Poetry Concepts

Key Words We Will Be Looking At

• Alliteration• Allusion• Cliché• Connotation• Couplet• Imagery• Irony• Metaphor• Mood• Oxymoron

• Onomatopoeia• Persona• Personification• Pun• Refrain• Rhyme Scheme• Rhythm• Simile• Stanza• Symbol

Alliteration• Alliteration is the repetition of consonant

sounds usually at the beginning of the word two or more times in a line of poetry.

• Tongue twisters are extreme examples of alliteration

• She sells seashells by the seashore• Tommy turned timidly toward Timmy• It can just be two words• Jacob just asked a good question.• Jacob asked a good question just now.

Allusion• Allusions are references to words,

phrases, people, etc. from literature ,history, art, or politics.

• An allusion connects a piece of writing to real life or to an aspect of culture.

• Example- In The Gift of the Magi the story and the title itself allude to the story of the wise men from the Bible.

Cliché• A cliché is an overused

expression or phrase• You mean the world to me• You’re making me crazy• I love you more than anything• Comparing love or beauty to

inanimate object• Flowers and candy

Connotation• The emotion that you associate

with a word the non-dictionary definition

• A writer may choose to use a particular word in order to get a certain response from a reader.

• These are words that when you hear them make you have an emotional response

Couplet• A pair of lines that rhyme• The girl had purple hair/She acted

like she didn’t care• The internet is really really

great/I’ve got a fast connection so I don’t have to wait

• Chillin’ out, take it slow/Then you rock out the show

Euphemism• A polite or less blunt way of

saying something that might be offensive or bad.

• He’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

• He passed away last night.

Imagery• Imagery is something you read

that relates to and calls upon our five senses.

• The way things sound look smell taste feel.

• It helps us to fully experience a piece of writing and brings us closer to understanding its plot (if there is one) and the mood.

Irony• Verbal- when you say one thing

but mean something else (sarcasm)

• Situational- when the reader expects one thing to happen and then something different happens

• Dramatic- when the reader knows something the characters do not

Metaphor• Speaking about one thing as

though it were another unrelated thing

• States the comparison as if it were a fact.

• What light through yonder window breaks It is the east and Juliet is the sun.

Mood• The general feeling or

atmosphere that a poem creates• Are you supposed to feel happy,

depressed, scared, excited, suspicious, or confused

• What does the author want you to feel

Oxymoron• Two words that don’t seem to go

together but do to create a new meaning.

• Jumbo shrimp• A fine mess• Act naturally• Deafening silence• Girly man

Onomatopoeia• A word that sounds like what it

means• Splat• Bang• Knock• Burp• Crash• Boom

Persona• The person who is speaking in a

poem• Sometimes its a person an animal

a rock or anything else• Who’s telling us the information is

often times as important as the words

Personification• Giving something non-human,

human qualities• The wind whistled through the

trees• The stars blinked rapidly• The sunset reached down and

enfolded the horizon• Her heart broke into a thousand

pieces

Pun• Using words that have multiple

meanings• That’s a nice gun you’ve got there• There was once a cross-eyed

teacher who couldn't control his pupils.

• To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

Refrain• One or more lines that are

repeated in a poem or song is also often referred to as the chorus

• Usually the part that gets stuck in your head

• Quoth The Raven Nevermore.• Maybe next time hell think before

he cheats.

Rhyme Scheme• A pattern of rhyming sounds at the ends of lines in a poem.

Every who down in Who-ville like Christmas a lot ---------------ABut the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did not.-------AThe Grinch hated Christmas the whole Christmas season.---BNow please dont ask why no one quite knows the reason.---BIt could be his head wasnt screwed on just right.----------------CIt could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight.---------------CBut I think that the most likely reason of all-----------------------DMay have been that his heart was two sizes to small.---------D

Rhythm• Pattern of sound created by the

arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

• Basically it’s how the poem sounds

• Just like songs are supposed to be played a certain way poems are supposed to be read a certain way

Simile• A simile is a figure of speech that

directly compares two different things, usually by using the words “like” or “as”.

• It is different from a metaphor, which compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing.

• Flopping like a fish• Dumb as a post

Symbol• An object that represents

something else• Usually something simple or

ordinary that represents a bigger concept

• A heart = love• A ring = marriage

Theme

• The main idea of the poem• Love- Love conquers all• Death- You cant escape death• Carpe Diem- Seize the day because life is short• War- War tears families apart• Youth- Youth is impulsive• Choices- Make good choices because you have

to live with them• Themes are the authors opinions on those

subjects.

Shakespearean Syntax

• I ate the sandwich.• I the sandwich ate.• Ate the sandwich I.• Ate I the sandwich.• The sandwich I ate. • The sandwich ate I.