POETRY
Poetry is all about 5 things…
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Expression
Observation
Ideas
Emotions
Words and Opinions
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The way a poem sounds is a big part of what a
poem is about.
Some poems have a musical sound. That is largely
due to rhythm, rhyme, and meter.
Rhythm
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The beat of the poem that helps to keep the poems
pace. It is the actual sound the poem makes when
reading.
 Rhythm
is established by stressed and unstressed
syllables.
Rhyme
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Words that share sounds together
 End
Rhyme: Rhyming at the ends of lines
 Internal Rhyme: Rhyming within a line.
Rhyme Scheme
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The alternating or repeating sounds at the ends of
lines. It is the pattern of rhyme at the end of a line.
Meter
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The repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables.
Stanza
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A group of lines put together by often a single
thought.
A
stanza is like a paragraph in prose.
What 2 things work together to create
a special structure in a poem?
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Rhyme
Meter
Couplet
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Two lines together that rhyme.
A pair of rhyming lines usually with the same meter.
Quatrain
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Four lines that have a specific rhyme scheme
Figurative Language
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A literary device used throughout literature.
 Figurative
language includes words, phrases, and
symbols or ideas, comparisons, elaborate expressions,
and sound devices.
Simile
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A comparison between 2 unlike things with the
words “like” or “as”.
 EX:
He is as strong as a ox.
Metaphor
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A comparison between two unlike things
 EX:
That man is an ox
* Extended Metaphor: a metaphor that is extended over
several lines or throughout the poem.
Sensory Details
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Using the senses to create images.
Symbolism
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A visible object that stands for something not clearly
visible.
Symbolism adds a layer of meaning.
Repetition
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Repeating of sounds.
 Alliteration:
repeating of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words
 Blue
Black Cold
 Assonance:
Repeating of vowel sounds in the middle of
words.
 Moses
Supposes his toeses is roses.
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Poetry may use language and symbols in surprising
and unconventional ways.
They can manipulate the look through sound and
punctuation.
Kinds of Poems
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Limerick: a five line humorous poem. Limericks have
a regular meter and rhyme scheme.
Sonnets: a 14 line rhyming poem written in Iambic
Pentameter.
 Iambic
Pentameter: an alternating 5 stressed and 5
unstressed syllables.
* Lyric Poetry: a poem that draws on emotions and
feelings.
Kinds of Poems
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Blank Verse: an unrhymed iambic pentameter poem.
Free verse: unrhymed/unmetered poem.
Narrative Poem: tells a complete story and
sometimes is very long.
Epic: a poem about an adventure typically of a
superhuman hero.
 EX:
Iliad and Odyssey & Beowulf
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Poetry expresses the ebb and flow of life in an
uniquely personal voice that reachers across form
and time.
Major Themes in Poetry
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Death/Loss
Love
Family/ Friendship
Hardship/Humor
Growing Old
Growing Up
7 things you should notice while
reading poetry.
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Read Out Loud
Rhythm
Rhyme Schemes
Theme
Words/Phrases
Punctuation
Mood/Feeling
Format