TRIMESTER 3 LITERARY TERMS: POETRY

LYRIC POEM

A poem that expresses the feelings or thoughts of a speaker rather than telling a story

NARRATIVE POEM

A poem that tells a story.

“A Tale of Starvation” by Amy Lowell (1874-1925)

There once was a man whom the gods didn't love,And a disagreeable man was he.

He loathed his neighbors, and his neighbors hated him,

And he cursed eternally….

METER

A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry Also called “Rhythm”

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

We REAL COOL. WeLEFT SCHOOL. WeLURK LATE. WeSTRIKE STRAIGHT. WeSING SIN.WeTHIN GIN. WeJAZZ JUNE. WeDIE SOON.

IAMBIC PENTAMETER

A line of poetry that contains five beats consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

A verse that has an iambic pentameter with five iambic meter will have a rhythm pattern as follows:da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum

Romeo and Juliet - William ShakespeareTwo households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

STANZA

An arrangement of a certain number of lines, two or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

Notice the 2 stanzas below:

How do you like to go up in a swing?Up in the air so blue?Oh, I do think 'tis the pleasantest thing,Ever a child could do!

Up in the air, and over the wall,‘Till I can see so wide,Rivers and trees and cattle and all,Over the countryside.

FREE VERSE Poetry without a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Mirror, MirrorMy game face is blue. I must put it back on, seeHow much of my glory was real And how much fever.I see drawn eyes, too much marring,A suit of swan feathersWithout the matching shape.And however I imagine lights,No straw spins to gold.I see as I have been seen,Not radiant, but a shine in hopeYet to see a finish.

ALLITERATION

The repetition of a consonant sound in words that are close together

The very first poems in English used alliteration instead of rhyme.

“Piers Plowman,” written in the 1350s:“In a summer season, when soft was the sun …”

ASSONANCE

The repetition of a vowel sound in words that are close together.

“The Bells” by Edgar Allan PoeHear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony

foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, And an in tune, What a liquid ditty floats

RHYME

The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem Rhymes can be silly (Dr. Seuss, Ogden Nash) or serious

(Tennyson, Shakespeare).By Lewis Carroll:The Walrus and the Carpenter

Were walking close at hand: They wept like anything to see Such quantities of sand: 'If this were only cleared away,' They said, 'it would be grand.'

RHYME SCHEME

The regular pattern of rhyming words at the ends of lines in a poem or stanza

When reading a poem, use a different letter to keep track of each rhyme sound:

There was an old man from Peru AWho dreamed he was eating his shoe AIn the midst of the night BHe awoke in a fright BAnd – good grief! It was perfectly true! A

SONNET A lyric poem that consists of 14 lines which usually have

one or more conventional rhyme schemes. Shakespeare is known for his many sonnets

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (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 dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest 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

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

From Richard Steere's "On a Sea-Storm Nigh the Coast“

The weighty seas are rowled from the deepsIn mighty heaps,And from the rocks' foundations do arise To kiss the skies.

HYPERBOLE

A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement made for effect. I am so hungry I could eat a horse. I have a million things to do. I had a ton of homework. If I can’t buy that new game, I will die. He is as skinny as a toothpick. That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was

riding on a dinosaur. They ran like greased lightning. He's got tons of money.

HYPERBOLE CONTINUED…

Another example comes from "As I Walked Out One Evening" by W.H. Auden:

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountainAnd the salmon sing in the street,I'll love you till the oceans folded and hung up to dryAnd the seven stars go squawkingLike geese about the sky.

CONSONANCE

Consonance is a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession.

"pitter patter" "all mammals named Sam are

clammy".

ONOMATOPOEIA

The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning. Buzz Ouch Woof Smack Slam