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Poetry Notes #1 (Sound Devices and Figures of Speech) Sound Devices 1. __Rhyme ___ is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Poets use rhyme to create __musical____ effects and to __emphasize__ and to link certain words and ideas. __End____ rhyme is the rhyming of words at the end of the lines. ___Internal__ rhyme occurs when rhymes occurs within lines. 2. __Alliteration___ is the repetition of the initial _consonant_ sounds. Advertisers use __alliteration____ to catch the ear of the reader or viewer. In poetry, _alliteration__ is used to create a musical or __rhythmic___ effect, to emphasize key words, or to ___imitate__ sounds. 3. __Assonance___ is the repetition of __vowel__ sounds without the repetition of __consonants___ (as in stony and holy) used as an alternative to rhyme in verse. 4. __Consonance__ is the correspondence or recurrence of sounds. Specifically, it is the recurrence or repetition of _consonants, especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels (as in the final sounds of stroke and luck). 5. __Onomatopoeia__ is the use of words that __imitate__ sounds. Hiss, ___crash, buzz, neigh, __ring__ and jingle are examples of ___onomatopoeia. 6. A __rhyme scheme_ is the regular pattern of __rhyming _ words in a poem. To indicate the _rhyme scheme ___ of a poem, on e used lowercase letters. For example, the following stanza from Robert Frosts Blue-Butterfly day, has an (abab) rhyme scheme: It is blue-butterfly day here in spring a And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry b There is more unmixed color on the wing a Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry b 7. A __stanza __ is a group of lines in a poem, considered as a unit. Many poems are divided into stanzas of equal length, with the stanzas separated by spaces. Stanzas are often like __paragraphs__; each presents a single __thought___ or idea. Stanzas are usually named according to the number of lines the stanza contain, as follows: 1. ___couplet ___: a two-line stanza 2. _tercet ____: a three-line stanza 3. __quatrain __: a four-line stanza 4. __cinquain __: a five-line stanza 5. _sestet ____: a six-line stanza 6. __heptastich__: a seven-line stanza 7. __octave ___: an eight-line stanza In traditional poetry, stanzas are often _rhymed ___. However, not all __rhyming __ poems use stanzas, nor do all poems that are divided into stanzas __rhyme___. Less traditional poetry contains stanzas of varying length, sometimes without, __rhyme_.

8. __Rhythm__: the pattern of stresses, or beats, in spoken or written language. 9. __Meter_ is the rhythmical pattern of poem. This pattern is determined by the number and types of _stresses__, or beats, in each line. To describe the meter of a poem, you must scan its lines. Scanning involved marking the _stressed __ and _unstressed__ syllables of a poem. A slash mark (/) is used to signify a strong stress, while a weak stress is marked with a horse shoe symbol (___). Each group of stresses within a line is called a __foot__. 10. A __refrain__ is a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song. Figures of Speech 1. _Figurative Language __: writing or speech that is not meant to be taken _literally_. The many types of _figurative language__ are called figures of speech. These types include _hyperbole___, simile, metaphor, and _personification_. Writers use _figurative language__ to express their meanings in fresh __vivid__, surprising ways. 2. Image or (_imagery_): a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five ___senses__. Writers use __images___ to create specific descriptions to show how their subjects __look__, sound, smell taste and _feel__. 3. _Allusion__: reference to a _well-known_ person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. There are biblical allusions, __mythological_ allusions, literary allusions, musical allusions, etc. Writers usually do not explain their _allustions_. They expect their readers will be familiar with the things to which they are referring to. 4. _Simile_: a figure of speech that make a direct _comparison_ between two unlike subjects using like or as_. Everyday speech contains many similes, such as quiet as a mouse, like a duck out of water, good as gold, and old as the hill. Writers use similes to create vivid, telling descriptions. Poetry especially relies on similes to point out new and __interesting_ ways to looking at the world. Richard Garcias poem The City is So Big contains this striking simile: And trains pass with windows shining Like a smile full of teeth. 5. _Metaphor_: a figure of speech in which something is __described_ as though it were something else. A _metaphor__, like a simile, works by pointing out a similarity between two things. For example, in Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken, the diverging roads are a metaphor for the major choices that people must make in their lives. __Extended__ metaphor is one that makes more than one point of comparison. Walt Whitman uses __extended___ metaphors in his poem O Captain, My Captian! He compares the United States to a ship, President Lincoln (who is not actually named in the poem) to the ships captain, and national events to a ships voyage. 6. __Apostrophe_: the addressing of usually absent person or a usually personified thing rhetorically, for example, Carlyles O Liberty, what things are done in they name. (Here

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the Statue of Liberty is personified as a person not a statue and because she stands for Liberty, the citizens of America do courageous kind acts in the name of Liberty.) 7. __Personification: a type of figurative language in which a non-human object is given __human _ characteristics. The expression Father Time and Mother Nature are examples of __personification. Another example of _personification__ would be to say, The tree is waving at me. when the wind is blowing the leaves on the tree. 8. __Symbol__ (Symbolism): anything that stands for or represents something else. __Symbols___ are usually concrete objects or images that represent _abstract__ ideas (abstract ideas are not concrete because you cant actually __touch __ them, examples: liberty, love, oppression, happiness, anger, and pride). For example, the concrete object: Eagle is often used as a symbol of abstract idea: freedom. Likewise, chains can symbolize slavery and oppression. In literature _concrete_ images are often used to represent, or __symbolize_, the themes of literary work. For example, in Edgar Allan Poes The Tell Tale Heart, the beating heart of the old man could be a symbol of the old mans vengeance or of the main characters guilt. __Symbols_ generally differ from metaphors or similes in that the reader or listener must __infer_ what the symbol stands for. The writer or speaker does not _explicitly__ make the comparison. 9. _Irony__: the general name given to literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing _contradictions__. In _verbal irony__ there is a contradiction between what character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true. In The Tell Tale Heart, the reader knows that the beating heart exists only in the main characters imagination. In _irony of situation__ an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters or the reader. In Charles, Lauries mother and father expect to meet Charles parents at the PTA meeting, but ironically, there is no Charles in the school the characters and the reader are surprised to learn that Charles is Laurie. 10. __Analogy__: resemblance is some particulars between things otherwise unlike; similarity; comparison based on such resemblance. 11. __Hyperbole__: an exaggeration for effect. Like an _idom_. Because it makes a statement that is not meant to be taken literally, _hyperbole_ is considered a figure of speech. Everyday speech is full of examples of _hyperbole_, such as Im so hungry I could eat a horse. You dont really mean you could eat a horse, but you certainly are very hungry. Writers use _hyperboles_ to create humor, to emphasize particular points, and to create a dramatic effect. For example, a famous novel by Ralph Ellison begins with this powerful example of hyperbole, which gives the book its name: I am an invisible man.

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Poetry Notes #2 (Types of Poetry and Miscellaneous Terms) Types of Poetry 1. _Lyric__: a highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. They are called __lyrics_ because they were, in ancient times, sung to the accompaniment of a _lyre___, a stringed instrument. Examples: Langston Hughess Harlem Night Song and William Shakespeares Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind. 2. _Narrative _: a story told in verse. It often possesses the elements of _fiction_: characters, conflict, and plot. The events are usually told in __chronological__ order, the order in which they happen. _Narrative __ poems are often based on _historical__ events, ex. Henry Wadsworth Longfellows Paul Reveres Ride. 3. __Free verse_: poetry not written in regular rhythmical pattern, or _meter_. In a __free verse_ poem, the poet is free to write lines of any length or with an y number of rhythmic _stresses_, or beats. Thus _free verse__ is less constraining than _metrical___ verse, which requires set patterns of __stresses_. The following lines, from the South African poet Mongameli Mabonas The Sea, are in free verse: Ocean, Green or blue or iron-gray, As the light Strikes you. Primordial flood, Relentless and remorseless Like a woman in rage. (Notice the lines that end in commas and other that have no punctuation but then the next line ends with a period.) 4. __Cinquain__: a form of poetry based on syllables and five lines. The first line states the title with two _syllables_. The second line has four syllables and __describes_ the title. The third line has six syllables and states an _action__. The fourth line has eight syllables and expresses a _feeling__. The fifth line has two syllables and is another word for the title. No rhyme scheme. 5. __Limerick_: a humorous, rhyming, five-line poem with a specific _meter__ and rhyme scheme. Most __limericks__ have three strong __stresses__ in lines one, two, and five, and two strong stresses in lines three and four. Most follow the rhyme scheme aabba. ___Limericks__ make fun of everything and everybody. _Edward Lear_ (1812-1886) was credited with popularizing this poetic form. Example: There was an old woman from Maine a Who liked to drive cars in the rain a But one day she crashed b Which made a big splash b And then she was hit by a train. a

6. _Haiku_; a three-line Japanese verse from that does not rhyme. The first and third lines of a __haiku__ have five syllables; the second line has seven syllables. A _haiku_ usually presents a single, vivid __image__ drawn from nature (without the use of metaphors or similes). The __haiku__ is an unfinished product which the listener or reader must complete in his or her imagination. Example: In the cicadas cry (5 syllables) No sign can foretell (7 syllables) How soon it must die (5 syllables) -Basho 7. __Tanka__: an unrhymed _Japanese__verse form of five lines containing 5-7-5-77 syllables respectively. _Tanka___ is different from the Haiku because it uses simile, __metaphor___, personification, and more vivid __images__ than a Haiku. It also calls for more _syllables__ and is stronger and more expensive in its expression. The topics express __love__, nature, sadness, and __seasons__. 8. __Sonnet___: a fixed verse form of __Italian__ origin consisting for __fourteen__ lines that are typically five-foot __iambics__ rhyming according to a prescribed scheme. The Italian (or _Petrarchian_) sonnet consists of an 8-line _octave__ and a 6-line _sestet___. The English (or __Shakespearian__) sonnet consists of three _quatrains __ and an ending __couplet___. The sonnet explores a subject of particular interest to the poet and does include a rhyme scheme. The sonnet was invented by an _Italian__ poet, Giacomo da Lentino in the 1200s and is one of the best-known forms in the Western World. 9. __Concrete__: a poem with a shape that suggests its _subject__. The poet arranges the letters, __punctuation___, and lines to create a visual _image__ on the page. __Concrete__ poetry has the qualities of pop art in its representation of objects, idioms, __proverbs ___, or short popular expressions. 10. _Diamante_: the Italian word for _diamond__. This poetic form, created by the poet Iris Tiedt takes the form of a _diamond__ when it is completed. The poem consists of seven lines: Line 1: noun Line 2: two adjectives Line 3: three action verbs Line 4: four word phrase that captures feeling about the topic Line 5: three action verbs Line 6: two adjectives Line 7: Synonym for an ending word

Miscellaneous Terms

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1. __Syntax__: the way in which linguistic ___elements_ (as words) are put together to form __constituents__ (as phrases or clauses); the part of grammar dealing with this; a connected or orderly _system__; harmonious __arrangement__ of parts or elements. 2. _Tone ___: the attitude toward the subject and audience conveyed by the language and __rhythm__ of the speaker in a literary work. For example, the _tone_ of Edgar Allan Poes The Tell Tale Heart is frantic and sinister. In contrast, the __tone__ of John Updikes January is light and humorous. 3. __Mood__ (or atmosphere): the feeling created by a literary work. Writers use many methods to create _mood__, including images, _dialogue___ description, characterization, and __plot__. Often a writer creates a mood at the beginning of a work and sustains this mood throughout. For example, The Tell -Tale Heart sustains the mood of nervous dread and terror. Sometimes, however, the mood of a work will change with each new _twist__ of the plot or from the beginning to the end of the poem. 4. __Denotation__: a direct, specific meaning as _distinct___ from an implied or associated idea. 5. __Connotation__: the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes; something suggested by a word or thing: implication (the connotation of comfort that surrounded that old chair.) 6. _Inference__: the act or process of drawing a _conclustion__ based on facts, hints, suggestions, or premises; a reasonable __conclusion_ the reader makes based on _clues___ in a literary work.