1. Poetry
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
-Mark Twain

2. Concrete vs. Abstract
Poetry is concerned with the concrete, the specific, the particular
Concrete terms- sensory language
“The poet is a professor of the five bodily senses.”
Concrete- violet, bread, sunlight, surf and blond

3. Abstract refer to ideas or concepts; they have no physical references.
Examples of abstract terms include love, success, freedom, good, moral, democracy, and any -ism ( Communism, feminism, racism). These terms are fairly common and familiar, and because we recognize them we may imagine that we understand them—but we really can't, because the meanings won't stay still.

4. Abstract Ideas Concrete Images
We mean you no harm. To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony…
We cannot trust anyone. Where we are, there’s daggers in men’s smiles…
I often change my mind. I am a feather for each wind that blows.

5. In a Station of a Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
-Ezra Pound

6. Types of Poems
Ballad: A poem that uses simple language and a great deal of repetition to tell a sensational story of tragedy or adventure.
Lyric Poem: A poem that expresses a writer’s thoughts and feelings on a given subject.
Narrative Poem: A poem that tells a story or relays a sequence of related events.

7. Alliteration
Alliteration: The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.
It is used to create musical effects, speed or slow the pace of the meter, or cause an image to “stick” in the mind of the reader.

8. Assonance repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds
Examples: Try to light the fire.
He gave a nod to the officer with the pocket.

9. “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

10. Alliteration and Consonance
Alliteration: The repetition of the
same or similar consonant
sounds at the beginning of words
That are close together.
Consonance: The repetition of
like consonant sounds in the
middle and end of words.
Assonance: The repetition of
similar vowel sounds.
Alliteration, Consonance, and
Assonance are used to create
musical effects and to establish
Mood and tone.
From “Song of Myself #1”
by Walt Whitman
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass…”

11. Diction = Word Choice A poet communicates through the words he
uses. He often draws on the Connotative
meaning of words to reveal his attitude or
tone. The Connotation of a word is the
emotional attachment or association with its
meaning. The Denotative meaning is the
word’s Dictionary definition.

12. Let’s Explore Connotation!
What is the dictionary or denotative meaning of the word “loser”?
What does the word “loser” imply connotatively?
What is the dictionary or denotative meaning of the word “gifted.”
What is the connotation of the word?

13. Hyperbole
A figure of speech which is an exaggeration or overstatement.
Examples: expressions such as "I nearly died laughing," "I was hopping mad," and "I tried a thousand times,” “I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.”
Such statements are not literally true, but people make them to sound impressive or to emphasize something, such as a feeling, effort, or reaction.

14. Imagery Painting a picture with words, sensory language, and images
Example: The bright yellow
Flowers swayed in the light afternoon breeze.

15. Simile and Metaphor
“Dreams”
by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Simile: Making a comparison between two unlike things using “like,” “as,” or “than.”
Metaphor: Making the same comparison without the comparative language.

16. Onomatopoeia
The use of words whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning like buzz, bang, pow, zoom, clomp, etc.
This form of imagery appeals to the sense of hearing.

17. Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines opposites or expresses a seemingly contradictory idea.
Examples:
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
The room held a deafening silence.

18. Personification Giving human qualities to animals or nonliving things
Example: Time stood still.
The car hugged the road.

19. Symbol word or object that stands for another word or object
Example: The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible. For example a dove stands for Peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot.

20. Rhyme Scheme
Pattern of rhymes in a poem. Rhyme scheme is usually referred to by letters representing the rhyming words, so that one can refer to an abab rhyme scheme.
Example: Roses are red, a
Violets are blue, b
Sugar is sweet c
And so are you! b

21. Internal Rhyme:
Rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry or within consecutive lines.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,…
Ah distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December…”
“The Raven”

22. Poetic Forms
“Heart! We will forget him!”
by Emily Dickinson
Heart! We will forget him!
You and I – tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave –
I will forget the light!
When you have done, pray tell me
That I may straight begin!
haste! Lest while you’re lagging
I remember him!
Stanza: unit of a poem often repeated in the same form throughout a poem; a unit of poetic lines ("verse paragraph")
Free verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure
Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhymed

23. Who Is the Poet? Identifying the VOICE, or literary
personality, and TONE of the
poet is very important in
understanding his message.
The TONE is the author’s
attitude about the subject and
can be determined by the
words, phrases, and images he
uses. TONE is expressed in
emotions, such as angry, joyful, sad, etc.
Note: Often a poet’s TONE shifts or changes through the poem
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry. ~Mark Strand

24. Tone writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers.
Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc.

25. “Apparently with no Surprise”
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play –
In accidental power –
The Blonde Assassin passes on –
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
~ Emily Dickinson

26. “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore ----
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over ---
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

27. Poetry: Reflect on one of the following quotes in your notes
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
  ~Kahlil Gibran
A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
~Paul Valéry
To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –
True Poems flee. ~Emily Dickinson