Poetry

Vocabulary
1. Alliteration:
Repetition of initial consonant
sounds
Example: Sister Suzy sat on the
seashore until suddenly she was
swallowed by a shark.
2. Allusion:
A reference to a well-known
person, place, event, literary
work, or work of art
3. Ballad:
A song-like poem that tells a
story
4.Blank Verse:
Poetry written in unrhymed,
iambic pentameter.
5.Concrete Poem:
A poem with a shape that
suggests its subject
Example: George Herberts
Easter Wings and The Alter
6. Figurative Language:
Writing that is not meant
to be taken literally
Example: He made me so
mad I wanted to die.
7. Free Verse:
Poetry not written in a
regular rhythmical pattern
or meter
8. Image:
A word or phrase that appeals to
one or more of the five senses
9. Lyric Poem:
Highly musical verse that expresses
the observations and feelings of a
single speaker
10. Metaphor:
A figure of speech in which
something is described as though it
were something else
Example: He is such a pig when he eats!
11. Mood:
The feeling created in the reader by
a literary work
12. Onomatopoeia:
The use of words that imitate sounds
Example: The buzz of the bee was very
loud.
13. Personification:
A type of figurative language in which
a non-human subject is given human
characteristics
Example: The tree waved excitedly in
the wind.
14. Repetition:
The use, more than once, of any
element of language
15. Rhyme:
Repetition of sounds at the end of
words
Example: Roses are red, violets are
blue..
16. Rhyme Scheme:
A regular pattern of rhyming
words in a poem
17. Rhythm:
Pattern of beats or stresses in
spoken or written language
18. Simile:
A figure of speech that uses
like or as to make a direct
comparison between two
unlike ideas
My love is like a red rose.
19. Stanza:
A formal division of lines in a
poem considered as a unit
20. Motif Main or
reoccurring theme.
21. Extended
Metaphor a comparison
developed over several
lines of poetry.
22. Pun Double
23. Confessional poetry
confession of an activity or
an emotion.
24. Elegy Pays tribute to a
person (usually dead)
25. Imagist poetry
uses lots of images to paint
a picture for the reader.
 Humor
Humor in poetry can arise
from a number of sources:
Surprise
Exaggeration
Bringing together of
unrelated things
Most funny poems have two
things in common:
Rhythm
Rhyme
 Rhythm & Rhyme
Using more spirited language makes
humorous situations even more humorous
The Porcupine
By Ogden Nash
Any hound a porcupine nudges
Cant be blamed for harboring grudges.
I know one hound that laughed all winter
At a porcupine that sat on a splinter.
 If you take away the rhythm
and rhyme, the humor vanishes.
Any hound that touches a porcupine
Cant be blamed for holding a grudge
I know one hound that laughed all
winter long
At a porcupine that sat on a piece of
wood
 Limericks
A limerick is a poem of five lines
The first, second, and fifth lines
have three rhythmic beats and rhyme
with one another.
The third and fourth lines have two
beats and rhyme with one another.
They are always light-hearted,
humorous poems.
 Limericks
There once was a man with no hair.
He gave everyone quite a scare.
He got some Rogaine,
Grew out a mane,
And now he resembles a bear!
 Limerick About a Bee
I wish that my room had a floor,
I dont care so much for a door.
But this walking around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore.
 Another Limerick
There once was a very small mouse
Who lived in a very small house,
The oceans spray
Washed it away,
All that was left was her blouse!
You will create a limerick
similar to this one
There once was a man from Beijing.
All his life he hoped to be King.
So he put on a crown,
Which quickly fell down.
That small silly man from Beijing.
 Fill in the blanks and
create your own Limerick.
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.
 The class Limerick:
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.
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