Mood
Moodis defined as a created atmosphere or context. In poetry, to create mood, the writer must rely on his/her use of words and phrases to "paint the right scene" - in other words, create the right mood.
Example: The mood may be somber, light-hearted, "other worldly," comical, silly, or thought provoking.
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Directions: Read the poem and identify themood on your answer sheet:
Days
Karle Wilson Baker
Some days my thoughts are just cocoons--all cold,
and dull and blind,
They hang from dripping branches in the grey woods of my mind;
And other days they drift and shine--such free and flying things!
I find the gold-dust in my hair, left by their brushing wings.
Allusion
An allusion is a reference, within a novel, play, song, or poem, to another novel, play, song, poem, a film, a piece of art, or even a real event.
Example: "Christy didn't like to spend money. She was no Scrooge*, but she seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities".
*Did you spot the allusion to Scrooge? That name should bring to mind an image of someone who 'pinches pennies' and hoards money with a passion. But the allusion only works if the reader is familiar with Charles Dickens' story 'A Christmas Carol'.
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Directions: Read the following lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song Love Story. What classic play does Swift allude to in this song?
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony in summer air
See the lights, see the party, the ballgowns
See you make your way through the crowd
And say hello
Little did I know
That you were Romeo
You were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you, "Please don't go"
Romeo, take me
Somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting
All there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince
And I'll be the princess
It's a love story
Baby, just say yes
Personification
Personificationis giving human qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics to inanimate (non-living) objects.
Example: The window winked at me. The verb, wink, is a human action. A window is an inanimate object. Therefore, we have a good example of personification.
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Directions: On your answer sheet, write the object being personified and the meaning of the personification.
1.The wind sang her mournful songthrough the falling leaves.
2.The strawberries seemed to sing, "Eat me first!"
3.The car engine coughed and sputteredwhen it started during the blizzard.
Hyperbole
A hyperbole is a much exaggerated statement for a dramatic effect.
Example:
Friday night I went dancing, and when I woke up on Saturday my feet were killing me!
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Directions: On your answer sheet, explain what each hyperbole means.
1. “my feet were killing me” really means ______
2. “worked my fingers to the bone” really means ______
3. “was dying to see” really means ______
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeiais the imitation in words of the natural sounds of things. In poetry this device uses words to make us hear how the object sounds and usually are action verbs or adjectives. Onomatopoeia can add to the visual images of a poem, too.
Examples:
The old enginechuggeddown thericketytrack. / The hard-hit tennis ballwhistledby my ear.Directions: Circle the onomatopoeia in the rest of these sentences on your answer sheet:
The truck’s brakes screeched in the The old floor creaked as we walked slowly distance. across it.
The rain beat on the metal barn roof. / The fire crackled and popped on a cold night.
His guitar strings twanged the sad melody. / The snaked hissed when I startled it.
Imagery
Imagery is the words or phrases a writer selects to create a certain picture in the reader’s mind. Imagery is usually based on sensory details.
Example: “The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw,
the streets were wet and sloppy.”
-Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
Directions: On your answer sheet, write down an image you find in this poem. Then, sketch that image in the space provided.
The Red Wheelbarrow
William Carlos William
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Simile/Metaphor
Asimileis a comparison using like or as. It usually compares two dissimilar objects.
For example:Hisfeetwereas big asboats.We are comparing the size of feet to boats.
Ametaphorstates that one thing is something else. It is a comparison, but it does NOT use like or as to make the comparison.
Example: Herhairissilk. The sentence is comparing (or stating) that hair is silk.
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Directions: Identify whether each sentence contains a simile or metaphor on your answer sheet.
1. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves.
2. As the teacher entered the room she muttered under her breath,"This class is like a three-ring circus!"
3. The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack.
4. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day.
5. I feel like a limp dishrag.
Alliteration
Alliterationis the repetition of the first consonant in two or more words.
Example: PeterPiperpicked apeck ofpickledpeppers.
The first letter, p, is a consonant. It is repeated many times.
Directions: On your answer sheet, complete the following sentences with at least two (2) alliterative words.
1. Doodling daughters ______.
2. Prickly pears ______.
3. Sunny skies ______.
Internal Rhyme/End Rhyme
Internal rhyme is rhyme between a word within a line and another either at the end of the same line or within another line.
Example:
I bring freshshowers for the thirsting flowers
End rhyme is rhyme between a word at the end of a line of poetry and another word at the end of another line of poetry.
Example:
Whose woods these are I think Iknow.
His house is in the villagethough;
He will not see me stoppinghere
To watch his woods fill up withsnow.
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Directions: Read the lyrics below to Owl City’s song Fireflies. On your answer sheet, circle the internal rhyme and underline the end rhyme.
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
Consonance/Assonance
Consonance is the repetition of a consonant sound (usually at the end of the word) in two or more words.
Example: He strucka streakof bad luck.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words, but the consonant sounds are different.
Example: Hear the mellow wedding bells
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Directions: On your answer sheet, indentify whether the following sentences are examples of consonance or assonance.
1. Hear the mellow wedding bells.
2. And so, all the night-tide,Ilie down by the side.
3. He struck a streak of bad luck.
SlantRhyme
Slant rhymes are words that sound the same but don't exactly rhyme. This sort of rhyming is used a lot in hip hop music.
Examples:
lover and brother
won and done
gone and from
Directions: On your answer sheet, underline which words in the following excerpt of a hip hop song are slant rhymes:
Memories Live by Talib Kweli
Yo it kind of make me think of way back when,
I was a portrait of the artist as a young man,
All those teenage dreams of rapping,
Writing rhymes on napkins,
Was really visualization, making this here actually happen.
Theme
A theme is a statement that expresses the basic meaning of a poem; it unifies the poem and states the poet’s message about life.
Example: The themes explored in the poem, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe include death, reminiscence, and lost love.
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Directions: Read the following short poem “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. Identify one theme of this poem on your answer sheet, and briefly explain that theme.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Theme
A theme is a statement that expresses the basic meaning of a poem; it unifies the poem and states the poet’s message about life.
Example: The theme explored in the poem, “Medusa” by Louise Bogan is how life can stand still when tragedy strikes. ______
Directions: Read the following short poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. Identify one theme of this poem on your answer sheet, and briefly explain that theme.
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost,1874-1963
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
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