What is poetry? Writing, often in rhythmic verse and sometimes rhyming, that is characterized by vivid, compressed language and strong emotional force.

 This statue, called “The Minute Man,” is a memorial to the farmers who began the Revolutionary War when they gathered at the Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775 and turned back British soldiers marching from Lexington. Daniel Chester French’s Minute Man, ca

A sixteen line poem, “Concord Hymn,” was written by American poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.  If a prose statement instead of a poem had been written to commemorate the Minute Man, the following lines might have appeared on the monument:

 This statue is a tribute to the brave, freedom-loving farmers, who, on April 19, 1775, fought the first battle of the American Revolution and affected the lives of people everywhere.

Instead, Emerson wrote:  By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The Old North Bridge, Concord, MA

 Rhythm?  Rhyme?  Vivid, compressed language?  Strong emotional force?

The prose contains more information than the poetry but seems flat by comparison – why? The scene comes alive because of the poet’s use of images (words or phrases which suggest what we can know through our senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell). EX. – “rude,” “the flood,” the flag unfurling in the spring breeze, and the farmers firing the first shot.

Denotation and Connotation Denotation – dictionary meaning EX. - “Rude bridge” Denotative meaning of “rude” – being marked by a rough, plain, or unfinished condition.

Connotation – the impressions words call to mind. Emerson probably chose “rude” because it suggests a rural area where people were unrefined and untrained. “Rude” sets the reader up for “embattled farmers,” men who worked with their hands and were not trained to fight. They were builders and cultivators – not destroyers.

Often we respond to the connotations of words without being aware that we are doing so. Reading a poem is a much richer experience, however, for the person who thinks about the connotations of the poet’s words.

A poet generally uses more connotative words than a prose writer. He or she uses fewer words than the prose writer, but tries to say more with each word. To a poet, a completely denotative word is like a stone: it may be useful, but it has no life.

Connotative words are often arranged in phrases which we call figures of speech. A figure of speech generally suggests a meaning by comparison. “His voice sounds like a foghorn” is a figure of speech in which the sound of a man’s voice is compared to the sound of a foghorn.

Apostrophe  apostrophe Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea. The poem God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay begins with an apostrophe: “O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!”

Hyperbole  hyperbole A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of tears, etc.

Metaphor  metaphor A figure of speech in which two things are usually compared by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle.

Simile  simile A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word “like” or “as.” An example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem “Harlem”: “What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?”

Personification  personification A figure of speech in which inanimate objects, animals, or ideas are given human attributes: dead leaves dance in the wind, blind justice.

Metonymy  metonymy A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. For example, in the expression The pen is mightier than the sword, the word pen is used for “the written word,” and sword is used for “military power.”

Synechdoche  synechdoche A figure of speech in which a part is used to designate the whole or the whole is used to designate a part. For example, the phrase “all hands on deck” means “all men on deck,” not just their hands. The reverse situation, in which the whole is used for a part, occurs in the sentence “The U.S. beat Russia in the final game,” where the U.S. and Russia stand for “the U.S. team” and “the Russian team,” respectively. “Nice wheels…”

Oxymoron  Oxymoron: apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another. Oxymoron  'There was a deafening silence in the room'  'This is an original copy of the United States constitution'

Rhyme, Rhythm, and Meter Rhyme Poets sometimes use rhyme because it is pleasing to the ear. Duh…

Rhythm  Is the result of a contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables.  Most rhythmic poems have a fairly regular, organized pattern.  This rhythmic pattern is called meter. Along with rhyme, meter is a second quality which often distinguishes poetry from prose.

Meter  The meter of a poem is found by counting, or scanning the number and placement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.  Syllables are scanned in groups called feet.  A foot with one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable is called an iamb, and the meter of the line is called iambic.

 Iambic meter is the most common meter in poetry written in English. "Two households both alike in dignity in fair Verona where we lay our scene."

Types of Poetry  Poetry may be divided into three major types: (1) narrative, (2) lyric, and (3) dramatic. Although there are similar characteristics in all three types, each category has distinctive features.

Narrative Poems They narrate – that is – they tell a story. Narrative poems are similar to short stories in that they have a setting, plot, characters, and dialogue.

Lyric Poems  Express an individual’s emotion or attitude, usually short and musical.

Dramatic Poems  Speakers talk to each other, revealing conflicts or problems that disturb them. As in narrative poetry, they may tell a story, but the main emphasis is on their reaction to the events rather than on the events themselves.