1. Poetry
English Language Arts

2. Understanding the Content of Poetry
Check the Title
For key words, suggestions, or images
Foreshadow ideas
Present background information
Indicate an intended audience

3. Understanding the Content
Define Unfamiliar Words
Look up words in the dictionary
(500 most commonly used English words have over
14, 000 meanings)
Primary and secondary definitions may not be the ones the poet intended

4. Understanding the Content
Paraphrasing Difficult Lines
Paraphrase: to put the poet’s language into your own words
Paraphrasing gives insight into the literal and figurative meaning
Note: - uncommon sentence structures
Gain emphasis
Organize ideas
Develop a poet’s style

5. Understanding the Content
4. Read with Punctuation
do not read the line only
punctuation determines where and when the idea ends

6. Understanding the Poet’s Purpose
CONTEXT: information that surrounds the passage
ask the question: What is the…
background?
the plot?
the situation?

7. Understanding the Poet’s Purpose
TONE: the poet’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience
determined by…
words
phrases
poet’s feelings on the subject

8. Understanding the Poet’s Purpose
MOOD: State of mind or feeling created in the reader by the poem
created by…
words and phrases
situation
subject matter

9. Understanding the Poet’s Purpose
THEME: the central idea or message of poem
Thematic statement is the general point about some aspect of life or human condition expressed by the poet.

10. Figurative Language
Heightened, imaginative language (all of the terms)

11. Alliteration
the repetition of the same first sound in a group of words
Ex:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

12. Allusion
Making an indirect reference to something known to society

13. Apostrophe
Words that are spoken to an absent or imaginary person or to an object or abstract idea.
ie. "Oh, Death, be not proud."
--John Donne

14. Assonance
the repetition of similar vowel sounds in words close by each other
Ex:
“cat” and “laugh”
“fight” and “try”

15. Cacophony
Harsh or unmusical sounding language

16. Consonance the repetition of similar consonant sounds within words Ex:
“cat” and “bit”
“link” and “rank”

17. Connotation
an added meaning that suggests something positive or negative, what comes to mind
Ex:
pig-headed connotes frustration in dealing with someone

18. Denotation
The most specific or direct meaning of a word

19. Euphony
Harmonious sounding language

20. Free Verse poetry that does not have a regular,
metrical, pattern. It does not rhyme!
Ex:
Feelings, Now:
Some kind of attraction that is neither
Animal, vegetable, nor mineral, a power not
Solar, fusion, or magnetic
And it is all in my head that
I could see into his
And find myself sitting there. Copyright © 1996 by Katherine Foreman.

21. Hyperbole an extreme exaggeration Ex:
“He was so hungry he could have eaten a horse.”

22. Imagery
a technique that poets use to describe and appeal to the senses, words that create pictures in the mind
Ex:
“Yellow matted custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye” (John Lennon)

23. Irony
When the outcome is different from what was expected. I.e. “Richard Cory”
“Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said, “Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king— And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head.”

24. Metaphor
a comparison between two things, saying something is something else
Ex:
“My love is a red rose.”

25. Meter
The measured arrangement of words in poetry

26. Metonymy
One word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.
i.e. “Washington” for “the United States government” Or
i.e. “pigskin” for “a football”

27. Onomatopoeia sound effect words Ex:
“clip, clop…” (for the sound of a horses’ hooves)

28. Personification
when non-human things (animals, objects or ideas) are described as if they were human
Ex:
“The leaves danced in the courtyard.”

29. Rhyme
the repetition of sound in different words, especially at the end of lines.
A main technique used in poetry
Ex. ………………………….…cat - a
……………………………fire -b ……………………………. bat -a ……………………………. liar- b

30. Rhyme Scheme the pattern of end rhymes used in a poem Ex:
“a/b/a/b” or “a/a/b/b”, etc.
“Bid me to weep, and I will weep, While I have eyes to see; And having none, yet I will keep A heart to weep for thee.”

31. Rhythm the arrangement of beats in a line of poetry Ex:
“The Highwayman came riding,
riding, riding,…
The Highwayman came riding
Up to the old inn door.” (“The
Highwayman”)

32. Simile a comparison using like or as
i.e. “Her teeth were like kernels of corn.”

33. Stanza the groups of lines in poetry, the ‘paragraphs’ in poetry EX:
Hate You Because by Kristina Allison
I hate you because you hate me just because I'm not you you think I am a burden but its not true I'm stuck in this world on my own with no emotions shown no one to love me and people that pretend My heart is in no condition to even mend I'm tired of all the lies you have no consideration for me and my tries Nobodies perfect and neiter are you beleive it or not this statement is true I am who I am your approval is not needed I love me, I guess I'm conceited I would never change especially for a person like you, if I had a chance to changes live with someone it most definatly wouldnt be you. Like it or not I live my life the way I can I'm going to try... I'm going to try the best I can to prove you wrong It wont take very long All I have to do is take your blows, your insults, whatever you dish out and be strong...

34. Symbol
Using something to represent an idea (symbolism = using symbols)
i.e.
maple leaf = Canada
Heart = love
Dove = peace
Cross = God, church, religion

35. Synecdoche A part is used for the whole (as “hand” for “sailor”),
the whole for a part
(as “the law” for “police officer”),
the specific for the general
(as “cutthroat” for “assassin”),
the general for the specific
(as “thief” for “pickpocket”),
or the material for the thing made from it
(as “steel” for “sword”).

36. Tone
The general atmosphere in a piece of writing

37. Understatement
A lack of emphasis in expression

38. All images obtained through “google images” via public domain