1. POETRY POWER POINT #1
An Introduction

2. POETRY BASICS
Poetry: A type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form
Form: the appearance of the words on the page
Line: a group of words together on one line of the poem
Stanza: a group of lines arranged together

3. Identify… “A Word is Dead” A word is dead When it is said, Some say.
By Emily Dickenson
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
STANZA 1
Stanza 2
How many lines?

4. KINDS OF STANZAS Couplet = a two line stanza
Triplet (Tercet) = a three line stanza
Quatrain = a four line stanza
Quintet = a five line stanza
Sestet (Sextet) = a six line stanza
Septet = a seven line stanza
Octave = an eight line stanza

5. POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY Poet Speaker Addressee Reader
The author of the poem
Speaker
The “narrator” of the poem
Addressee
Person or thing the speaker is addressing
Reader
Person reading the poem aloud

6. SOUND EFFECTS

7. RHYTHM The beat created by the sounds of the word in a poem
Rhythm can be created by using:
Meter
Rhyme
Alliteration
Refrain

8. METER Example: I sit and stare at my computer screen.
A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a repeating pattern
When poets write in meter, they count out the number of stressed (strong) syllables and unstressed (weak) syllables for each line. They then repeat the pattern throughout the poem.
Example:
I sit and stare at my computer screen.

9. METER cont. Foot – unit of meter
A foot can have two or three syllables
Usually consists of one stressed and one unstressed syllables
Types of feet
The types of feet are determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
Example:
Little | drops of | water

10. METER cont. TYPES OF FEET Iambic – unstressed, stressed Example:
But not | a thought | reveals | itself | to me.
Trochaic – stressed, unstressed
Anapestic – unstressed, unstressed, stressed
Dactylic – stressed, unstressed, unstressed

11. FREE VERSE POETRY
Unlike metered poetry, free verse poetry does NOT have any repeating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables
It usually does NOT have rhyme
Free verse poetry is very conversational-sounds like someone talking to with you.
A more modern type of poetry.

12. FREE VERSE - EXAMPLES Washed Away by Katherine Foreman
Nothing's changed except me and the facts
And the sadness I didn't mean to start.
But it feels different now you've said
It's wrong, and I still can't see your point.
And I think as water runs over my hands that
That's really all there is or can be.
The gold is wearing off the infamous ring
And something wears away from around my heart.
Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
After the Sea-Ship
by Walt Whitman
After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds;
After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship.

13. BLANK VERSE POETRY
Written in lines of iambic pentameter, but does NOT use end rhyme.
Furball Friend
Sweet pet by day, hunter by night. She sleeps, she eats, she plays. My feet, caught in white paws. She’s up the fence, watching her prey - a bird. Poor thing, better run quick, ’cause watch, she’ll pounce! She’ll sweetly beg for fuss, but don’t be fooled. ’Cause one minute she’ll purr and smile, then snap! She’ll spit and hiss - and oh - surprise! A mouse. He’s dead. A gift. Retracts her claws. Miaow! Figure of eight between my legs, looks up at me and purrs. The sound pulls my heartstrings. Her big blue eyes like dinner plates - so cute. Cunning she is, she knows I can’t resist. Curling up tight, we sleep entwined as one. Despite her quirks, I would not change a claw of her. Cheeky Sammy: my snow-white queen.
Excerpt from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

14. RHYME
Words sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds
A word always rhymes with itself
LAMP
STAMP
Share the same short “a” vowel sound
Share the combined “mp” consonant sound

15. END RHYME
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line.
Hector the collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.

16. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.
INTERNAL RHYME
A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line.
From “The Raven”
By Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.

17. NEAR RHYME or EYE RHYME An “imperfect” rhyme or close rhyme. LOSE
ROSE
LOSE
Different vowel sounds (long “o” and “oo” sound)
Share the same consonant sound
The words EITHER share the same vowel sound or consonant sound BUT NOT BOTH

18. RHYME SCHEME
A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end rhyme but not always)
Use the letters of the alphabet to represent different rhyme sounds so that you can visually see the pattern.
“The Germ”
By Ogden Nash
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ. A B C

19. Match the line to its sound
ONOMATOPOEIA
Words that imitate the sound they are making.
The rusty spigot
sputters
utters
a splutter,
spatters,
scatters,
spurts,
finally stops sputtering
and splash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
Match the line to its sound
A plate being dropped on the floor
A balloon being burst
A gun being shot
Someone eating crisps
A light being switched on
A fierce dog
A small bell being rung
TINKLE BANG SMASH GROWL
POP CRUNCH CLICK

20. ALLITERATION Consonant sounds repeated at the beginning of words.
Think tongue twisters
Consonance
The repeating consonant sounds in a line or lines of poetry (can be anywhere in the words)
“Silken, sad, uncertain, rustling”
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Assonance
The repeating vowel sound in a line or lines of poetry
Lake, fate, base, fade (all share the long “a” sound)

21. REPETITION Using the same word or phrase more than once in a poem.
I am the shadow
By the classroom wall,
I am watching you,
And I know it all.
Don’t try to run
Or hide from me.
There isn’t a thing
I cannot see.
Don’t cheat on a test,
Or lie to a friend,
I know the truth
From beginning to end.
And I know it all . . .
I’m watching you,
Using the same word or phrase more than once in a poem.
Does not include pronouns or conjunctions
Can sometimes be called the refrain if it’s a stanza that repeats