Poetry

•Figures of Speech- Tools that help to create images in a reader’s mind to help him understand a person or an idea

•Devices of Sound- Language tools that poets use to help their writing sound “cool”… also used to help highlight important ideas

Simile

•Figure of speech

• A direct comparison using like or as

•Example: Your nose is LIKE a button

•Example from a song: You find one

Metaphor•Figure of speech

• An implied/indirect comparison

•Example: Her eyes were a clear, blue sky

•Example from a song: You find one

Personification•Figure of speech

• Human qualities attributed to inanimate objects or animals

•Words used to make something that is NOT real SEEM real or alive

•Example: The wind bellowed

•Example from a song: You find one

Hyperbole•Figure of speech

• An extreme exaggeration to attain desired effect

•Example: My dad had a cow when he saw my grades

•Example from a song: You find one

Imagery

•Use of sensory information to create mental pictures which reinforce common themes

•Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste

•Often occurs in groups- image clusters

•Example: Color imagery, Religious imagery

• Example from a song: You find one

Symbolism• The use of a concrete object, name, place, event or character to represent an abstract idea

•Example: Red rose= love

River= a journey

•Example from a song: You find one

Irony

• When the opposite of what’s expected occurs

•Example: You can’t get a job because you have TOO much education

•Example from a song:

You find one

UGH!

Onomatopoeia

• Device of sound

• a word which sounds like the sound it describes

•Example: Buzz, honk, tweet

•Example from a song: You find one

Assonance

• Device of sound

• a repetition of a vowel sound

•Example: My words like silent raindrops fell

Repetition of long “I” sound

•Example from a song: You find one

Consonance

• Device of sound

• a repetition of a consonant sound

•Example: Rubber baby buggy bumpers Repetition of “B” sound

•Example from a song: You find one

Alliteration

• Device of sound

• a repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words

•Example: Tangled trail of tears Repetition of “T” sound

•Example from a song: You find one

Rhyme

• Device of sound

• a correspondence of sound

•Example: the cat in the hat ate a rat on a mat

•Example from a song: You find one

Iambic Pentameter* The most common verse line in English poetry. It consists of five verse feet, with each foot an iamb-that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Shakespeare’s plays are written almost exclusively in iambic pentameter.

•We can use these sound devices and their natural stressed

syllables, lack of stress syllables, and pauses to create

rhythm in poetry… one of which is