Elements of Poetry

(title of your Cornell Notes Page)

•Figures of Speech
 Alliteration
• Repetition of the initial consonant
sound

“She sells seashells at the sea shore”

 Hyperbole
• A great exaggeration
• EXAMPLE: “He lassoed the tornado as
he rode his horse across the plains.”
 Imagery
• descriptive language that applies to the
senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.
Some images appeal to more than one sense.
 Metaphor

• Direct Metaphor
– Comparing two unlike objects or ideas

My love is a rose
 Metaphor, Continued
• Indirect metaphor
- An indirect comparison between two unlike things.

“My love has a rosy bloom”

 Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia is the use of words that
imitate sounds.

• Wham! Splat! Pow! I am in trouble now!

 Personification
• Giving human qualities to an inanimate
object

“The moon smiled down on the lovers”

A MOON CAN’T
SMILE…
 Repetition
• Repetition is used to make an impact on
the poem’s tone. Words or phrases are
repeated throughout the poem.
• Here comes summer,
• Here comes summer,
• Chirping robin, budding rose.
• Here comes summer,
• Here comes summer,
• Gentle showers, summer clothes.
• By Shel Silverstein
Rhyme Scheme
- pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Examples:

Twinkle, twinkle little star a

How I wonder what you are. a
Up above the earth so high, b
Like a diamond in the sky. b

Baa, baa, black sheep a

Have you any wool? b
Yes sir, yes sir, c
Three bags full. d
 Rhythm
• Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the
arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
in a line. Rhythm can be regular or irregular.
Example:

I think that I shall never see

a poem lovely as a tree.

The purple words/syllables are “stressed”

creating rhythm.
 Simile
• A comparison using like or as

“Life is like a box of chocolates”

 Poetry should be read aloud!
Make sure your earphones are
on and
Click on the links to listen…
• James Earl Jones reciting from Othello by Shakespeare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJybA1emr_g&featur
e=SeriesPlayList&p=1ECEA36D759093A1
• An Evening of Poetry, Music and the Written Word at the
White House, President and First Lady Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUfekqAJHeI