Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of
words.
Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins,
"In the Valley of the Elwy.“
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry
or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe."
Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines:
"How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself."
Connotation
The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning. Poets,
especially, tend to use words rich in connotation. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle
into That Good Night" includes intensely connotative language, as in these lines:
"Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced
in a green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.“
Denotation
The dictionary meaning of a word. Writers typically play off a word's
denotative meaning against its connotations, or suggested and implied
associational implications. In the following lines from Peter Meinke's "Advice
to My Son" the references to flowers and fruit, bread and wine denote
specific things, but also suggest something beyond the literal, dictionary
meanings of the words:
To be specific, between the peony and rose
Plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
Beauty is nectar and nectar, in a desert, saves-...
and always serve bread with your wine.
But, son,
always serve wine.
Ballad- A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, characterized by
swift action and narrated in a direct style.
Blank verse
A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare's sonnets, Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and Robert
Frost's meditative poems such as "Birches" include many lines of blank
verse.
Here are the opening blank verse lines of "Birches":
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
Epic
A long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero. Epics
typically chronicle the origins of a civilization and embody its central
values. Examples from western literature include Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost.
Imagery -refers to the pattern of related details in a
work. The pattern of related comparative aspects of
language, particularly of images, in a literary work.
Lyric poem
A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of
feeling. Most of the poems in this book are lyrics. The anonymous "Western
Wind" epitomizes the genre:
Western wind, when will thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!
Metaphor
A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly
comparative word such as like or as. An example is "My love is a red, red
rose,"
Meter
The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems.
Ode
A long, stately poem in stanzas of varied length, meter, and form.
Usually a serious poem on an exalted subject, such as Horace's "Eheu
fugaces," but sometimes a more lighthearted work, such as Neruda's
"Ode to My Socks."
Theme
The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language,
character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization.
Tone
The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a
work, as, for example, Flannery O'Connor's ironic tone in her "Good
Country People."
A stanza of
a poem equals to a paragraph of an essay, without the indentation.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Cinquain
A cinquain is a five line poem. (see Microsoft document)
Line 1
One Word
(subject or noun)
Line 2
Two Words
(adjectives) that describe line 1
Line 3
Three Words
(action verbs) that relate to line 1
Line 4
Four Words
(feelings or a complete sentence) that relates to line 1
Line 5
One Word
(synonym of line 1 or a word that sums it all up)
Cinquain
A cinquain is a five line poem. (See Microsoft word document)
triangles
pointy edges
revolving, rotating, angling
Triangles are all different.
180o
Knights
Armor ,shields
Fighting, charging, slaughtering
Worried, delighted, brave, fearsome
Crusaders
Haiku
A syllable is a part of a word pronounced as a unit. It is usually made up
of a vowel alone or a vowel with one or more consonants. The word
"Haiku" has two syllables: Hai-ku; the word "introduction" has four
syllables: in-tro-duc-tion.
"Haiku" is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. Haiku poems consist of
3 lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle
line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme.
Here's a Haiku to help you remember:
I am first with five
Then seven in the middle -Five again to end
Green and speckled legs,
Hop on logs and lily pads
Splash in cool water.
In a pouch I grow,
On a southern continent -Strange creatures I know
Spring is in the Air
by Kaitlyn Guenther
Spring is in the air
Flowers are blooming sky high
Children are laughing
Sonnet Characteristics
A sonnet is simply a poem written in a certain format. You can identify a sonnet if the poem has the
following characteristics:
14 lines. All sonnets have 14 lines which can be broken down into four sections called quatrains.
A strict rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the
four distinct sections in the rhyme scheme).
Written in iambic Pentameter. Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter with 10 beats per
line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.
A sonnet can be broken down into four sections called quatrains. The first three quatrains contain four lines
each and use an alternating rhyme scheme. The final quatrain consists of just two lines which both rhyme.
Each quatrain should progress the poem as follows:
First quatrain: This should establish the subject of the sonnet.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: ABAB
Second quatrain: This should develop the sonnet’s theme.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: CDCD
Third quatrain: This should round off the sonnet’s theme.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: EFEF
Fourth quatrain: This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet.
Number of lines: 2. Rhyme Scheme: GG
O. K., so much for the fancy language. Basically, in a sonnet, you show two related but differing
things to the reader in order to communicate something about them. Each of the three major
types of sonnets accomplishes this in a somewhat different way. There are, of course, other
types of sonnets.
Englishwhen what hugs stopping earth than silent is
more silent than more than much more is or
total sun oceaning than any this
tear jumping from each most least eye of star
and without was if minus and shall be
immeasurable happenless unnow
shuts more than open could that every tree
or than all his life more death begins to grow
end's ending then these dolls of joy and grief
these recent memories of future dream
these perhaps who have lost their shadows if
which did not do the losing spectres mine
until out of merely not nothing comes
only one snowflake(and we speak our names
Italian –
And on the porch, across the upturned chair,
The boy would spread a dingy counterpane
Against the length and majesty of the rain,
And on all fours crawl under it like a bear
To lick his wounds in secret, in his lair;
And afterwards, in the windy yard again,
One hand cocked back, release his paper plane
Frail as a mayfly to the faithless air.
And summer evenings he would whirl around
Faster and faster till the drunken ground
Rose up to meet him; sometimes he would squat
Among the bent weeds of the vacant lot,
Waiting for dusk and someone dear to come
And whip him down the street, but gently home.
Free Verse
Free verse does not have a set pattern of rhyme or rhythm. There are
no rules about line length in free verse. You try to keep the words that
belong together on the same line, but, sometimes the poet will break
these words if he/she wants to create a visual shape to support the
poem's message, or feeling that the poet wishes the reader to
experience. The poet may wish to put special emphasis on a word
he/she has used so he will that word a line to itself, or place it on the
next line so the reader notices it or is surprised by the poet's use of the
word . Often a poet will end a line because it feels right to him/her to do
so. The poet chooses the length of each line and the length of the
poem according to the message, or feeling he/she wishes to
communicate to his/her reader. When free verse is read aloud the
reader can hear the rhythm of the words that the poet has used in
his/her poem. Think of it as spoken music.
BUTTERFLY
I am a Butterfly.
I am one of the most beautiful insects of the
world.
I eat nectar, but
I don't harm the flowers.
I have many enemies.
I wander through the forests playing with all
my butterfly friends.
Their names are; Hippy, Dippy, Hopi, and
Floppy.
I can't forget my best friends.
Poppy and Moppy.
But do you know who really are my best
friends?
Could you try to guess?
I think you might have a good idea.
YOU!
I like how you like to be you and not somebody
who you aren't.
descent by Lily Zhang
the water is colder than anticipated
the inhabitants of the deep vents ghastlier
with teeth gleaming and gilded by
the screams of victims past
scales made for tearing flesh
caress the hollows of my cheeks and
voices gorged on the seven sins
invite me to dance into the underworld
I only want sun and seashells
and sand soft between my toes but
you are a specter spread across the shore and I
eyes closed, keep sinking
four atmospheres down my lungs crack open
oil floats on water but I swear
it is an oil slick of regret and remorse that gushes in
clogging up the thoracic cavity even as
my head hurtles up, up and
breaks the surface to waves of sweat-soaked sheets
on land, heart clenched, still drowning so
from briny lips I cough for you
a kelp-tangled apology
1
A couplet [CUP-let] is the simplest form of poetry. Do you see the word "couple" in
couplet? A couple is two of something. A couplet is a poem made of two lines of rhyming
poetry that usually have the same meter. There are no rules about length or rhythm. Two
words that rhyme can be called a couplet. Do you know what the pioneers ate when they got
desperate?
Snake
Steak
2
Seriously though, most poems will consist of more than two words. The rule to remember
is that each line in a couplet has an end rhyme. We can mark end rhymes alphabetically to
keep track of the rhyming pattern. For instance, look at this couplet:
My friend has eyes like mud.
He always chews his cud.
3
The words mud and cud are end rhymes. We'll use the letter "A" to mark the rhyme
pattern. We can string couplets together to make a longer poem, so now I'll join that couplet
with another:
His hair looks like burnt hay.
At full moons he will bay
Triplet Poem
A triplet poem is a 3-lined poem. Just like 3 babies born together are also called triplets! A
triplet poem should rhyme or it would be freestyle.
Examples of Triplet poems:
1. My Dog:
I have a dog
That sits on a log
And hangs out in the fog
2. My Cat:
I have a cat
That never wears a hat
And sleeps on a mat
A limerick is a five-line poem written with one couplet and one triplet. If a couplet is a twoline rhymed poem, then a triplet would be a three-line rhymed poem. The rhyme pattern is a
a b b a with lines 1, 2 and 5 containing 3 beats and rhyming, and lines 3 and 4 having two
beats and rhyming. Some people say that the limerick was invented by soldiers returning from
France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700's.
Limericks are meant to be funny. They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns,
and other figurative devices. The last line of a good limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or
"heart of the joke." As you work with limericks, remember to have pun, I mean FUN! Say the
following limericks out loud and clap to the rhythm.
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee."
"Let us fly," said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
-Anonymous
Here is a very famous limerick. Notice both the rhyme and rhythm patterns.
There was an old man from Peru, (A)
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)
who dreamed he was eating his shoe. (A)
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)
He awoke in the night (B)
da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS)
with a terrible fright, (B)
da da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS)
and found out that it was quite true. (A)
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)
A Clumsy Young Fellow Named Tim
There once was a fellow named Tim (A)
whose dad never taught him to swim. (A)
He fell off a dock (B)
and sunk like a rock. (B)
And that was the end of him. (A)