Literature Unit 5 Poetry

What is a poem? Did you know that songs are poems? What makes a song unforgettable to you? Like a song, a poem can speak to you by using different tools. The first tool that a poem uses is called form. Form is the way a poem's words and lines are laid out on the page. In some poems, the lines are arranged into groups called stanzas.

Some poems have traditional or structured forms Some poems have traditional or structured forms. Traditional poems have fixed rules such as a certain number of lines or a repeating pattern of rhythm or rhyme Poems that do not follow set rules are called free verse.

Sound Devices Poets also use sound devices to help readers better enjoy their poetry. One sound device is called rhyme which is the repetition of sounds at the end of words as in me and see. Another sound device that is used is called rhythm. Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line. A poem that has a repeating pattern has meter.

Repetition is also considered a sound device, and it is the use of a word, phrase, or line more than once. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, such as the "c" in curved crook. Onomatopoeia can also be used to create sound in poetry. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sounds suggest their meanings. For example, bark, hiss, meow.

A Word is Dead By Emily Dickenson A word is dead When it is said, Some say. I say it just Begins to live That day.

Cynthia in the Snow by Gwendolyn Brooks It SUSHES Cynthia in the Snow by Gwendolyn Brooks 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.

Figurative Language Poets also often use imagery and figurative language to help bring their poems to life. Imagery is language that appeals to the five senses. Figurative language can be used to help create imagery in a poem Figurative language uses creative comparisons to help readers picture ordinary things in new ways.

Three types of figurative language that can be used are simile, metaphor, and personification. A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as. Ex) He is as white as spilled milk A metaphor is comparison between two unlike things that does not use the words like or as. Ex) Fame is a bee. Personification gives an animal or an inanimate object human characteristics.

The Courage that My Mother Had By Edna St. Vincent Millay Went with her, and is with her still: Rock from New England quarried; Now granite in a granite hill. The golden brooch my mother wore She left behind for me to wear; I have no thing I treasure more: Yet it is something I could spare. Oh, if instead she'd left to me The thing she took to the grave! That courage like a rock, which she Has not more need of, and I have.

Types of Poetry A lyric poem is a short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings. Lyric poems cover many subjects, from love and death to everyday experiences. A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story. Like novels and short stories, narrative poems have characters, a setting, and a plot.

A haiku is a form of poetry that originated hundreds of years ago in Japan. In haiku, poets seek to create a clear picture with few words. A haiku consists of 17 syllables arranged into three lines. The first and third lines contain five syllables. The second line contains seven syllables. Haiku centers on a symbol that instantly reminds readers of a season. A symbol is a person, place, object, or activity that stands for something beyond itself.

Speeches, presents, sad goodbyes Haiku example: Graduation Day Speeches, presents, sad goodbyes A day to recall

A humorous poem is fun and is usually targeted toward young people. These types of poems will use many sound devices such as rhyme, repetition, onomatopoeia, and alliteration. A limerick is a type of humorous poem. A limerick has five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme and have ten syllables each. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme and have seven syllables each.

Limerick example: There once was a pelican named Izzie.(A) Who ate fishes until she was dizzy.(A) But the fishes didn't mind,(B) To be treated so unkind.(B) They were just glad to keep her so busy.(A)

A sonnet is a poem that has a formal structure, containing 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme and meter. The sonnet which means “little song,” can be used for a variety of topics. William Shakespeare is known for writing beautiful sonnets.

Eighteenth Sonnet by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.