Transcript Poetry Terms & Examples - canadyconnections / FrontPage

Poetry Terms & Examples
Figurative & Stylistic Language:
Devices that enhance and add interest to
the written and spoken word
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Imagery Devices
Purpose is to create an IMAGE
in the reader’s mind.
• 1. Simile
• 2. Metaphor
• 3. Personification
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1. Simile
•A comparison of two
things (that may or not
be alike) using the
words like or as.
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Examples of a Simile
• Bob is hungry as a wolf.
• Bob and wolf are the two things
being compared, using “as”
• Sue smells like a rose.
• Sue & rose are the two things being
compared, using “like”
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2. Metaphor
• A comparison of two
unlike things without
using like or as. (Things =
person, place, thing, or thought)
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Examples of a Metaphor
• Bob is a hungry wolf.
• Bob is compared to a wolf.
• Sue is a rose, filling the room with her
sweet scent.
• Sue (or Sue’s scent) and rose are
being compared.
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3. Personification
• A type of metaphor in
which non-human things
or ideas possess human
qualities or actions.
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Examples of Personification
• The wind whispered her name.
• Wind is being personified: “wind
whispered”, because “wind” can’t
actually “whisper.”
• Justice is blind.
• Justice is being personified: blind
justice, because justice has no actual
eyes that could be blinded.
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Sound Devices
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Purpose is to create a RHYTHM or
set the TONE in the poem.
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Onomatopoeia
Rhyme
A. (True/Pure) Rhyme
B. Internal Rhyme
C. Near/Half Rhyme (or Impure rhyme)
D. Eye Rhyme
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1. Alliteration
• The repetition of a
consonant sound at the
beginning of neighboring
words. (Consonants are all the
letters except a, e, i, o, u, and y.)
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Examples of Alliteration
• The dark dance of death whisked
her away.
• Repetition of the “d” sound in “dark
dance of death”
• Like a lucky charm, he looks on.
• Repetition of the “l” sound in “Like,”
“lucky,” and “looks”
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2. Assonance
• The repetition of vowel
sounds (within stressed
syllables) of neighboring
words. (Vowels are a, e, i, o, u,
and y.)
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Examples of Assonance
• Talking and walking, hours on end.
• Repetition of the “ah” sound in
“talking” “walking”
• A turtle in the fertile soil.
• Repetition of the “er” sound in
“turtle” “fertile”
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Consonance
• Consonants repeated at the END of words
– Happens a lot with rhymes, but not always
• Example:
– The kite hit the tree, but the boy got it down
with his mitt.
– The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plane.
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3. Onomatopoeia
• Words which imitate the
sound they refer to.
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Examples of Onomatopoeia
• The eagle whizzed past the
buzzing bees.
• “whizzed” and “buzzing”
• Rip-roar fire, the gun stutters on.
• “Rip-roar” and “stutters”
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4. Rhyme
• A. Rhyme (true or pure
rhyme) including end rhyme:
Words which end with the
same sounds, usually at the
end of lines.
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Examples of Rhyme
• The deepest night
burning bright.
• “night” and “bright”
• A time to feel,
and a time to heal.
• “feel” and “heal”
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4. Rhyme
• B. Internal Rhyme:
Rhyme within a line.
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Examples of Internal Rhyme
• Bright night, a full moon above.
• “bright” and “night”
• We will stay today and then
we must go.
• “stay” and “today”
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4. Rhyme
• C. Near/Half Rhyme:
Slight or inaccurate
repetition of sounds (also
called impure rhyme).
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Examples of Near/Half Rhyme
• On top of the hill,
the moon is full.
• “hill” and “full”
• Give this to the man,
he’ll know what I mean.
• “man” and “mean”
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4. Rhyme
• D. Eye Rhyme: Words
that look like they rhyme
(similar spelling), but do
NOT rhyme (also called sight
rhyme).
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Examples of Eye Rhyme
• Listen to the water flow,
from top I don’t see how.
• “flow” and “how”
• When the game is over,
a true champion we’ll discover.
• “over” and “discover”
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Miscellaneous Devices
•
•
•
•
•
1. Hyperbole
2. Irony
3. Paradox
4. Oxymoron
5. Pun
•
•
•
•
•
6. Flashback
7. Allusion
8. Repetition
9. Shift
10. Symbol
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1. Hyperbole
• An obvious and
deliberate exaggeration
(to emphasize something or for
humorous purposes).
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Examples of a Hyperbole
• I love you more than life
itself.
• Love is exaggerated.
• He could eat a horse.
• His appetite is exaggerated.
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2. Irony
• Saying the opposite of
what you actually
mean.
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Examples of Irony
• Water, water everywhere,
but not a drop to drink.
• Surrounded by water in the ocean,
but none of it is drinkable.
• The directions were as clear as mud.
• Obviously, they weren’t very clear
directions (this is also a simile!).
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3. Paradox
• A statement that seems
to contradict or oppose
itself, yet actually
reveals some truth.
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Examples of a Paradox
• It’s hard work doing nothing.
• Youth is wasted on the young.
• The more we know, the less we
understand.
• The less you have, the more you are free.
(Or …the more you have.)
• I can resist anything but temptation.
• Her silence was deafening.
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Oxymoron
• Apparently opposite words combine to
make meaning.
• Example
– Academic fraternity
– Act naturally
– Butt head
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Pun
• The use of words that sound alike but have
different meanings
• Examples:
– Seven days without pizza makes one weak.
– Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
– Diet slogan: Are you going the wrong weigh?
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Flashback
• A scene in literature that is set earlier than
the main story.
• Example:
– “I looked at the long dirt road that crawled
across the plains, remembering the morning
that Mama died, cruel and sunny. They had
come for her in a wagon and taken her away.”
(p.5)
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Allusion
• A reference made in a literary work to a
previous literary work, historical event, or
famous person
• Christy didn't like to spend money. She was no Scrooge, but she
seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities'.. Can you spot
the allusion here? In this line direct allusion is being made to Scrooge,
who is the famous character depicting 'pinches pennies' in Charles
Dickens' classic 'A Christmas Carol'.
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Repetition
• Words or phrases repeated for emphasis
• And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep.
(Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening")
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Shift
• Point at which a poem changes in some
way.
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Symbol
• A concrete object that represents something
abstract
• Example: heart = love
•
golden arches= McDonald’s
•
wedding ring=marriage
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“It’s a New Day”
by will.i.am
Copyright Nov. 7, 2008
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