Poetry
What is it?
A type of literature that expresses
ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a
specific form (usually using lines and
stanzas.)
Point of View in Poetry
 Poet = The poet is the author of the
poem.
 Speaker = The speaker of the poem
is the “narrator” of the poem.
Poetry 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.
Kinds of Stanzas
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Couplet = two line stanza
Triplet = three line stanza
Quatrain = four line stanza
Quintet = five line stanza
Sestet or Sextet = six line stanza
Septet = seven line stanza
Octave = eight line stanza
Sound Effects
Rhyme and Rhythm
Rhyme
 Words sound alike because they
share the same ending vowel and
consonant sounds.
 A word always rhymes with itself.
 EX. The feel
Of an eel.
End Rhyme
 A word at the end of one line rhymes
with a word at the end of another
line.
 EX. Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
Internal Rhyme
 A word inside a line rhymes with
another word on the same line.
 EX. Once upon a midnight dreary, while
I pondered weak and weary.
From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
Rhyme Scheme
 A rhyme scheme is a pattern of
rhyme (usually end rhyme, but not
always).
 Use the letters of the alphabet to
represent sounds to be able to
visually “see” the pattern.
EX. aabbcc
Sample Rhyme Scheme
 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
a
b
b
c
c
a
a
Rhythm
 The beat created by the sounds of the
words in a poem.
 Rhythm can be created by meter,
rhyme, alliteration, and refrain.
Meter
 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 repeat the pattern throughout
the poem.
Onomatopoeia
 Words that imitate the sound they are
naming.
Buzz
Bang
Alliteration
 Consonant sounds repeated at the
beginnings of words.
EX. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers, how many pickled peppers did
Peter Piper pick?
Assonance
 Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or
lines of poetry.
(Often creates near rhyme.)
Lake
Fate
Base
Fade
(All share long “a” sound)
Assonance
 Examples of Assonance:
“Slow the low gradual moan came
in the snowing.”
- John Masefield
“Shall ever medicine thee to that
sweet sleep.”
- William Shakespeare
Consonance
 Similar to Alliteration EXCEPT…
 The repeated consonant sounds can be
anywhere in the words.
EX.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each
purple curtain"
- “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
All mammals named Sam are clammy
Refrain or Repetition
 A sound, word, phrase or line
repeated regularly in a poem.
“’EX. Quoth the raven,
Nevermore.’”
Figurative Language
 Words and phrases that help the
reader picture things in a new way.
Simile
 A comparison of two things using
“like, as than, or resembles.”
EX. “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
Metaphor
 A direct comparison of two unlike
things. Like or as are NOT used.
(one thing is another)
EX. “All the world’s a stage, and we are
merely players.”
-William Shakespeare
Hyperbole
 Obvious and intentional exaggeration
often used for emphasis.
EX. There are a million people here.
I have a ton of homework tonight.
Idiom
 An expression where the literal
meaning of the words is not the
meaning of the expression. It means
something other than what it actually
means.
EX. You are pulling my leg.
Personification
 An animal given human-like qualities
or an object given life-like qualities.
EX. My dog smiles at me.
EX. The house glowed with happiness.
Oxymoron

An Oxymoron is a combination of
contradictory words, such as 'Jumbo Shrimp'
(Jumbo means 'large' while Shrimp means
'small'). It is a literary figure of speech in
which opposite or contradictory words, terms,
phrases or ideas are combined to create a
rhetorical effect.
EX. Pretty Ugly
Types of Poems
 Poems we will compare and contrast.
Free Verse
Ballad
Narrative
Narrative Poems
 A poem that tells a
story.
 Generally longer
than the lyric
styles of poetry
because the poet
needs to establish
characters and a
plot.
 Examples of
Narrative poems.
“The Raven”
“The Highwayman”
“Casey at the Bat”
“The Midnight Ride of
Paul Revere”
Free Verse Poems
 Free verse poetry
does NOT have any
repeating patterns
of stress and
unstressed
syllables.
 Does NOT have
rhyme.
 Free verse poetry
is very
conversational sounds like
someone talking
with you.
 A more modern
type of poetry.
Example of Free Verse Poem
I Dream'd in a Dream
by Walt Whitman
I DREAM'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the
attacks of the
whole of the rest of the earth,
I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust
love, it led
the rest,
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of
that city,
And in all their looks and words.
Example of Free Verse Poem
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.
Ballad
 A type of narrative
poem that tells a
story.
 It tells a story –
has a setting, plot,
and characters.
 It is meant to be
sung or recited.
 Most have regular
patterns of rhythm
and rhyme.
Example of a Ballad
John Henry
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John Henry said to his
Captain
I ain't nothing but a man,
But before I'll let your steam
drill beat me down,
I'll die with my hammer in
my hand, Lord, Lord,
I'll die with my hammer in
my hand."
John Henry got a thirt pound
hammer,
Beside the steam drill he did
stand.
He beat that steam drill three
inches down,
And he died with his hammer
in his hand, Lord, Lord,
He died with his hammer in
his hand.
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John Henry had a little
woman,
Her name was Julie Ann,
She went down the track
never lookin' back,
Says, "John Henry, you have
always been a man, Lord,
Lord,
John Henry, you have always
been a man."
They took John Henry to the
graveyard,
And buried him in the sand,
And ev'ry time that train
comes roaring by,
Says, "There lays a steeldrivin' man, Lord, Lord,
There lays a steel-drivin'
man.
Poetry
 There is so much more to Poetry.
 We have only scratched the surface!