Introduction to Poetry

What is poetry?

Poetry is the most misunderstood form of writing. It is art. Poetry is not easily defined. Often it takes the form of verse, but not all poetry has this structure. Poetry is a creative use of words which, like all art, is intended to stir an emotion in the audience.

The basic unit of poetry is the line. Lines are also often grouped into stanzas. Often the lines in a stanza will have a specific rhyme scheme. Some of the more common stanzas are: Couplet: a two line stanza Triplet: a three line stanza Quatrain: a four line stanza Cinquain: a five line stanza

Meter is the measured arrangement of words in poetry. Meter is an organized way to arrange stressed/accented syllables and unstressed/unaccented syllables. Whose woods / these are / I think /I know

Rhyme is when the endings of the words sound the same. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I had rued.

Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line. Not all poetry has a rhyme scheme. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I had rued. A B A B C D C D Poems of more than one stanza often repeat the same rhyme scheme in each stanza.

Repetition is the repeating of a sound, word, or phrase for emphasis. Inside Inside the house (I get ready) Inside the car (I go to school) Inside the school (I wait for the bell to ring) ☺ ☺ ☺

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Figurative language is any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject. The most common figures of speech are: -simile -metaphor -alliteration. Figurative language is used in poetry to compare two things that are usually not thought of as being alike.

A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. The clouds looked like cotton candy. Grandpa was as stubborn as a mule. Tom's head is as hard as a rock.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Clouds are cotton candy. Grandpa was a mule. Tom is a rock. They are fluffy. They are stubborn. They are hard.

Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences”. Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal. To find an alliteration, you must look the repetitions of the same consonant sound through out a line. Silvery snowflakes fall silently Softly sheathing all with moonlight Until sunrise slowly shows Snow softening swiftly. ___ __ ___ ___ Now try to write your own.

Imagery is an appeal to the senses. Describing something to help you: -see- hear- touch - Taste- smell the topic of the poem. Fog The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. SEE, HEAR SEE HEAR, SEE, FEEL Now try to write your own.

An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect is a hyperbole. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point. I’ve told you a million times not to leave the dirty glass on the table. The exaggeration in the number of times. Write two more hyperbole. Have a partner check them.

An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. A day late and a dollar short. This idiom means it is too little, too late. Write two more examples of idioms to share with the class. A piece of cake A toss-up

The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to is called an alliteration. It is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, such as animal noises like "oink" or "meow", or suggesting its source object (these are the more important ones), such as "boom", "click", "bunk", "clang", "buzz", or "bang".

SOUND OF NATURE by Marie Josephine Smith Ticking, tocking. Head is rocking. Tippy toeing. Quietly. Snap, crack. Crushing branch. Helter, skelter. Run for shelter. Pitter, patter. Rain starts to fall. Gathering momentum. Becomes a roar. Thunder booms. ____

A figure of speech, which gives the qualities of a person, animal, object, or idea is personification. It is a comparison, which is used to show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or attitude towards it and to control the way a reader perceives it. A brave handsome tree fell with a creaking rending cry. The author is giving a tree the human quality of bravery and the ability to cry.

Free verse is what it says! Poetry that is written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, and meter. In free verse the writer makes his/her own rules. The writer decides how the poem should look, feel, and sound.

Free verse poems

Haiku is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry. Haiku is a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metered lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Each Haiku must contain a kigo, a season word, which indicate in which season the Haiku is set. For example, cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow indicate winter, and mosquitoes indicate summer, but the season word isn't always that obvious. In the next three haikus, try to guess the theme.

Fog On the mountain top The fog fell down thick and fast It was like pea soup. Rain Tip-tap goes the rain. As it hits the window pane I can hear the rain. Hail They fell in showers. Like diamonds upon the ground Big hailstones were found. Haikus By Paul McCann The theme of these three poems is weather in late autumn or early winter.

The simplicity of the limerick quite possibly accounts for its extreme longevity. It consists of five lines with the rhyme scheme a a b b a. The first, second, and fifth lines are trimeter, a verse with three measures, while the third and fourth lines are dimeter, a verse with two measures. Old Man with a Beard Edward Lear There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!' A A B B A

A narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung, consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain. The Ballade Of The Mistletoe Bough by Ellis Parker Butler I am standing under the mistletoe, And I smile, but no answering smile replies For her naughty glance bids me plainly now That not for me is the thing I prize; Instead, from her coldly scornful eyes, Indifference looks on my barefaced guile; She knows, of course, what my act implies— But look at those lips! Do they hint a smile?

I stand here, eager, and beam and glow, And she only looks a refined surprise As clear and crisp and as cold as snow, And as—Stop! I will never criticize! I know what her cold glance signifies; But I’ll stand just here as I am awhile Till a smile to my pleading look replies— But look at those lips! Do they hint a smile? Just look at those lips, now! I claim they show A spirit unmeet under Christmas skies; I claim that such lips on such maidens owe A—something—the custom justifies; I claim that the mistletoe rule applies To her as well as the rank and file; We should meet these things in a cheerful guise— But look at those lips! Do they hint a smile?

Some might consider the study of poetry old fashioned, yet even in our hurried lives we are surrounded by it: children's rhymes, verses from songs, trite commercial jingles, well written texts. Any time we recognize words as interesting for sound, meaning or construct, we note poetics.