1. POETRY

2. Poetic
GENRES

3. To begin with, let’s remember that most poetry does NOT rhyme.
Poetic GENRES
To begin with, let’s remember that most poetry does NOT rhyme.

4. Lyric poetry Poetic GENRES
DEFINITION: highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. It creates a single, unified impression.
Short
Usually in 1st person point of view
Expresses emotion or describes a scene
Does NOT tell a story
No syllable requirements
No rhyme scheme requirements

5. Acrostic poetry Poetic GENRES
DEFINITION: a poem in which the first letter of each line spells a word or phrase that is the topic of the poem.
Oftentimes done about a name
No syllable requirements
No rhyme scheme requirements

6. Ballad poetry Poetic GENRES
DEFINITION: a poem that tells a story in a musical way or with a musical feeling
Can be as long as the story requires
Odd-numbered lines longer than even-numbered lines
Even-numbered lines should rhyme

7. Epic poetry Poetic GENRES
DEFINITION: a long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or a hero. Serious in tone and broad in theme.
Very long
No syllable requirements
No rhyme scheme requirements

8. Concrete or Form poetry
Poetic GENRES
Concrete or Form poetry
DEFINITION: a poem with a physical shape that suggests the subject/topic. The poet arranges the letters, punctuation, and lines to create an image, or picture, on the page.
Length – must fit into the shape
No syllable requirements
No rhyme scheme requirements

9. Poetic
Forms

10. Poetic Forms
Haiku
DEFINITION: a Japanese poem about nature.

11. hAIKU by Rolf Nelson Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator
NOTE: not technically a haiku because it’s not about nature
5 SYLLABLES
7 SYLLABLES
5 SYLLABLES
by Jonathan Stephens
Tell me I'm like light,
light that reflects off windows
right into your eyes
5 SYLLABLES
7 SYLLABLES
5 SYLLABLES
by Jonathan Stephens
I long for summer
Swinging in my green hammock
The oak leaves whistling
5 SYLLABLES
7 SYLLABLES
5 SYLLABLES
by Matsuo Basho
Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps' nest.
NOTE: But that’s not the right syllables! How is it a haiku?
2 SYLLABLES
5 SYLLABLES
6 SYLLABLES

12. Haiku Poetic Forms DEFINITION: a Japanese poem about nature.
Length – 3 lines
5-7-5
No rhyme scheme requirements

13. Poetic Forms
Cinquain
DEFINITION: can be about anything

14. Cinquains “November “by Adelaide Crapsey Listen . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.
2 SYLLABLES
4 SYLLABLES
6 SYLLABLES
8 SYLLABLES
2 SYLLABLES
“Snow” by Adelaide Crapsey
Look up . . .
From bleak’ning hills
Blows down the light, first breath
Of wintry wind look up, and scent
The snow!
2 SYLLABLES
4 SYLLABLES
6 SYLLABLES
8 SYLLABLES
2 SYLLABLES
“Guarded Wound” by Adelaide Crapsey
If it
Were lighter touch
Than petal of flower resting
On grass, oh still too heavy it were,
Too heavy!
2 SYLLABLES
4 SYLLABLES
8 SYLLABLES
9 SYLLABLES
3 SYLLABLES

15. Cinquain Poetic Forms DEFINITION: can be about anything
Length – 5 lines
No rhyme scheme requirements

16. Poetic Forms
Limerick
DEFINITION: a humorous, musical-feeling poem that oftentimes makes fun of or tells a story about a specific person.

17. LImerick There once was a Thingamajig
Like a Whatsis, but three times as big.
When it first came in view,
It looked something like you
But it stayed and turned into a pig.

18. Poetic Forms
Limerick
DEFINITION: a humorous, musical-feeling poem that oftentimes makes fun of or tells a story about a specific person.
Length – 5 lines
3 beats – 3 beats – 2 beats – 2 beats – 3 beats
Rhyme scheme: A-A-B-B-A

19. LImerick There was a young fellow who thought
Very little, but thought it a lot.
Then at long last he knew
What he wanted to do,
But before he could start, he forgot.

20. LImerick There once was an ape in a zoo
Who looked out through the bars and saw YOU!
Do you think that it’s fair
To give poor apes a scare?
I think it’s a mean thing to do.

21. LImerick I've been studying all night and I'm tired,
But I can't sleep because I'm so wired.
So I'll play on the net
'Stead of going to bed,
And my tests will seem a quagmire.

22. Poetic
Techniques

23. Line Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: basic structural component of a poem. Literally, a row of words that ends somewhere.

24. Stanza Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: a formal division of lines in a poem that is considered as a unit. Separated by spaces. Like prose paragraphs, only for poetry. Conveys a single idea.

25. Types of Stanzas Poetic TECHNIQUES Couplet Triplet (tercet) Quatrain
Quintet (cinquain)
Sestet (sextet)
Septet (heptastich)
Octave =
2-line stanza
3-line stanza
4-line stanza
5-line stanza
6-line stanza
7-line stanza
8-line stanza

26. Meter Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: the rhythmical pattern of the poem. Determined by the number of stresses or beats in each line.

27. Foot Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: a basic unit of a meter. Normally contains either two or three syllables with varying patterns of stress.

28. Rhyme Scheme Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem. Each new rhyme is assigned the next letter of the alphabet, while repeat sounds get whatever letter they were first assigned.

29. What’s the rhyme scheme?
From “Fireflies” by Owl City
You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude, but I
Would just stand and stare.
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly.
It's hard to say that I'd
Rather stay awake when I'm asleep,
Cause everything is never as it seems. A A B C C A C B B A B B

30. Alliteration Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to draw attention to certain words or ideas, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects.

31. Alliteration Paul McCann’s “Dewdrops Dancing Down Daisies”
Don't delay dawns disarming display.
Dusk demands daylight.
Dewdrops dwell delicately
drawing dazzling delight.
Dewdrops dilute daisies domain.
Distinguished debutantes. Diamonds defray delivered
daylights distilled daisy dance.

32. Free Verse Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: poetry not written in a regular, rhythmical pattern, or meter. The poet is free to write lines of any length or with any number of stresses, or beats. Free verse is therefore less constraining than metrical verse, in which every line must have a certain length and a certain number of stresses.

33. Refrain Poetic TECHNIQUES
DEFINITION: a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or a song

34. Refrain From Ludo’s “Love Me Dead” VERSE Love me cancerously
Like a salt-sore soaked in the sea.
'High-maintenance' means
You're a gluttonous queen
Narcissistic and mean.
Kill me romantically
Fill my soul with vomit
Then ask me for a piece of gum.
Bitter and dumb
You're my sugarplum.
You're awful, I love you!
From Ludo’s “Love Me Dead”
REFRAIN (CHORUS)
She moves through moonbeams slowly
She knows just how to hold me
And when her edges soften
Her body is my coffin
I know she drains me slowly

35. Poetic
Devices

36. Poetic Devices
Simile
DEFINITION: a figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas.
EXAMPLES:
He is as tall as a redwood tree.
She runs like a snail.

37. Metaphor Poetic Devices
DEFINITION: a figure of speech that describes something as though it were something else.
EXAMPLES:
from Tombstone >>> “Why Wyatt, you’re an oak.”
You are such a stick in the mud.

38. Poetic Devices
Idiom
DEFINITION: an expression that has a meaning particular to a language or region. A phrase in which the literal meaning of the words does not add up to the actual meaning.

39. idioms EXAMPLES: to go bananas = to get super excited
on pins and needles =
waiting with much anxiety
hit the ground running =
to get a quick start on something
copycat =
someone who copies or mimics
in the doghouse =
on someone’s bad side / in trouble
fly off the handle =
to get super angry, very fast

40. Analogy Poetic Devices
DEFINITION: makes a comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike – typically, A : B :: C : D –
2 things compared to 2 things.
EXAMPLES:
A glove is to hand as monitor is to computer.
Horses are to past societies as computers are to future societies.

41. Hyperbole Poetic Devices
DEFINITION: obvious and intentional exaggeration
EXAMPLES:
These books weigh a ton.
I’m so tired I could sleep for a year.

42. Poetic Devices
Symbol
DEFINITION: anything that stands for or represents something else. Symbols are common in everyday life.
EXAMPLES:
See the following slides…

47. What do the following things usually stand for in literature
and film?

48. the color black

49. the color
white

50. the color green

51. the color
blue

62. Personification Poetic Devices
DEFINITION: a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.
EXAMPLES:
Nature speaks to people.
The window winked at me.

63. Poetic Devices
Pun
DEFINITION: the humorous use of a word or phrase to emphasize or suggest different meanings or applications; words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.
EXAMPLES:
Illusionists always find themselves in tricky situations.
Romance isn't a science it's a heart.

64. Pun
See

65. Poetic Devices
Irony
DEFINITION: literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions
EXAMPLES:
from Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons:
“I'm aware of the irony of appearing on TV in order to decry it.” (decry - condemn or denounce)

66. Poetic Devices
Parody
DEFINITION: a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing
EXAMPLES:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Parry Hotter and the Seamy Side of Magic

67. Onomatopoeia Poetic Devices
DEFINITION: the use of words that imitate sounds and can help put the reader in the activity of a poem.
EXAMPLES:
Thump
Phlblblbplb
Kerplunk
Squish
Thwack
Splink

68. POETRY