Poetic Terminology Grade Nine Edition There are several

Poetic Terminology Grade Nine Edition

There are several aspects of poetry that make it unique. Some of these include: � 1 - Repetition � 2 - Rhyme Scheme � 3 - Rhythm � 4 - Style � 5 - Theme � 6 - Tone � 7 - Diction � 8 - Other literary devices � Please view PP to find definitions.

1 - Repetitions � repeating a word or a phrase in a poem to give that word or phrase extra meaning or emphasis. � And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening � Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope to turn. . T. S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday

2 - Rhyme Scheme � be similar in sound, especially with respect to the last syllable. � Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses, And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again!

3 - Rhythm � the arrangement of spoken words alternating stressed and unstressed elements. � When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men’s EYES I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29

4 - Style � the way in which a poem is written. It includes the length of meters, number of stanzas, subject matter, rhyming technique, rhythm etc. � Haiku: A three-line poem in any language, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven syllables in the second, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme. Haiku, a poem five beats, then seven, then five ends as it began.

5 - Theme �a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary work. The controlling message or idea of a poem. It may be suggested by a title or repetition, but it is almost never explicitly stated. �A theme in Wordsworth’s poems are innocence and the loss of innocence.

6 - Tone � the mood a poem creates within the reader. Much of the tone depends on the interpretation of the poem. � Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor, ' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more. ‘ Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

7 - Diction the manner in which something is expressed in words. � I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox � and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold William Carlos Williams, This is Just to Say

8 - Literary Devices � The following slides are a list of common literary devices.

Alliteration � use of the same initial sound at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse. � Around the rock the ragged rascal ran. � Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. � Sally sells seashells by the seashore. � How much wood can a woodchuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Allusion � is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication. � M. H. Abrams defined allusion as “a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage”. � It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection where the connection is detailed in depth by the author, it is preferable to call it “a reference” � April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain. The Wasteland, T. S. Eliot

Hyperbole � extreme exaggeration or overstatement; especially as a literary or rhetorical device; deliberate exaggeration. �I could eat a horse. �I have a million things to do today.

Imagery � an iconic, mental representation. � Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells. T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock

Irony �a figure of speech referring to a difference between the way something appears and what is actually true. It allows us to say something but to mean something else, whether we are being sarcastic, exaggerating, or understating. � Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Metaphor �a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity. � Time is flying/running out/money.

Onomatopoeia � using words that imitate the sound they denote. � Pow, bam, kerplunk, splash

Oxymoron � conjoining contradictory terms; a paradox. � Deafening silence � Virtual reality � Definitely maybe

Personification � the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas, etc. �I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see, I swallow immediately. Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike I am not cruel, only truthful – Sylvia Plath, Mirror

Pun � an expression that uses a homonym (two different words spelled identically) to deliver two or more meanings at the same time. (it’s usually pretty punny) � I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down. �I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. � The psychotic florist created many flower

Simile �a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds. (usually formed with `like' or `as') � As pretty as a picture, as red as a rose, quiet as a mouse

Symbol � something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible. Some symbols are widespread others are more fluid and change along with society. � Pumpkin representing Hallowe’en � Black indicating a sad, dark, morose feeling � Dove representing purity and peace � Lamb representing innocence and sacrifice

One last piece of info… � Found on next slide

Stanza � A subdivision of a poem consisting of lines grouped together, often in recurring patterns of rhyme, line length, and meter. Stanzas may also serve as units of thought in a poem much like paragraphs in prose. � "WHY, William, on that old grey stone, Thus for the length of half a day, Why, William, sit you thus alone, And dream your time away? "Where are your books? --that light bequeathed To Beings else forlorn and blind! Up! up! and drink the spirit breathed From dead men to their kind. William Wordsworth, Expostulation and Reply