Poetry Terms and Examples

Poetry Terms and Examples

S. Colley2011-2012

Patterns of Sound

Rhyme – the repetition of sound End rhyme: rhyme at the ends of lines of poetry Internal rhyme: rhymes inside the lines Eye-rhyme: rhymes that look alike, but do not

sound alike. Rhyme scheme: using letters to show the

arrangement of rhyme

End rhyme

Words end in the same sound like

Flake, ache “Your are old, Father William,” the young man said

“And your hair has become very white,And yet you incessantly stand on your head

Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

Internal rhyme

When the rhyme is inside the lines.

The splendor falls on castle wallsAnd snowy summits old in story;The long light shakes across the lakes,And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Eye-rhyme

When the rhyme looks the same, but does not sound the same.

At once a voice arose amongThe bleak twigs overheadIn a fullhearted evensongOf joy illimited.

Rhyme Scheme

Using letters to show the arrangement of rhyme.

How doth the little crocodileImprove his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the NileOn every golden scale!

Rhyme scheme is abab

More patterns of sound

Onomatopoeia – a word that sounds like what it describes

Alliteration: the repetition of initial vowels or consonants

Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds.

Onomatopoeia

Pow Bang

Kapow

Alliteration

Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

Assonance

Fish, lift, miss and blip

Consanance

Assured of certain certainties,The conscience of a blackened street

Impatient to assume the world.

ASSIGNMENT

You are to find a poem to illustrate each pattern sound – total of 3-6 poems

On each poem highlight the pattern of sound AND explain why.

60 points Due: _________________ Quiz on Patterns of sound to follow soon.

Meter and Stanza

By controlling the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poems, poets can create regular rhythm, called METER. They do this by using small units of meter; each unit is called a FOOT.

Iamb – 2 syllable foot with stress on the SECOND syllable.

IAMB

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell; the reason why I cannot tell.

Trochee

2 syllable foot, stress on 1st syllable

Mary, Mary, quite contrary….

Spondee

2 syllable foot, stress on both syllables (in a row)

And a merry OLD SOUL was he. This is the house that JACK BUILT.

Stanza

Couplet – 2 line stanza Triplet – 3 line stanza Quatrain – 4 line stanza Quintet – 5 line stanza Sestet – 6 line stanza Sonnet – English – 14 lines, 3 quatrains + 1

couplet. Sonnet – Italian – 14 lines, 1 octave, + 1 sestet

Limericks

5 line nonsense poem Rhyme scheme of aabba Lines, one, two and five rhyme and lines three

and four rhyme.There was an old person of Nice,

Whose associates were usually GeeseThey walked out together

In all sorts of weather.The affable person of Nice!

Limerick

There was an old man on the Border,Who live in the utmost disorder;

He danced with the cat,And made tea in his hat,

Which vexed all the folks on the Border.

Figures of speech

Simile – an openly expressed comparison using like or as.

Metaphor – an implied comparison Personification – portraying an object as a

person Apostrophe – addressing someone or

something not present

Simile

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky LIKE strings of

broken lyres.

Metaphor

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Personification

The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright.

Apostrophe

O CAPTAIN! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought

is won,The port is near, the bells I hear the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and

daring; But O heart! Heart! Heart! O the bleeding drops of red! Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.