elements_of_poetry - Copy.ppt
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- 3. Elements of Poetry •What is poetry? •Poetry is not prose. Prose is the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing. •Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures intense experiences or creative perceptions of the world in a musical language. •Basically, if prose is like talking, poetry is like singing. •By looking at the set up of a poem, you can see the difference between prose and poetry.
- 4. Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry • Unlike prose which has a narrator, poetry has a speaker. – A speaker, or voice, talks to the reader. The speaker is not necessarily the poet. It can also be a fictional person, an animal or even a thing Example But believe me, son. I want to be what I used to be when I was like you. from “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara
- 5. Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry • Poetry is also formatted differently from prose. – A line is a word or row of words that may or may not form a complete sentence. – A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The stanzas in a poem are separated by a space. Example Open it. Go ahead, it won’t bite. Well…maybe a little. from “The First Book” by Rita Dove
- 6. Figures of Speech • A figure of speech is a word or expression that is not meant to be read literally. • A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as like or as to compare seemingly unlike things. Example Does it stink like rotten meat? from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
- 7. Figures of Speech • A metaphor also compares seemingly unlike things, but does not use like or as. Example the moon is a white sliver from “I Am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso • Personification attributes human like characteristics to an animal, object, or idea. Example A Spider sewed at Night from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson
- 8. Figures of Speech • Hyperbole – a figure of speech in which great exaggeration is used for emphasis or humorous effect. Example “You’ve asked me a million times!” • Imagery is descriptive language that applies to the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. Some images appeal to more than one sense.
- 9. Rhyme • Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and any succeeding sounds in two or more words. • Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry. • End rhyme occurs at the end of lines. • Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes that may be designated by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme
- 10. Example A A B B C C “All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule! I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule! I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that, I'm king of a blueberry bush and cat! I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! For I am the ruler of all that I see!” from “Yertle the Turtle” by Dr. Seuss
- 11. In the pathway of the sun, In the footsteps of the breeze, Where the world and sky are one, He shall ride the silver seas, He shall cut the glittering wave. I shall sit at home, and rock; Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock; Brew my tea, and snip my thread; Bleach the linen for my bed. They will call him brave. “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker A B A B C D D E E C
- 12. Narrative Poetry • Narrative poetry is verse that tells a story. • Two of the major examples of narrative poetry include: – Ballads – a song or poem that tells a story. Folk ballads, which typically tell of an exciting or dramatic event, were composed by an anonymous singer or author and passed on by word of mouth for generations before written down. Literary ballads are written in imitation of folk ballads, but usually given an author. – Epics – a long narrative poem on a great and serious subject that is centered on the actions of a heroic figure
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