1. Poetry Poetry is [an] attempt to paint the color of the wind.
- Maxwell Bodenheim, poet

2. Standards
R3.1 Be able to describe the purposes and characteristics of different forms of poetry, such as the ballad, lyric, and epic
R3.6 Identify key literary devices (metaphor, symbolism, etc.) that make up a writer’s style, and use those devices to interpret the work.
Objective
Students will:
understand poetry by analyzing the key elements

3. Essential Question
How do I understand the poet’s use of form, sound, imagery, figurative language, and voice to determine the theme of a poem?

4. What is Poetry? Poetry is the most compact type of literature.
Using few words poets:
express a range of emotions
tell great stories
reveal truths using a few carefully chosen words

5. KEY ELEMENTS OF POETRY Poets use a variety of: form and structure
sound devices
imagery & figurative language
voice

6. Form and Structure

7. Lines (Stanzas) Form poems are written in lines
lines can vary in length
poet chooses the line length to fit the rhythm, feeling, or thought expressed
lines are grouped together in stanzas
stanzas are sections of the poem separated by a space
The way a poem’s lines and words are arranged on the page is its form.
Variety of poetic forms:
Ballad
Epic
Ode
Sonnet
Free Verse
Poet chooses a specific form based on the theme he/she is trying to express

8. What is a BALLAD? type of narrative poem that tells a story
meant to be sung or recited
ballad has a setting, a plot, and characters
most have regular patterns of rhythm and rhyme

9. What is an EPIC?
A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or group.

10. What is an ODE?
A type of lyric poem that addresses broad, serious themes such as justice, truth, or beauty.

11. What is a SONNET?
A poem that has a formal structure, with fourteen lines and a specific rhyme scheme and meter.

12. What is FREE VERSE?
Poetry without a regular pattern of rhyme, rhythm , or meter.

13. Sound

14. SOUND DEVICES
rhyme
rhythm
meter
repetition
alliteration

15. What is RHYME?
The repetition of sounds in or at the end of words, such as shell and well.
Internal rhyme is the use of rhyming words within a line.
End rhyme is the use of rhymes at the ends of lines.
The pattern of end rhymes in a poem is called its rhyme scheme.

16. What is RHYME?
Rhyme Scheme refers to the pattern of rhymes in a poem. Rhyme schemes are described by using letters to represent different rhyming sounds.
The lines below illustrate an ABAB rhyme scheme:
The old moon is tarnished With smoke of the flood, The dead leaves are varnished With color like blood,

17. RHYME Storm’d at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell,
“THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE”
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
(rhyme scheme AAABA)

18. What is RHYTHM?
A poem’s rhythm is the pattern of sound created by stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Stressed syllables are those words parts that are read with emphasis
Unstressed syllables are less emphasized
When marking the rhythm of a poem, stressed syllables are marked with a ', and unstressed syllables are marked with *.
' * * ' * * ' * ' Listen my children and you shall hear
* * ' * ' * ' * ' Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

19. What is METER?
A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, which can be repeated from line to line.

20. What is REPETITION?
Refers to the words, sounds or phrases repeated in a poem.
Poets use repetition to emphasize an idea or convey a feeling.
“The Tale of the Custard Dragon”
Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten, and a little gray mouse.
And a little yellow dog, and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

21. What is ALLITERATION?
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.
“then no one knows your name.”

22. Imagery and Figurative Language

23. What is Imagery?
Imagery refers to words and phrases that appeal to the five senses.
Poets use imagery to create a picture in the reader’s mind.
I say tease me.
She sprinkles raindrops in my face on a sunny day.
I say frighten me.
She shouts thunder, flashes lightning.
I say comfort me.
She invites me to lay on her firm body.
- Pat Mora, “Mi Madre”

24. What is Figurative Language?
Figurative language is a tool that an author employs (or uses) to help the reader visualize (or see) what is happening in a poem.
common types of figurative language are:
simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, idiom, puns, and sensory language.
Figurative language is also known as a Figure of Speech
A figure of speech is never literally true, but if it is good, it makes us think and use our imagination.

25. Common Types of Figurative Language
Simile
Simile - comparison of two things with a common quality that uses like or as.
A simile that goes through several lines is called an extended simile.
Notice how these lines from "Simile: Willow and Ginkgo" give you a visual picture as well as appealing to your sense of touch:
The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf; the ginkgo is leathery as an old bull,

26. The clouds were a gray curtain covering the land.
Metaphor
A comparison of two things with a common quality, but does NOT use the words like or as.
A metaphor that lasts for several lines is called an extended metaphor.
In the following example, the poet compares a person to a mountain.
I am the mountain, to stand with pride, strength, and faith.
Her hair is silk.
The clouds were a gray curtain covering the land.

27. The shark grinned at his prey!
Personification
Giving human qualities to non-human or non-alive things
In “Mi Madre,” the words “firm body” represent the earth.
In the following lines, the poet describes the sea as if it were human
The sea creeps to pillage, She leaps on her prey;
The shark grinned at his prey!

28. Symbol

29. SYMBOL
A person, place, an object, or an action that stands for something beyond itself.
For example, “prison” is a place that symbolizes confinement.

30. Additional Elements

31. Speaker The speaker is not necessarily the poet.
The speaker is the point-of-view of the poem.
When reading a poem, think of the voice you hear in your head.

32. Theme
In all literary genres, the theme is the message about life and living it that the writer wants to convey.