Poetry Notes

POETRY / an imaginative way to express one’s feelings or thoughts
Poetry is like ______
Prose is like______
LINES /
  • Vary in length – up to the poet
  • Don’t have to be sentences
  • Help create rhythm and rhyme

STANZA /
  • Groups of lines
  • Poetry doesn’t use paragraphs
  • Organize ideas

“A Minor Bird” by Robert Frost
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.
# of lines _____ # of stanzas _____ # of lines per stanza _____
RHYME / The repetition of similar or identical sounds at the end of each poetic line.
  • Like ______and ______
  • ______/______
  • ______/______

RHYME SCHEME / a regular pattern of rhyme.
•each ending sound is given a letter of the alphabet.
•same rhyme appears in the poem = the same letter.
RHYTHM /
  • The beat of the poem
  • You can tap your foot or clap your hands to it.

Policeman! Policeman! Help me, please!
Someone went and stole my knees.
I’d chase them down, but I suspect
My feet and legs just won’t connect!
, / “Faults” by Sara Teasdale
They came to tell your faults to me They named them over one by one;
I laughed aloud when they were done,
I knew them all so well before,
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see
Your faults had made me love you more.
REPETITION / Words, phrases, or stanzas are repeated for emphasis
Stanzas that are repeated are called ______
IMAGERY / Using sensory details (______) to help the reader imagine what is being described
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE /
  • Words are used imaginatively to express ideas
  • Not literal
  • Includes similes, metaphors, personification, symbols

SIMILE / Compares two things using either “______” or “______”
EX:
METAPHOR / Comparing two things that have some qualities in common
Describing something AS IF IT IS something else
EX:
PERSONIFICATION / Giving human-like characteristics to inanimate objects
EX:
SYMBOLISM / A person, place, object, or activity that stands for a larger idea
EX:
HYPERBOLE / An exaggeration for emphasis
EX:
ONOMATOPOEIA / Using words whose sound echo their meaning
EX:
ALLITERATION / The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words for effect
EX:
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou (edited)
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
MOOD / The feeling the reader is supposed to feel while reading
TONE / The writer’s attitude toward the subject
THEME / The overall message about life or human nature the writer is trying to share with the reader
Imagery / Stanzas
Repetition / Rhyme
Metaphor / Onomatopoeia
Figurative Language / Symbolism
Simile / Personification
Rhyme scheme / Rhythm
Poetry / Theme
Alliteration / Tone
Mood / Hyperbole
Lines
Imagery / Stanzas
Repetition / Rhyme
Metaphor / Onomatopoeia
Figurative Language / Symbolism
Simile / Personification
Rhyme scheme / Rhythm
Poetry / Theme
Alliteration / Tone
Mood / Hyperbole
Lines