Poetry Tool Bag Write down the examples/definition next to (or under) the term on your paper!

Imagery  Used to evoke mental images.  The pitter-patter of the rain against the window.

Metaphor  Comparison between two unlike entities  The streets were a furnace.

Simile  comparison between two unlike entities using like or as  Quick as a fox.

Personification  human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object  The sun smiled.

Word Choice  Choice of words that work with the meaning/feeling of the poem.  “the little house,” “the diminutive house,” and “the petite house”

End Stops  A poetic line that has a pause at the end. End-stopped lines reflect normal speech patterns and are often marked by punctuation.  As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow, Surprised I was with sudden heat, which made my heart to glow; And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear. Robert SouthwellRobert Southwell

Voice  The attitude you “get” about the subject.

Mood the overall feeling  Stark naked flower stalks Stand shivering in the wind. The cheerless sun hides its black light Behind bleak, angry clouds, While trees vainly try To catch their escaping leaves. Carpets of grass turn brown, Blending morosely with the dreary day. Winter seems the death of life forever.  Gloomy  Stunningly dressed flower stalks Stand shimmering in the breeze. The cheerful sun hides playfully Behind white, fluffy, cotton-ball clouds, While trees whisper secrets To their rustling leaves. Carpets of grass greenly glow Blending joyfully with the day. Spring brings life to death.  Cheerful

Tone  The writer’s attitude towards the subject  I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; (light, informing tone) I'll only stop to rake the leaves away ("only" tone - reservation) (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): (supplementary, possibility) Robert Frost Robert Frost

Jargon  the language peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group  Football Player – First down

Symbolism  A word means something else  Owl = wisdom  Phoenix = rebirth  Eagle = freedom

Rhyme  repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work  And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear.

Repetition  Sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis  The rain is falling all around It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea. Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson

Rhythm  The beat, a musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables.  The wind in her hair The chair that sat there Eyes on eyes Fire and lye in the river sky

Alliteration  Tongue twisters (Constant sounds are repeated at the beginning of the word)  I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street Robert FrostRobert Frost

Onomatopoeia  When words mean how they sound.  Buzz, Zip, Meow

Assonance/Consonance  repetition or a pattern of similar vowel sounds (assonance)  repetition of final consonant sound: short, sweet (consonance)  From the molten-golden notes, And an in tune, What a liquid ditty floats Edgar Allen-PoeEdgar Allen-Poe

Line Structure  The way the poet has chosen to group the lines.  Stanza  Couplet – two lines that are typically rhymed  Quatrain – four lines with any number of rhyming patterns

Dialect  The type of language used by a certain group of people.  In American English: Southern, Californian, Minnesotan, Boston, etc…

Idiom  An expression that means something than what it says; it doesn’t translate literally.  Idioms are very hard for non-native language speakers to understand.  “It’s raining cats and dogs!”

Cliché  An expression or phrase that has been over used. It is used so often it is no longer effective.  “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Hyperbole  Extreme exaggeration.  “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”  “If I have told you once, I have told you a million times...”

Homonyms  Words that sound the same, but they are spelled differently and they have different meanings.  Which, witch  Their, there, they’re  Through, threw