1. What is poetry? Ted Talk Link Poetry is a form of literature.
Poetry uses specific literary devices to express the appropriate combination of meaning and emotion, using rhyme and rhythm.

2. How do you analyze a poem?
Think about …
Speaker
Title & Organization
Rhythm and Rhyme
Connotation
Figures of Speech
Sound Devices
Theme

3. How do you analyze a poem?
Speaker
The speaker in poetry is the voice that communicates with the reader. The author and the narrator are not the same. Ask yourself, How do the (author or narrator) feel about the subject?

4. Title & Organization
Title- What do the words of the title suggest to you?
Structure - the organization of images, ideas, and words.
Stanzas-how poets organize the ideas in the poems; the “paragraphs” of poetry.
Lines – what each stanza is made up of; rows of words that may or may not form sentences.
Form -the external pattern of a poem, often dictates such elements as rhythm, meter, and rhyme.

5. Rhythm , Rhyme and Meter
Rhythm - the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. A poem’s rhythm can be regular or irregular.
Foot – the basic unit of stressed and unstressed syllables
Iamb - a foot that contains an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

6. Rhythm, Rhyme and Meter
Meter is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that can establish the rhythm of a poem.
Types of Meter
Trimeter – 3 feet
Tetrameter – 4 feet
Pentameter – 5 feet

7. Rhythm, Rhyme and Meter
Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more words. For example, stop rhymes with drop.
Internal rhyme occurs when two words in the same line rhyme.
End rhyme occurs at the end of lines. In this passage, the end rhymes are underlined.
Slant rhyme occurs when the sounds of words are similar but not identical

8. Rhyme
Rhyme Scheme – pattern of the end rhyme in a poem. Mark the rhyme scheme of a poem by using letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme. (A for the first rhyme and B for the second and so on)
Roses are red. - A
Violets are blue. - B
Sugar is sweet. - C
And so are you. - B

9. Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a word or expression that is not meant to be taken literally.

10. Figures of Speech
Connotation: is the idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal meaning.

11. Figures of Speech
Imagery is descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. (Some images appeal to more than one sense)

12. Figures of Speech
Simile: uses the word like or as to compare two seemingly unlike things.
Metaphor: compares two or more different things by stating or implying that one thing is another.
Extended Metaphor: continues throughout the entire poem. (The poem is actually about something different than the words suggest)

13. In what ways is the sun similar to a smoldering fire?
Metaphor Read the excerpt from “An Indian Summer Day” by Vachel Linsday.
“The sun is a smoldering fire,
That creeps through the high gray plain.”
In what ways is the sun similar to a smoldering fire?
What effect do you think the author wanted the metaphor to have?

14. Figures of Speech
Personification: attributes human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.
Hyberbole: this figure of speech uses exaggeration for dramatic effect. Poets use it to add flair to their writing.
Paradox: is a statement that appears to be contradictory but is actually true.

15. Sound Devices
Sound devices: writers use these to underscore the meaning of certain words, to enhance rhythm, and to add to the musical quality of the work.

16. Sound Devices
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words—writer might use it to draw the reader’s attention to the words and idea behind them.
Repetition: repeating a sound, word, phrase, line, or even an entire stanza and is another frequently used sound device.

17. Sound Devices Read the excerpt from “Lineage” by Margaret Walker.
“They were full of sturdiness and singing.
My grandmothers were strong.”
How does the repetition of the s sound affect these lines of the poem?

18. Sound Devices
Assonance – the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words within the lines of poetry
Onomatopoeia – the use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.

19. Sound Devices Think of the sounds you hear in a given location such as a crowded room, sporting event, the woods, or on a bus or a train. Make a list of the sounds.
How many words on the list can you make into an onomatopoeia?

20. Theme: the lesson or message of the poem
Theme: the lesson or message of the poem. Does the poem have something to say about life or human nature?

21. Guide to reading a poem…
Read a poem more than once. Read a poem at least three times: once for enjoyment, once for meaning, and once for structure and language.
Keep a dictionary by you and use it.

22. Guide to reading a poem…
Read the poem slowly and out loud to help hear the “musicality” of the poem. Poetry is written to be heard: its meanings are conveyed through sound as well as through print.
Look for punctuation in the poem telling you where sentences begin and end.

23. Guide to reading a poem…
Always pay careful attention to what the poem is saying. If a passage of a poem is difficult to understand, look for the subject, verb, and complement of each sentence.
Be alert for comparisons for figures of speech.
Be patient, for poems can be ambiguous or confusing. Talk about it with others who have read it, when possible.