1. POETRY TERMS English II

2. POETRY
A type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form (usually using lines and stanzas)

3. POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY POET The poet is the author of the poem.
SPEAKER
The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem.

4. POETRY FORM FORM - the appearance of the words on the page
LINE - a group of words together on one line of the poem
STANZA - a group of lines arranged together
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.

5. SOUND EFFECTS

6. ALLITERATION Consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of words
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
“And from there those that lifted eyes could count . . .” (“Out, Out-” by Robert Frost)
Activity: Alliteration group game

7. (All share the long “a” sound.)
ASSONANCE
Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of poetry in NON-RHYMING WORDS.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake Fate Base Fade
(All share the long “a” sound.)

8. “Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.”
ASSONANCE cont.
Examples of ASSONANCE:
“A knight rides into the noon,/and only his eye is living . . .” (“The Knight” by Adrienne Rich)
“Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.”
- William Shakespeare

9. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

10. SIMILE A comparison of two things using “like” or “as.”
“She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
“My clouded reflection eyes me / like a bird of prey . . .” (“Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa)

11. METAPHOR A direct comparison of two unlike things
“All the world [is] a stage, and we are merely players.”- William Shakespeare
“…a thousand splintered suns / are the gaiety of his [chain] mail.” “The Knight” by Adrienne Rich

12. PERSONIFICATION
An animal given human-like qualities, or an object or thing given life-like qualities.
“ . . .One seal particularly / I had seen here evening after evening. / He was interested in music /Then he would disappear, then suddenly emerge / almost in the same spot, with a sort of shrug . . .”
“At the Fishhouses,” Elizabeth Bishop

13. PERSONIFICATION
Kanye West
moved to Chicago
when he was three
years old. The
following excerpt from
his song “Homecoming”
(2007) shows how West
personifies the city, also
known by the nickname
“The Windy City.”
I met this girl when I was three years old And what I love most, she had so much soul She said "Excuse me little homie, I know you don't know me But uh, my name is Windy” And when I grew up, she taught me how to go downtown And in the nighttime, her face lit up, so astounding I told her, in my heart is where she'll always be She never mess with entertainers cuz they always leave She said it feels like they walk and go from me. . .

14. OTHER POETIC DEVICES

15. SYMBOLISM
When a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for, something else.
= Innocence
= America
= Peace

16. Allusion
“And by his side a girl who looked like Heidi / in my storybook waded in colored plastic.”
from “Exile” by
Julia Alvarez
(Heidi is the Swiss heroine of a series of books from the late 1800’s, who was orphaned and had to move away to her grandfather’s.)
Allusion comes from the verb “allude” which means “to refer to”
An allusion is a reference to something famous: another literary work, an historical event, a person, place or thing, etc.
If the reader doesn’t “get it,” meaning is lost.

17. Allusion Feelin’ like Katrina with no FEMA . . .
“Flashing Lights” (2007)
..and you can live through anything if Magic made it . . .
So if the Devil wear Prada
and Adam Eve wear nada
I’m in between, but way more fresher.
“Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” (2007)
What people, places, or events does Kanye West refer to in these lyrics? What does he mean by using these allusions?

18. IMAGERY Language that appeals to the senses.
“Painting a picture with words.”
Most imagery is visual, but they can also appeal to the senses of sound, touch, taste, or smell.
“. . . then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather . . .”
---from “Those Winter Sundays” (sense of touch)