Poetic Elements
Figurative Language to Know Metaphor Simile Personification Hyperbole Analogy
Rhyme Scheme A pattern of rhyme Charted by assigning a letter of the alphabet to matching end rhymes. Rough wind, that moanest loud (a) Grief too sad for song; (b) Wild wind when sullen cloud (a) Knells all the night long (b) - from Dirge by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Repetition A sound, word, phrase, or line that is repeated for emphasis and unity. Repetition should be used sparingly and strategically. One must pick the most influential statement and weave its repetition throughout. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. She loved me, sometimes I loved her too. Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! - from Break, Break, Break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Parallelism The use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance. Use parallelism to use similar constructs to approach the same sentence. Add balance and break up repetition by adding parallelism to further emphasize your ideas. Excerpt from blessing the boats by Lucille Clifton may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love you back may you open your eyes to water water waving forever (lines 6-11)
Enjambment (Enjambed lines) Enjambed lines run on without a natural pause. It can create tension and momentum until the thought is complete. South of the bridge on Seventeenth I found back of the willows one summer day a motorcycle with engine running - from Fifteen by William Stafford
End-Stopped Lines of poetry end at a normal speech pause This emphasizes the line endings and makes a reader view each line as a complete unit of meaning. The same night whitening the same trees. We, of that time, are not longer the same. - From Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Neruda
End Rhyme Rhyme at the ends of lines Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though. - From Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Extended Metaphor An extended metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two essentially unlike things at some length in several ways. It does not contain the word like or as. That lowliness is young ambition s ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. - From William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in words that do not end with the same consonant The waves break fold on jewelled fold. - From Moonlight by Sara Teasdale
Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds within and at the end of words And black are the waters that sparkled so green. - From Seal Lullaby by Rudyard Kipling
Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words The scraggy rock spit shielding the town s blue bay - From Departure by Sylvia Plath
onomatopoeia Sound device Meaning is tied to the sound snap, crackle, pop The crackling fire bang boom The truck boomed through the the intersection, popping, banging, and finally wheezing before the engine died a block beyond.
Speaker The speaker is the person telling the poem the one created by the poet to tell the poem The speaker of the poem is like a narrator in fiction The speaker may or may not be the poet, just as a songwriter personally may or may not be the one singing the song (another voice has been created by the songwriter)
imagery Words and phrases that create mental images in the reader s mind Often uses sensory images that appeal to one or more of the five senses
Turning point Place in the poem where the speaker gains new insight, adopts a new attitude, learns a new way to look at things, etc. The turning point will likely occur at some midpoint or beyond (may occur near or at the end as well)
Concrete Poetry Concrete, pattern, or shape poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own.
Sonnet (Traditional Form) Typically a 14-line lyric poem written with a strict pattern of rhyme and rhythm. English/ Shakespearean Sonnet has a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Notice how this divide the poem into four distinct line groups: three quatrains followed by a couplet. The meter in each line of a sonnet is typically iambic pentameter. SONNET 18 by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Quatrain Four-line stanza, or group of lines. SONNET 18 by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Couplets There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, Two-line units with an aa rhyme scheme And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum-trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; - From There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale
Iambic Pentameter A metrical patter of five feet, or units, each of which is made up of two syllables, the first unstressed and the second unstressed. Such men as he be never at heart s ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves - From William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I am a pirate with a wooden leg.
Ballad The earliest ballads were stories told in song, using the voice and language of everyday people. They were composed orally, and singers often added or changed details to make the songs meaningful for their audience. These early ballads, typical of the medieval period, are known as folk ballads. Like a work of fiction, a ballad has characters, setting, and dialogue. Like a song, it uses repetition and has regular rhyme and meter. A traditional ballad has these characteristics: Consists of four-line (sometimes more) stanzas with a simple rhyme scheme Narrates a single tragic incident through dialogue Tone is often tragic, melancholy, reflective, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=k16fg1sdagu&list=plxlebf98oxpe0gsrcia40tr3y-znzbots&index=2
Traditional Ballad Lines 1-12 from Midwinter Blues by Langston Hughes In the middle of the winter, Snow all over the ground. In the middle of winter, Snow all over the ground Twas the night befo Christmas My good man turned me down. Don t know s I d mind his goin But he left me when the coal was low. Don t know s I d mind his goin But he left when the coal was now. Now, if a man loves a woman That ain t no time to go.
Dialect People who inhabit a particular region or who belong to a particular social or ethnic group may speak in a dialect, a variation of language. Their speech may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar from the standard form of the language. Dialect often provides clues about a poem s setting. It can also reveal information about the speaker s identity, such as ethnicity and social class. In the middle of the winter, Snow all over the ground. In the middle of winter, Snow all over the ground Twas the night befo Christmas My good man turned me down. - From lines 1-6 from Midwinter Blues by Langston Hughes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nridtxseog
Limerick (Traditional Form) a humorous, frequently bawdy, verse of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba, popularized by Edward Lear. There was a Young Lady whose chin Resembled the point of a pin: So she had it made sharp, And purchased a harp, And played several tunes with her chin. - Edward Lear
Free Verse (Organic Form) Poem written with no regular pattern of rhythm and rhyme.