APPRECIATING POETRY

Try to Decode the poem Do you carrot all for me? My heart beets for you. With your turnip nose. And your radish face. You're a peach! If we cantaloupe, Lettuce marry! We'd make a swell pear!!

INTERPRETAION Carrot = Care at Beets = Beats Turnip = Turned up Radish = Reddish Cantaloupe = Can’t elope Lettuce = Let us Pear = Pair

Do you care at all for me? My heart beats for you. With your turned up nose. And your reddish face. You're a peach! If we cant elope, Let us marry! We'd make a swell pair!!

"Sick" By Shel Silverstein Read and enjoy the beautiful lines 'I cannot go to school today, ' Said little Peggy Ann McKay. 'I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. My tonsils are as big as rocks, I've counted sixteen chicken pox And there's one more-that's seventeen, And don't you think my face looks green? My neck is stiff, my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak. My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out. My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, My temperature is one-o-eight. My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, There is a hole inside my ear. I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what? What's that? What's that you say? You say today is...Saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play! '

ELEMENTS OF POETRY Writers use many elements to create their poems. These elements include: Imagery Rhythm Sound

Imagery Imagery is the use of words to create pictures, or images, in your mind. Appeals to the five senses: smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch. Details about smells, sounds, colors, and taste create strong images. To create vivid images writers use figures of speech.

Rhythm Rhythm is the flow of the beat in a poem. Gives poetry a musical feel. Can be fast or slow, depending on mood and subject of poem.

Example of Rhythm The Pickety Fence by David McCord The pickety fence Give it a lick it's The pickety fence Give it a lick it's A clickety fence Give it a lick it's a lickety fence Give it a lick With a rickety stick pickety pick. The rhythm in this poem is fast – to match the speed of the stick striking the fence.

Sound Writers love to use interesting sounds in their poems. After all, poems are meant to be heard.

POETIC DEVICES

A comparison between two usually unrelated things using the word “like” or “as”. IMAGINE Imagine a snail As big as a whale, Imagine a lark As big as a shark, Imagine a bee As big as a tree, Imagine a toad As long as a road, Imagine a hare As big as a chair, Imagine a goat As long as a boat And a flea the same size as me

Repetition Repetition occurs when poets repeat words, phrases, or lines in a poem. Creates a pattern. Increases rhythm. Strengthens feelings, ideas and mood in a poem.

Example of Repetition Must do Have to Get all the work done Have to Must do Through curriculum Must do Have to Always on the run Have to Must do Rushing is no fun Must do Have to It’s so wearisome Have to Must do What have you become????? It’s Sooooooooooo Wearisome

Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the first consonant sound in words, as in the nursery rhyme “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” The snake slithered silently along the sunny sidewalk.

Example of Alliteration I jiggled it jaggled it jerked it. I pushed and pulled and poked it. But – As soon as I stopped, And left it alone This tooth came out On its very own! by Lee Bennett Hopkins This Tooth

Personification Personification gives human traits and feelings to things that are not human – like animals or objects. The moon smiled down at me.

Example of Personification Mister Sun Wakes up at dawn, Puts his golden Slippers on, Climbs the summer Sky at noon, Trading places With the moon. by J. Patrick Lewis From “Mister Sun”

Metaphor A metaphor compares two things without using the words “like” or “as.” Gives the qualities of one thing to something that is quite different. The winter wind is like a wolf howling at the door.

Example of Metaphor The Night is a big black cat The moon is her topaz eye, The stars are the mice she hunts at night, In the field of the sultry sky. By G. Orr Clark The Night is a Big Black Cat

Onomatopoeia Words that represent the actual sound of something are words of onomatopoeia. Dogs “bark,” cats “purr,” thunder “booms,” rain “drips,” and the clock “ticks.” Appeals to the sense of sound.

Example of Onomatopoeia Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Frozen snow and brittle ice Make a winter sound that’s nice Underneath my stamping feet And the cars along the street. Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch. by Margaret Hillert Listen

The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at the end of a stanza. It can also be an entire stanza that is repeated periodically throughout a poem, kind of like a chorus of a song. Refrain