
Orange is feeling in your stomach after an orange soda quenched your thirst. Orange is the sun after a summer day. Orange is the sound of a field filled with dandelions blowing in the wind. Orange is the taste of a pizza that just came out of the oven. Orange is the sound of a busy bumblebee. Orange is the taste of cold glass of orange juice. Orange is the feeling inside you when you accomplish something. Orange is the sound of a tomato plant growing. Orange is the color of a carrot that just popped out of the ground. Orange is the smell of a Tiger-Lily petal. Orange is the feeling after a baby smiles. Orange is the color of a brown beaver's incisor. Orange is the smell of a late July day. Orange is the feeling of a puppy's fur. Orange is the color of peach marmalade on a side of toast. Orange is the sound of a canoe paddling through shallow water. And orange is a color that is safe and alive.
HaikuHaiku is a type of three-line Japanese poem
that reflects on nature and feelings. The first line of a haiku has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables.
A syllable One or more letters representing a unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound.
Ladybugs are red,And have black spots on their
wings.Experts at flying.
DiamanteDiamante poetry is written in the shape of a
diamond.Line 1: Noun or subject - one word
Line 2: Two Adjectives that describe line 1 Line 3: Three 'ing words that describe line 1 Line 4: Four nouns - the first two are connected with line 1; the last two are connected with line 7 Line 5: Three 'ing words that describe line 7 Line 6: Two adjectives that describe line 7 Line 7: Noun Synonym for the subject
Pencil Sharp, skinny
Writing, answering, erasing Wood, lead, ink, plastic
Drawing, smudging, leaking Durable, comfortable
Pen
Found PoemsFound poems take existing texts and
refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems.
The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.
A pure found poem is only made up of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions.
Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.
RhymingRhyming words are words which end with
similar vowel sounds. Rhymes happen when this sameness of
sound exists between words, or syllables, within two or more lines of poetry.
SimileSimiles help us understand one thing by
comparing it with another. We use similes when we say “he runs like a
deer” or “those clouds look like cottage cheese”.
A simile will always use words LIKE or AS.
MetaphorA metaphor, like a simile, compares one thing
to another but without the use of “like” or “as”
Example: But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.
OnomatopoeiaWhen a word sounds like what it is
describing.Examples: Crash, bang, snap, crack, crackle,
fizzle, boom.
AlliterationThe repetition of usually short initial
consonant sounds in two or more consecutive words or syllables.
Example: I stood silently in the snow as it swirled softly to the ground
ImageryImagery is language that poets use to appeal
to our five senses: touch, taste, smell, sound, and feel.
visual/sight: To wake up where the green grass grows.oral/taste: Lips like cool sweet tea.tactile/touch: Streaming through a velvet sky.
olfactory/smell: The stench of the underworld.
PersonificationGiving human qualities or characteristics to
animals or objects.Example: The waves licked the sandy shore.
Mood/AtmosphereThe feelings or emotions produced by the
poem.Sad, suspenseful, scary, happy