Elements of Poetry

Imagery
- the poet s use of words to create mental images that appeal to one or more of the 5 senses - allows the imagination to see, hear, taste, or smell certain things - always found in poems

Rhyme
- repetition of sounds at the ends of words

Rhythm
- pattern of stressed and unstressed syllable sounds

Symbol
- important words or phrases that carry 2 or more meanings within a poem > literal meaning > symbolic meaning - always found in poems

Theme
- underlying message that the poem reveals - may be stated directly, or implied - always found in poems

Tone
- mood that the poem has which is created by the choice of words

Figures of Speech
- simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and allusion - used in everyday speech, and also in poetry

Simile
- compares 2 unlike things that share a common quality - used like or as Example: She is as gentle as a breeze.

Metaphor
- also compares 2 unlike things that share a common quality - direct comparison Example: He is a wolf in sheep s clothing.

Personification
- gives a non-living object a lifelike quality or.. - gives a non-human object a human quality Example: The tree dances with the wind.

Hyperbole
- exaggerates a quality of the object so as to highlight that quality

Allusion
- makes the comparison by making references to another, but related from different categories - assumes that the reader knows what the poet s talking about - has 5 kinds: 1 Biblical, 2 Literary, 3 Mythological, 4 Historical, 5 Modern Example: Despite his efforts , he is still no Alexander the Great. *Tips in finding Figures of Speeches* Re-state the sentence. Find out what the author means.

Appositives
Appositive
- used to develop the meanings of nouns and certain pronouns - a word in apposition is placed next to another word An appositive is a noun or pronoun placed next to another noun or pronoun to identify, rename, or explain it. Appositives Tony s car, a sedan, ran out of gas on the bridge. He, a friend, should understand my feelings. Her hobby, graphology, is the study of handwriting. Notice also that the appositives in the chart above are set off by commas. The commas indicate that these appositives are not essential to the basic meaning of the sentences. The appositives could be dropped without changing the meaning of the sentences. In the following examples, however, the appositives are not set off by commas because they are needed to define the nouns that come before them. The appositives could not be dropped from the sentences without taking away a very important part of the sentences meaning. Example: The famous baseball player Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. I heard the famous violinist Itzhak Perlman play.

Appositive Phrases
- appositive with its own modifiers (adjectives, adjective phrases, or other groups of words) An appositive phrase is a noun or pronoun with modifiers, placed next to a noun or pronoun to add information and details. Appositive Phrases The dog, a large Saint Bernard, crushed the flowers in the garden. The horrible smoke, a blend of burnt rubber and industrial flames , made her choke. Sean handed in his report, a ten-page paper on the Russian Revolution.

Both appositives and appositive phrases can accompany almost any noun or pronoun used in a sentence. Following are some of the many possibilities. With a Subject: An aviator, the pilot of a World War II Spitfire, explained the structure of the plane to us. With a Direct Object: The disc jockey introduced her special guest, a popular guitarist. With an Indirect Object: Bob gave Julia, his favorite aunt, a ticket to the concert. With an Object Complement: At the meeting, they named her treasurer, an important position. With a Predicate Nominative: Franklin s Fortune is a deserted mining camp, a ghost town. With the Object of a Preposition: The closets of the house, an old mansion, were empty. In addition to identifying, renaming, and explaining other words, appositives and appositive phrases also make it possible for a writer to put more information into one sentences. Two sentences: The road was the scene of many accidents. It was a congested highway. Combined: The road, a congested expressway, was the scene of many accidents. Two sentences: Yosemite National Park is a natural wonder. It attracts thousands of tourists each year. Combined: Yosemite National Park, a natural wonder, attracts thousands of tourists each year.

Compound Appositives
- two appositives or two compound appositives together A compound appositive is two or more appositives or appositive phrases connected by a conjunction and used to identify the same noun or pronoun. Examples: His vacation, a weekend in California and a week in Mexico, thoroughly relaxed him. Their horses, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and two Tennessee walking horses, were all champions.

Prepositions
- used to relate words A preposition is a word that relates a noun or pronoun that appears with it, to another word in the sentence.

Words used as Prepositions

Different prepositions can affect the entire meaning of a sentence by changing the way the words relate to each other.The choice of preposition affects the way the other words in a sentence relate to each other. Examples: The model airplane flew (toward, above, in back of, around, into) the tree. Don t touch the flowers (by, opposite, in front of, for, inside) the garden. Although most prepositions are single words, a few prepositions are made up of two or three words. These prepositions are called compound prepositions. According to Ahead of Apart from Aside from As of Because of By means of In addition to In back of In front of In place of In regard to In spite of Instead of In view of Next to On account of Out of Owing to Prior to

Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that includes a preposition and a noun or pronoun. The noun or pronoun generally found after a preposition is called the object of the preposition. Prepositions near before according to Objects of the Prepositions me the storm her

Most prepositional phrases contain two or three words. However, they may be much longer, depending on the number of words modifying the object, and the length of the preposition. Example: .. near the tall, gently swaying trees on account of the rain.

Sources: Ms. Almagro s Powerpoints Grammar and Compositon