Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Slightly edited version of K. Chichester's original slideshow found here: http://www.slideshare.net/krchichester?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview
Citation preview
Introduction to
Poetic Terminolog
y
Definition of Poetry
• Poetry - A type of writing that uses language to express imaginative and emotional qualities instead of or in addition to meaning.
• Poetry may be written as individual poems or included in other written forms as in dramatic poetry, hymns, or song lyrics.
Literary Devices Used in Poetry
Figurative Language
Figurative Language is the use of words outside of
their literal or usual meaning to add beauty or
force.
It is characterized by the use of similes and metaphors.
MetaphorMetaphor is a figure of speech
that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one
thing becomes another without the use of the words like, as, than,
or resembles.
Example:
Love is a rose.
His face was a fist.
SimileSimile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, using words
such as like, as, than, or resembles.
Example:My love is like a red, red rose.
- Robert Burns
OnomatopoeiaOnomatopeia is the use of a word or words whose sound
imitates its meaning.
Examples:crackle, pop, fizz, click, chirp
PersonificationPersonification is a special kind
of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is talked about as if it was human (given human
characteristics).
Example:
This poetry gets bored of being alone,
It wants to go outdoors to chew on the wings,
To fill its commas with the keels of rowboats….
-Hugo Margenat, from”Living Poetry”
SymbolismSymbolism is when a person, place, thing or idea stands for itself and
for something else.
Example: Use of the bald eagle to represent
the United States. From Beowulf, his removal of his shield represented his lack of fear.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the use of similar sounds at the beginning of a word.
Assonance -
Assonance is the use of similar vowel
sounds within a word.
Poetic Structures
Iambic Foot
An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable .
Example:
We could write the rhythm like this:
da DUM
Meter
Meter is the pattern of rhythm established for a
verse.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the actual sound that results from
a line of poetry.
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic Pentameter is a line of poetry with five
iambic feet in a row This is the most common
meter in English poetry.
Example:We could write the rhythm like this:
da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM
We can notate this with a ˘ mark representing an unstressed syllable and a '/' mark representing a stressed syllable
Example Continued:The following line from John Keats' Ode to
Autumn is a straightforward example:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘
To swell the gourd, and plump the ha - zel
/shells
RhymeRhyme is the placement
of identical or similar sounds at the ends of lines or at predictable locations within lines.
LinesPoetry is separated into
lines on a page. Lines may be based on the number of
metrical feet, or may stress a rhyme pattern at
the ends of lines.
StanzaStanzas are groups of lines in a poem
which are named by the number of lines included.
• Two lines is a couplet. • Three lines is a triplet or tercet.• Four lines is a quatrain. • Five lines is a quintain or cinquain. • Six lines is a sestet.• Eight lines is an octet.
Couplet
Couplet is two lines of a poem that are related by either rhyme or
structure.
Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme Scheme is the use rhyme in a pattern as a structural element
in a poem.
Rhyme schemes are described using letters that correspond to
sets of rhymes.
Example: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, A
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; AAll the king’s horses and all the king’s men, BCouldn’t put Humpty together again. B
-------------------------------------------------The rhyme scheme for this poem is:
A A B B
Example Continued:
A told B, AB told C, A“I’ll meet you at the top Bof the coconut tree.” A
“Whee!” said D ATo E F G A“I’ll beat you to the top Bof the coconut tree.” A
Chicka chicka boom boom! CWill there be enough room? CHere comes H DUp the coconut tree A
and I and J Eand tagalong K, EAll on their way Eup the coconut tree. A
-from Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martian Jr., and
John Archambault
---------------------------------------------
Rhyme scheme:
A A B AA A B AC C D AE E E A
Poetic Forms
Blank Verse
Blank Verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Example:To be, or not to be: that is
the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.
From Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Free Verse
Free Verse is poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme.
Example:
excerpt from Song of Myselfby Walt Whitman:
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good
belongs to you.I loaf and invite my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
Sonnet
A sonnet is a fourteen line poem that is usually written in iambic pentameter.
See the following video to learn more about sonnets.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
