Poetry techniques and tools Pictures with words Poetry techniques and tools

Figurative Language or Figures of Speech Simile – A comparison of two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”. Exs. The wind roared like a lion. “How dreary to be Somebody, How public, like a Frog!” (Emily Dickinson, “I’m Nobody”)

More Figurativ e Language – great in poems Personification – Giving human qualities to nonhuman things. Ex. - Loo-Wit…”spits her black tobacco any which way, stretching full length from her bumpy bed.” (Describes the volcano in “Loo-Wit”, by Wendy Rose.)

Figurative Language Personification Another poetic use of personification: Ex. – “The stars overhead were dancing heel and toe.” (“The Cremation of Sam McGee, by Robert Service)

Figurative Language Metaphor – Comparing two unlike things by stating that one is the other. Ex. He is a a bull in a china shop!

Figurative Language- more metaphors! “The road was a ribbon of moonlight.” “When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.” (from “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes)

Figurative Language Idioms Idioms – phrases that have meaning different from the meaning of their separate words. Ex. – She passed the test by the skin of her teeth. He got off on the wrong foot with the principal.

Figurative Language- more idioms Mike was ahead of his class in math by a mile. Only in spelling was he in hot water.

studied very hard. Finally, he could But, he stuck to his guns, and studied very hard. Finally, he could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

His spelling problems vanished into thin air His spelling problems vanished into thin air. Now, he can even lend a hand to others!

Sounds of Poetry, music to the ear! Alliteration – The repetition of initial consonant sounds. Ex. – Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers. Ex. – “The rusty spigot sputters… spatters, a smattering of drops.” (From “Onomatopoeia” by Eve Merriam)

Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia – Sound effects words– they imitate sounds. Exs. – The owl screeched. Snakes hiss. The squeak of the rusty hinge…

Rhyme Rhyme – Repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Exs. - Say…way Bold…told Sing…ring

Rhyme “Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would not take the garbage out! She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams, And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out!” (From “Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” by Shel Silverstein)

Rhythm Rhythm – The patterns of beats, or stresses, in spoken language. Read, “Martin Luther King” on the next slide. How many beats, or syllables, are in each line?

Martin Luther King by Raymond Richard Patterson “He came upon an age He taught this suffering Earth Beset by grief, by rage- The measure of man’s worth. His love so deep, so wide, He showed what man can be He could not turn aside. Before death sets him free. His passion so profound, He would not turn around. Did you count 6 beats in each line? That gives the poem a regular rhythm, like a drumbeat.

Credits The poems in this unit are from the 2000 edition of Prentice Hall Literature, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, Bronze Level. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers.