1. From: Elements of Literature
Elements of Poetry
From: Elements of Literature

2. How to read a poem Read the poem aloud at least once.
Read from the “inside out.”
Be aware of punctuation, especially periods and commas.
If a line of poetry doesn’t end with punctuation, don’t stop.
Read the poem for its meaning, using a natural voice. Let the music come through on its own.
Pay attention to each word.
Pay attention to the title.

3. Read it out loud!
Read the poem aloud at least once. Don’t stop just because you’re at the end of the line.
Only stop for punctuation marks.
Each poem has its own pulse, which you can hear more clearly by reading it aloud.

4. Inside out
Read from the “inside out.” If you read a poem and try to worry about finding the metaphor or identify rhyme schemes, you’ve missed the point of the poem. You’ve read it from the “outside in.” Don’t do that!
First, enjoy the poem.
Then, ask yourself why you liked it. (metaphors, rhyme, etc. can be found after the first reading.)

5. Punctuation matters
Be aware of punctuation, especially periods and commas.
A period signals the end of a sentence-which is not always at the end of a line.
You should make a full stop when you come to a period.
If a line of poetry doesn’t end with punctuation, don’t stop. Continue reading until you read a punctuation mark.

6. Poetry is music
If the poem is written in meter (pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables-most poems use meter), don’t read it in a singsong way.
Read the poem for its meaning, using a natural voice. Let the music of the poem come through on its own.

7. Words are important
Pay attention to each word. Poets generally use only a few words, so each word is important. Look up unfamiliar words.
Pay attention to the title. Sometimes-but not always-the meaning of the poem is hinted at in the title.

8. Try it!
Read this excerpt from a poem out loud, remember to read it first. Stop at the punctuation-not the end of the line. Listen for the natural singsong tone-don’t force it. 

9. “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

10. The Sound of Poetry
The musical sound of poetry comes from several elements used wisely in the poem. Not all are used in every poem. The poet chooses the elements that best deliver the poem and sound the poet wants to create. Here are a few of the elements commonly used in poetry:
Rhythm
Meter
Rhyme
Refrain
Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Metaphors and Similes
Imagery
Free verse

11. Rhythm The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables
Provides the poem’s beat
MU-sic
MOUNT-ain
Be-CAUSE
Try your name: Where is the stressed sound? That is the stressed syllable.
Okey In my name, the “O” syllable is stressed. The “key” is unstressed.

12. “For My Grandmother” by Countee Cullen
This lovely flower fell to seed; Work gently, sun and rain; She held it as her dying creed That she would grow again. stressed unstressed

13. Meter
When a clear pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is repeated, that is called meter.
Cullen’s poem “For My Grandmother” uses meter because the stressed and unstressed syllable pattern is repeated throughout the entire poem.
Listen to the consistent pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the poem one more time.

14. “For My Grandmother” by Countee Cullen
This lovely flower fell to seed; Work gently, sun and rain; She held it as her dying creed That she would grow again. stressed unstressed

15. Rhyme
The chiming effect a poem creates-the singsong sound, the music- is done with rhyme.
Rhyme is when sounds match in words.
There are several types of rhyme.

16. Types of Rhyme End rhyme (rhyme at the end)
Couplet (two end words in two lines next to each other in a poem rhyme)
Internal rhyme (the rhyming words are in the middle of the lines, not the ends.)
Exact rhyme (the rhyming sounds are exactly the same sounds)
Approximate rhyme-sometimes called: near rhyme, imperfect rhyme, slant rhyme (the rhyming sounds are close, but not exactly the same)

17. End rhyme
End rhyme is when the end words of lines rhyme with each other.
Excerpt from “Peanut-Butter Sandwich”
From Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
I'll sing you a poem of a silly young king Who played with the world at the end of a string, But he only loved one single thing— And that was just a peanut-butter sandwich.
His scepter and his royal gowns, His regal throne and golden crowns Were brown and sticky from the mounds And drippings from each peanut-butter sandwich.
His subjects all were silly fools For he had passed a royal rule That all that they could learn in school Was how to make a peanut-butter sandwich. …

18. More end rhymes:
The panther is like a leopard, Except is hasn’t been peppered. -Ogden Nash From “The Panther” Even though it’s spelled differently, the ending sound is the same in both words.

19. “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss
"We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!"
“I know it is wet And the sun is not sunny. But we can have Lots of good fun that is funny!”
  “Look at me!   Look at me!   Look at me NOW!
  It is fun to have fun   But you have   to know how.”
  “'Have no fear, little fish,'   Said the Cat in the Hat.   'These Things are   good Things.'   And he gave them a pat."

20. Couplet
A couplet is when two consecutive lines (lines following each other-right next to each other in the poem) rhyme with each other at the end.
Shakespearean sonnets perfect the use of couplets! Each sonnet closes with a couplet.

21. Shakespearean sonnets:
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem By that sweet ornament which truth doth give. The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem For that sweet odour which doth in it live. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As the perfumed tincture of the roses, Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly When summer's breath their masked buds discloses: But, for their virtue only is their show, They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade, Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so; Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:    And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,    When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth.
(That’s a perfect couplet!)

22. Shakespeare Sonnet #130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. (Here’s another perfect couplet.)

23. Internal rhyme Rhymes occurring within lines.
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert W. Service
Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the
Cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to Roam ‘round the
Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to
hold him like a spell;
Though he’d often say in his homely way that he’d
‘sooner live in hell.”
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the
Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! Through the parka’s fold it stabbed
like a driven nail.
If our eyes we’d close, the lashes froze till sometimes
we couldn’t see;
It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was
Sam McGee. …
I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside.
I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I look”: . . .then the door I opened wide.
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.
It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm-
Since I Left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”
“So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains”

24. Exact rhyme
The vowel and end sound in a word are exactly the same as in its rhyming word (although they don’t have to be spelled exactly the same… just sound the same.)
Toad-Road
Jog-hog
Tapping-rapping
State-fate
Confess-less
Home-roam

25. Ode to a Toad by Anne-Marie Wulfsberg, Concord-Carlisle High School, Concord, Massachusetts
I was out one day for my usual jog
(I go kinda easy, rarely full-hog)
When I happened to see right there on the road
The squishy remains of a little green toad.
I thought to myself, where is his home?
Down yonder green valley, how far did he roam?
From out on the pond I heard sorrowful croaks,
Could that be the wailing of some his folks?
I felt for the toad and his pitiful state,
But the day was now fading, and such was his fate.
In the grand scheme of things, now I confess,
What’s one little froggie more or less?

26. Approximate rhyme (near rhyme, imperfect rhyme, slant rhyme)
Modern poets often prefer approximate rhyme.
These words have similar vowel or end sounds but are not exactly the same.
Fellow-hollow
Inside-Light
Mouse- out

27. Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch it probe his way out, Or walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to water-ski Across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession of out it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

28. Refrain
A line or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.

31. “Lord Neptune” an example of using a refrain

32. “Refrain” Refrain by Allen Ginsberg
The air is dark, the night is sad, I lie sleepless and I groan. Nobody cares when a man goes mad: He is sorry, God is glad. Shadow changes into bone. Every shadow has a name; When I think of mine I moan, I hear rumors of such fame. Not for pride, but only shame, Shadow changes into bone. When I blush I weep for joy, And laughter drops from me like a stone: The aging laughter of the boy To see the ageless dead so coy. Shadow changes into bone.

33. “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil! Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted On this home by Horror haunted tell me truly, I implore Is there is there balm in Gilead? tell me tell me, I implore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!' said I, "thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us by that God we both adore Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked upstarting "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted nevermore.

34. Alliteration
The repetition of the same CONSONANT sound in words that are close together.
The see-saw sunk softly into the sand.
The silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain…
The purple people-eater

35. Alliteration, cont’d
Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper, What shall we give him? Brown bread and butter. How shall he cut it without a knife? How shall he marry without a wife?

36. Excerpts from “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
…Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison bar, And a huge black hulk that was magnified by its own reflection in the tide.

37. Assonance Repetition of VOWEL sounds in words that are close together.
Annie chose an apple.
The creature bleated when the floor creaked.

38. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas

39. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

40. Onomatopoeia Words that sound like what the word refers to…
Drip, drip, drip
Crackle
Sizzle
Pop
Rustle
Snap
Etc.
Onomatopoeias are words that sound like sounds.

41. “Cynthia in the Snow” by Gwendolyn Brooks (remember “We Real Cool”
“Cynthia in the Snow” by Gwendolyn Brooks (remember “We Real Cool”? She wrote that, too)
It SUSHES. It hushes The 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.

42. “Honkey Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio” by Carl Sandburg
It's a jazz affair, drum crashes and cornet razzes. The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts. The banjo tickles and titters too awful. The chippies talk about the funnies in the papers. The cartoonists weep in their beer. Ship riveters talk with their feet To the feet of floozies under the tables. A quartet of white hopes mourn with interspersed snickers: "I got the blues. I got the blues. I got the blues." And as we said earlier:

43. “BOUNCING BASKETBALL” by Lee Emmett
bounce, dribble, bounce stumble, thud, stop bounce, bounce, take aim into basket drop rebound, dribble, bounce jump, reaching, stretch smack, hit back-board thump, weeping, retch umpire whistles, calls ‘foul’ coach mumbles, players grumble shrill blast, time-out’s past back to task, run, rumble

44. Metaphors and Similes Compare two unlike things to each other.
Similes use “like” or “as” to signify comparison
Metaphors just say it is the other thing.

45. Simile: Uses “like” or “as” to make comparison.
The river is like a snake winding through the grass.
The moon is like a yellow piece of cheese sitting in the sky.
Her smile is as cutting as a scythe.

46. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

47. The Base Stealer by Robert Francis
Poised between going on and back, pulled Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker, Fingertips pointing the opposites, Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on, Running a scattering of steps sidewise, How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases, Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird, He's only flirting, crowd him, crowd him, Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate - now!

48. A Narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides-- You may have met Him-- did you not His notice sudden is-- The Grass divides as with a Comb-- A spotted shaft is seen-- And then it closes at your feet And opens further on-- He likes a Boggy Acre A Floor too cool for Corn-- Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot-- I more than once at Noon Have passed, I thought, a Whip lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it, It wrinkled, and was gone-- Several of Nature's People I know, and they know me-- I feel for them a transport Of cordiality-- But never met this Fellow Attended, or alone Without a tighter breathing And Zero at the Bone--*

49. Predictable by Bruce Lansky
Poor as a church mouse. strong as an ox, cute as a button, smart as a fox.
thin as a toothpick, white as a ghost, fit as a fiddle, dumb as a post.
bald as an eagle, neat as a pin, proud as a peacock, ugly as sin.
When people are talking you know what they'll say as soon as they start to use a cliché.

50. You try it:
Clever by _____________
As poor as a _______. As strong as an ______, As cute as a ______, As smart as ______.
As thin as a ______, As white as a ______, As fit as a ______ As dumb as a ______.
As bald as an ______, As neat as a ______, As proud as a ______, As ugly as ______.
Use fresh similes when you speak and you write, so your friends will think you are quite clever and bright.

51. Daffodil by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee; A poet could not be but gay, In such a jocund company! I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

52. Birches by Robert Frost
When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground, Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm, I should prefer to have some boy bend them As he went out and in to fetch the cows-- Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone. One by one he subdued his father's trees By riding them down over and over again Until he took the stiffness out of them, And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be. It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping >From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better. I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

53. The Weakness by Toi Derricotte
The saleswoman had brought velvet
leggings to lace me in, and cooed,
as if in service of all grandmothers.
My grandmother had smiled, but not
hungrily, not like my mother
who hated them, but wanted to please,
and they had smiled back, as if
they were wearing wooden collars.
When my legs gave out, my grandmother
dragged me up and held me like God
holds saints by the
roots of the hair. I begged her
to believe I couldn't help it. Stumbling,
her face white
with sweat, she pushed me through the crowd, rushing
away from those eyes
that saw through
her clothes, under
her skin, all the way down
to the transparent
genes confessing.
That time my grandmother dragged me
through the perfume aisles at Saks, she held me up
by my arm, hissing, "Stand up,"
through clenched teeth, her eyes
bright as a dog's
cornered in the light.
She said it over and over,
as if she were Jesus,
and I were dead. She had been
solid as a tree,
a fur around her neck, a
light-skinned matron whose car was parked, who walked
on swirling
marble and passed through
brass openings--in 1945.
There was not even a black
elevator operator at Saks.

54. Metaphors: It is what it is. Uses “is”, “was”, “am” to compare.
The river is a snake winding through the grass.
Listen to “Daisy” by Brand New.
Write down one of the metaphors you hear.

55. Extended metaphor
Metaphor developed and used over multiple lines or an entire poem.
For example: when you compare yourself to a ship on the sea and refer back to that comparison and image over and over again in your poem, that is an extended metaphor.

56. Extended metaphor
Write down what you think the extended metaphor in the song meant. Explain what two things were compared to each other and how they are similar-based on what the song said about them. Use at least 5 sentences.

57. Free Verse
For free verse, don’t abandon ALL rules- just most of them! 
Doesn’t have to rhyme.
Doesn’t have to use meter.
Sounds more like normal speech.
BUT! Free verse poets still try really hard to make their poems sound rhythmic. One way they do this is through repeating sentence patterns.

58. “Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Shihab Nye
You can't order a poem like you order a taco. Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two" and expect it to be handed back to you on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit. Anyone who says, "Here's my address, write me a poem," deserves something in reply. So I'll tell you a secret instead: poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.
Once I knew a man who gave his wife two skunks for a valentine. He couldn't understand why she was crying. "I thought they had such beautiful eyes." And he was serious. He was a serious man who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly just because the world said so. He really liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them as valentines and they became beautiful. At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding in the eyes of skunks for centuries crawled out and curled up at his feet.
Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite. And let me know.
“Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Shihab Nye

59. “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

60. There are dozens of types of poetry. We are learning seven.
Elegies
Ballads
Lyric
Narrative
Limerick
Odes
Free verse

61. Lyric poem: Usually very short and express feelings or thoughts rather than tell stories.
O God of dust and rainbows help us see That without dust the rainbow would not be. ~Langston Hughes

62. Odes: long lyric poem usually praising some subject, and written in dignified language.
“Ode to a Frog”
“Ode to Thanks” Pablo Neruda

63. “Ode to Thanks”
Thanks to the word that says thanks! Thanks to thanks, word that melts iron and snow! The world is a threatening place until thanks makes the rounds from one pair of lips to another, soft as a bright feather and sweet as a petal of sugar, filling the mouth with its sound or else a mumbled whisper. Life becomes human again: it’s no longer an open window. A bit of brightness strikes into the forest, and we can sing again beneath the leaves. Thanks, you’re the medicine we take to save us from the bite of scorn. Your light brightens the altar of harshness. Or maybe a tapestry known to far distant peoples.
Travelers fan out into the wilds, and in the jungle of strangers, merci rings out while the hustling train changes countries, sweeping away borders, then spasibo clinging to pointy volcanoes, to fire and freezing cold, or danke, yes! and gracias, and the world turns into a table: a single word has wiped it clean, plates and glasses gleam, silverware tinkles, and the tablecloth is as broad as a plain. Thank you, thanks, for going out and returning, for rising up and settling down. We know, thanks, that you don’t fill every space- you’re only a word- but where your little petal appears the daggers of pride take cover, and there’s a penny’s worth of smiles

64. Narrative: tells a story through a series of related events
“Paul Revere’s Ride” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

65. Sonnets: Fourteen-line poem that follows strict rules of rhyme, meter, and structure
Shakespeare

66. Ballads: a song told in simple meter and with simple rhyme
“The Cremation of Sam McGee”
“The Man From Snowy River”

67. The Man From Snowy River
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from old Regret had got away, And had joined the wild bush horses -- he was worth a thousand pound, So all the cracks had gathered to the fray. All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far Had mustered at the homestead overnight, For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are, And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.
There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup, The old man with his hair as white as snow; But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up -- He would go wherever horse and man could go. And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand, No better horseman ever held the reins; For never horse could throw him while the saddle-girths would stand, He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.
And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast, He was something like a racehorse undersized, With a touch of Timor pony -- three parts thoroughbred at least -- And such as are by mountain horsemen prized. He was hard and tough and wiry -- just the sort that won't say die -- There was courage in his quick impatient tread; And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye, And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.

68. The Man From Snowy River
But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay, And the old man said, "That horse will never do For a long and tiring gallop -- lad, you'd better stop away, Those hills are far too rough for such as you.“ So he waited sad and wistful -- only Clancy stood his friend -- "I think we ought to let him come," he said; "I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end, For both his horse and he are mountain bred."
"He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side, Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough, Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride, The man that holds his own is good enough. And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home, Where the river runs those giant hills between; I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam, But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen."
So he went -- they found the horses by the big mimosa clump -- They raced away towards the mountain's brow, And the old man gave his orders, "Boys, go at them from the jump, No use to try for fancy riding now. And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right. Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills, For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight, If once they gain the shelter of those hills."

69. The Man From Snowy River
So Clancy rode to wheel them -- he was racing on the wing Where the best and boldest riders take their place, And he raced his stock-horse past them, and he made the ranges ring With the stockwhip, as he met them face to face. Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash, But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view, And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash, And off into the mountain scrub they flew.
Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black Resounded to the thunder of their tread, And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead. And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way, Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide; And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day, No man can hold them down the other side."

70. The Man From Snowy River
When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull, It well might make the boldest hold their breath, The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full Of wombat holes, and any slip was death. But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head, And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer, And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed, While the others stood and watched in very fear.
He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet, He cleared the fallen timber in his stride, And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -- It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride. Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground, Down the hillside at a racing pace he went; And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound, At the bottom of that terrible descent.
He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill, And the watchers on the mountain standing mute, Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still, As he raced across the clearing in pursuit. Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet, With the man from Snowy River at their heels.

71. The Man From Snowy River
And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam. He followed like a bloodhound on their track, Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home, And alone and unassisted brought them back. But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot, He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur; But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot, For never yet was mountain horse a cur. And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise
Their torn and rugged battlements on high, Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze At midnight in the cold and frosty sky, And where around the Overflow the reedbeds sweep and sway To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide, The man from Snowy River is a household word to-day, And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.

72. Epics: Long narrative poem about the many deeds of a great hero.
“Beowolf”
Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”
“Casey at the Bat” (mock epic-imitates an epic style in a comical way in order to make fun of its topic)

73. Beowolf
“Hail, Hrothgar! Higlac is my cousin and my king; the days Of my youth have been filled with glory. Now Grendel’s Name has echoed in our land: Sailors Have brought us stories of Herot, the best Of all mead-halls, deserted and useless when the moon Hangs in skies the sun had lit, Light and life fleeing together. My people have said, the wisest, most knowing And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes’ Great King. They have seen my strength for themselves, Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, Dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove Five great giants into chains, chased All of that race from the earth. I swam In the blackness of night, hunting monsters Out of the ocean, and killing them one By one; death was my errand and the fate They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called Together, and I’ve come. Grant me, then,

74. Beowolf, continued… Lord and protector of this novel place,
A single request! I have come so far,
Oh shelterer of warriors and your people’s loved friend,
That this one favor you should not refuse me-
That I, alone and with the help of my men,
May purge all evil from this hall. I have heard,
Too, that the monster’s scorn of men
Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none.
Nor will I. My lord Higlac
Might think less of me if I let my sword
Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid
Behind some broad linden shield: My hands
Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life
Against the monster. God must decide
Who will be given to death’s cold grip.

75. “Casey at the Bat” Ernest Lawrence Thayer
The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast; They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that - We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake, And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake; So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat, For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all, And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball; And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred, There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

76. “Casey at the Bat”
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped- "That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell; It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell; It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat, For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place; There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face. And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat, No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt. Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

77. “Casey at the Bat”
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar, Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore. "Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand; And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone; He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on; He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew; But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two.“
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud; But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate; He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate. And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go, And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

78. Elegies: a poem of mourning usually about someone who has died.
“O Captain! My Captain!” elegy on the death of Abraham Lincoln

79. “O Captain! My Captain!” Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead

80. Free verse: doesn’t use structured meter or rhyme
“I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman
“A Valentine for Ernest Mann”
“I, too, am America” Langston Hughes

81. “I Hear America Singing” Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

82. Limericks: A very short humorous or non-sensical poem
Have 5 lines
Has a definitive rhythm
Uses an aabba rhyme scheme
Tells a brief story
I sat next to the Duchess at tea;
It was just as I feared it would be;
Her rumblings abdominal
Were truly phenomenal,
And everyone thought it was me!