POETRY Figures of Speech and Poetic Forms METAPHOR

POETRY Figures of Speech and Poetic Forms

METAPHOR A comparison where on thing is said to be another. Ex - The student is a brain Ex = Fog by Carl Sandburg The fog comes On little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city On silent haunches And then moves on.

SIMILE A Comparison using like or as Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear (Shakespeare, R and J)

ONOMATOPOEIA The attempt to make a written or spoken word sound like the sound it represents. The bee buzzed.

CACOPHONY The use of harsh sounding words or a discord of sounds. Ex. Salt caked smoke stack

EUPHONY The use of sweet sounding words to imply gentleness or softness Eupony used long vowels and harmonious consonants (l, m, n, r, f, v) Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness (Ode to Autumn by John Keats)

ALLITERATION The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words. “. . . danced in the dizziness of death “

ASSONANCE The repetition of vowels in two or more words. Lifted by the winnowing wind

CONSONANCE The repetition of consonants or of a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words. Examples: Litter and batter Spelled and scald Laughed and deft Dress and boss Slither and lather

HYPERBOLE An exaggeration or an overstatement for the sake of emphasis. And I will come again, my love, Though it were ten thousand miles

SYNECDOCHE A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole refers to a thing by the name of one of its parts. All hands on deck I got a new wheels

METONOMY Resembles synecdoche but is different. In a metonymy, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not a part of it. Let me give you a hand He fought for the crown Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. (the word “ears” replaces the concept of attention) The pen is mightier than the sword. (pen refers to written words and sword refers to military force)

PUN A play on words Tree jokes are pretty popular

OXYMORON The combination in one expression of two words or phrases of opposite meaning for effect. Falsely true Bitter-sweet Sweet sorrow O, loving hate Beautiful tyrant Honorable villain

PARADOX A statement which, though it seems to be self-contradictory contains a basis of truth. I must be cruel to be kind (Hamlet) “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. ” (Animal Farm)

APOSTROPHE The poet calls on someone or something which is not present or cannot answer. Milton! Thou should’st be living at this hour.

ALLUSION A reference to characters and events of mythology, legends, bible, history other literature. Calling something a “wooden horse” A gift that backfires – comes from the “gift” that the Greeks left for the Trojans. Or someone or something that attacks the group it belongs to. The Trojan horse was a large wooden horse that the Greeks used to take soldiers secretly into the scity of Troy in order to destroy it.

IMAGERY An image is a mental picture. When words on paper entice the reader in imagining that he hears, sees, feels, tastes or touches something. Images are always connected to the senses. E. g. sound imagery, sight imagery, tactile imagery, smell imagery…. . A red wheelbarrow Glazed with rain water

SYMBOL A symbol is the ultimate device for compression. It is a word which has its own denotative meaning within the poem. At the same time however, it implies other feelings and ideas as well. Symbols may be based on religion, the natural world or the mind. Colors can be symbolic

LYRIC POETRY A short poem expressing the internal and emotional thoughts of a single speaker. Lyrics are usually an expression of the poet’s feeling about a person an object an event or an idea. The intent is usually to create a single, unified impression on the reader. Lyrics originated as songs, and they retain their melodic patterns through various forms of rhythm and rhyme.

SONNET A lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter following one of several possible rhyme schemes. The two main types are Italian (Petruchan) and English (Shakespearean). Sonnet 18 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 owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, W’hen in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

ENGLISH SONNET Usually has three four line sections, each with its own rhyme scheme, and ends in a two line rhymed couplet. The rhyme scheme is usually abab dcdc efef gg. The final couplet is usually a concluding statement commenting on the preceding thoughts. The sonnet is an example of closed for poetry.

ITALIAN SONNET Is divided into two parts: an eight line section (octave) rhymed abba, abba and a six line section (sestet) rhymed cde or cdc. Often the octave states a problem or a question and the sestet offers a solution. London, 1802 Octave – 8 lines – introduces theme or problem Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this houir: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! Raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.

Sestet – 6 lines – solves the problem Thy sould was like a Star, and dwelt apart; Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life’s common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

DIDACTIC A form of poem which has as its primary intention the teaching of some lesson or moral or the making of some critical statement about society.

PARODY A poem written in humorous imitation of another poem. Usually, the parody imitates the tone, form and imagery of the original, but applies them to some ridiculous object.

LIMERICK A humorous, five-line poem, usually in ananpestic rhythm; the first, second, and fifth lines have three feet and rhythm with each other; the third and fourth lines have two feet and rhyme with each other. Limericks usually tell of the actions of a person. There was an old man with a beard, Who said, “It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!”

BALLAD A narrative poem, usually containing much repetition and often a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally folk songs passed on from age to age. The Highwayman By Alfred Noyes The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moom was a ghostly galleon tossed up cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman cam riding – Riding – riding – The highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.

EPIC POEM A long narrative poem which tells of the adventures of heroic characters. Covers a long period of time or describes some monumental task. The Odyssey Beowulf

NARRATIVE A poem that tells a story and organizes its action according to a sequence of time.