Poetry Term Basics2/22

Alliteration

• Repetition of a sound at the beginning of two or more words.

• Example:

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Personification

The representation of a thing or idea as a person

The Train

I like to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up,And stop to feed itself at tanks;And then, prodigious, step

Around a pile of mountains

--Emily Dickenson

Repetition

• The act or instance of repeating. Nobody loves me,

Nobody cares,

Nobody picks me peaches and pears.

Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,

Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.

Nobody helps when I get in a fight,

Nobody does all my homework at night.

Nobody misses me,

Nobody cries,

Nobody thinks I'm a wonderful guy.

-from “Nobody” by Shel Silverstein

Rhyme• Close similarity in the final sounds of two or more words

or lines

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?There's war on the streets and there’s war in the Middle East.Instead of war on poverty,they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.

- 2Pac

Metaphor

• An implied comparison between two unlike objects or ideas.• “You’ll never break, never break, never break, never

break this heart of stone.” • – The Rolling Stones

• “The girl is an island of herself.” • – The Breakfast Club

• “I am not your rolling wheels – I am the highway. I am not your carpet ride – I am the sky.” • – Audioslave

• “Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.” • – Kurt Vonnegut (from Slaughterhouse-Five)

Simile• An implied comparison between two unlike objects or

ideas with the use of the word like or as.

• “You’re as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.”

• – Brand New

• “How does it feel to be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?”

• – Bob Dylan

• “’Cause at night, the sun in retreat made the skyline look like crooked teeth in the mouth of a man who was devouring us both.”

• – Death Cab for Cutie

• “I’m never panicking. I’m bored stiff as a mannequin. Grew up fast just like Anakin.”

• – Andre Nickatina

Find the Examples!

Rappers steppin' to meThey wanna get some

But most of them should go and try to boost their monthly incomeSpeaking over beats is the only time I feel complete

I don't hear the weak and I don't fear defeatSo what you got?

Connect the dots, I'll raise the potRemove the blood clot from the brain of hip hop

The name remains in tip-top shapeI'm still the back rapper scapegoat in the aim of their hate

I came in late, took a chair in the rearBut my classmates were unaware how long I'd really been thereMy peers have been held back for years, holding back the tearsEverybody knows our name like we was the cast from "Cheers"

So here's to the good times, tonight is mighty specialSo fasten your seatbelts, cause I'm gonna launch this vessel

Ain't gonna land until I'm bigger than EspoAnd bigger than ecstasy and bigger than techno

Find the Examples!

Rappers steppin' to meThey wanna get some

But most of them should go and try to boost their monthly incomeSpeaking over beats is the only time I feel complete

I don't hear the weak and I don't fear defeatSo what you got?

Connect the dots, I'll raise the potRemove the blood clot from the brain of hip hop

The name remains in tip-top shapeI'm still the back rapper scapegoat in the aim of their hate

I came in late, took a chair in the rearBut my classmates were unaware how long I'd really been thereMy peers have been held back for years, holding back the tearsEverybody knows our name like we was the cast from "Cheers"

So here's to the good times, tonight is mighty specialSo fasten your seatbelts, cause I'm gonna launch this vessel

Ain't gonna land until I'm bigger than EspoAnd bigger than ecstasy and bigger than techno

Solo Poem

• Write a poem. This should be your capstone poem. Make it important to you.1. Use at least two of the poetic devices we discussed in

class.2. Include a paragraph (5-7 sentences) written reflection

on your poem, the format of it, and your use of literary or poetic devices.

Due 2/24 by 2:45pm (about halfway through class)This means you will have 30 minutes to finish your solo poem at the beginning of next class.

Ekphrastic Poetry

• Ekphrasis: a verbal description (response) of a work of art, of a scene as rendered in a work of art, or even of a fictional scene derived from the description of real scenes.

• Descriptions or responses could include addressing the image, making it speak, speaking of it interpretively, meditating upon the moment of viewing it, addressing the known or imagined circumstances of the composition of the work of art, etc.

• Ekphrastic poetry is basically the matter of giving voice to silence.

• Life Magazine image

I would like to be an artistSo I could make a Painting of youLittle Polish Boy Standing with your Little hat on your headThe Star of David on your coatStanding in the ghetto with your arms up as many Nazi machine guns pointing at you I would make a monument of you and the world who said nothing I would like to be a composer so I could write a concerto of youLittle Polish Boy Standing with your Little hat on your headThe Star of David on your coat Standing in the ghetto with your arms up as many Nazi machine guns pointing at youI would write a concerto of you and the world who said nothing.

--Peter Fischl

A different side of the story• Numb

IgnoranceIt

befallsyou

likerain.

Senses shut down.No longer can you hearor feel or see.SEE the troubled eyesthe little fingers andthe tattered clothes.They call only to you—salvation!Senses shut down.You cannot cry backnor do you want to.This Innocence is your enemy.Remote controls

moveyour

bodyWith the switch of a button

—Your HEART is turned off—--Amanda

"Van Gogh's Bed"Jane Flanders (1985)

is orange,like Cinderella's coach, likethe sun when he looked itstraight in the eye.

is narrow, he sleeps alone, tossingbetween two pillows, while it carried himbumpily to the ball.

is clumsy,but friendly. A peasantbuilt the frame; and old wife beatthe mattress till it rose like meringue.

is empty,morning light pours inlike wine, melody, fragrance,the memory of happiness.

Your turn:• Go to the following website to find your photograph:

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm_index.html

• Pick a photograph that really makes you wonder.

• Use the observation sheet to get some basic details down.

• Turn your observations and reactions to the photo into a poem. Try to use at least two of the poetry terms from today.

• Print the picture. Once you have your final draft complete (polish it, trim it, lay it out), glue the picture next to the final version of your poem.

• Some questions to ask yourself while viewing the photo:

• If you could speak to anyone in the photograph, what would you say? What would you ask?

• If you could imagine anyone or anything in the photograph speaking, what would they/it say?