Poetry Definitions
Poetry: a collection of words that express an emotion or idea, sometimes with a specific rhythm or rhyme
Prose: writing without rhythm or rhyme that follows conventional rules of sentence structure and grammar
Poetic Structure
Line: a group of words arranged into a row that ends for a reason other than the right-hand margin. It doesn’t have to follow the rules of a sentence. A line can be just a word or phrase. The poet chooses where to end a line for so the words in the poem have the strongest effect.
Stanza: A group of lines in a poem set off by blank lines. It is similar to a paragraph in prose in that each stanza develops a particular idea.
Verse: a unit of poetry such as a line
Poetic Interpretation
Implied meaning: the hidden or suggested meaning behind someone else’s (most often exaggerated) words
Example: If a person says that “The comedian died on stage”, a person will interpret that to mean that the audience did not think the comedian was funny and he did a terrible job.
Literal meaning: when a person interprets all words in strict accordance with their original meanings
Example: If a person says that “The comedian died on stage”, a person will think that the comedian’s heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing.
Symbol: an object that represents something else, usually a big idea
Theme: the message about life or human nature that a literary work conveys.
Mood: the feeling created in the reader by a literary work (poem/story)
Tone: the attitude the writer takes on towards the audience, the subject, or a character
Voice: the character or perspective that is taken on by a writer or poet.
Poetic Techniques
Figurative Language: language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different for the literal interpretation. Figurative language uses comparisons of unlike things, exaggerations, and sensory vocabulary to paint a different kind of picture in the reader’s mind.
Hyperbole: the obvious stretching of the truth
Example: The fish I caught was as big as a house!
Idiom: a common phrase made up of words that can’t be understood by their literal meaning
Example: It’s raining cats and dogs.
Imagery: language that appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to paint a vivid picture of a scene in the reader’s mind
Metaphor: a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically different but have something in common. Unlike a simile, it does not contain the words like or as.
Example: Her insults were daggers in my heart.
Simile: a comparison of two unlike things in which a word of comparison (often like or as) is used.
Example: Her insults were like daggers in my heart.
Personification: the type of figurative language in which poets give an animal, object, or idea human qualities
Example: The sun danced on the car’s windshield.
Sound Devices
Alliteration: The first consonant sound is repeated in several words in the same line of a poem.
Example: Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary
Onomatopoeia: the use of words that sound like the noises they describe
Example: cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom
Repetition: the repeating of a word or phrase or sound in a line of poetry
Rhyme: the repetition of similar ending sounds in two or more words, most often a the end of a line in poetry
Internal Rhyme: rhyme within a line in a poem
Example: Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary
End Rhyme: rhyme that occurs at the end of two different lines
Example: Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhyme in a stanza of a poem. Rhyme schemes for the purpose of analysis, are usually shown by the assignment of the same letter of the alphabet to each rhyming sound in the stanza.
Example: Twinkle, twinkle, little star, A
How I wonder what you are! A
Up above the world so high, B
Like a diamond in the sky. B
Rhythm: the musical quality created by a pattern of beats or a series of stressed and unstressed syllables
Types of Poems
Modern/free verse: poetry that is not written in any special form and doesn’t require a particular pattern of rhyme or rhythm.
Traditional: types of poems that follow exact patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Traditional poetry has been around for thousands of years.
Cinquain: a short poem consisting of five, usually unrhymed lines containing, respectively, two, four, six, eight, and two syllables.
Epic Poem: a long story poem that describes the adventures of a hero
Haiku: a type of Japanese poem which presents a scene of nature. A haiku is 3 lines in length. The first line is 5 syllables. The second is 7, and the third is 5.
Limerick: a humorous verse of five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme as do lines 3 and 4. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three stressed syllables. Lines 3 and 4 have two stressed syllables.
Narrative Poem: a poem that tells a story.
Ode: a poem in which a person expresses a strong feeling of love or respect for someone or something
Sonnet: a 14 line poem which states a person’s feelings