THE POIGNANT POETRY

(SYNCHRONOUS)
Elements of
Poetry
The Speaker and The Poet

• Poets- the writer of a poem.

• This “role” is referred to as the speaker, voice,
mask, or persona.
• The voice speaking a poem may sound like it is the
poet’s own, and it may be difficult to separate the two,
but there is usually a distinction.
 Diction and Tone
• Diction refers to the words and
grammatical constructions that the
poet uses in the creation of their
persona.
• Tone is a literary device that
reflects the writer’s attitude toward
the subject matter or audience of a
literary work
 Figurative
Language

Figurative- This is the implied

language commonly used in
poetry or by anyone who is
concerned with effective
expression.
Simile: items from different
classes are compared by a
connective such as “like,”
“as,” “appears,” or “seems.”
 Figurative Language
Metaphor: Assert the identity, without a connective, of terms that are
literally incompatible. Refers to a comparison of two objects without
using like or as.
Example: Cause baby you’re a firework, Come on show them
what you’re worth, Make them go oh, oh, oh, As you shoot across the
sky
Personification: The attribution of human feelings or characteristics or
abstractions to inanimate objects.
Example: See the line where the sky meets the sea, It calls me And no
one knows, how far it goes, If the wind in my sail on the sea stays
behind me, One day I'll know, how far I'll go
Apostrophe: Addressing a person or thing that is not literally listening.
Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger,
now he's dead, Mama, life had just begun,
Hyperbole –is the use of extreme exaggeration or extravagant statements,
meant to create a strong impression, as well as to evoke or indicate strong
feelings. Examples:
I’ve been waiting for this forever.
The kids were starving to death by the time they went to lunch.
Your luggage weighs a ton.
He thought he would die of embarrassment.
She felt like she’d slept for years.
 Sound Devices
Alliteration – Alliteration is the repetition of
consonant sounds within a sentence or a phrase. It is
sometimes more specifically defined as the repetition of
sounds at the beginning of words, or in stressed syllables.
Examples:
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Grandma gave us gravy and grapes.
Hopefully, Howard’s house has heat.
Bridget bought a blue bouquet.
Onomatopoeia defined as words
whose spelling and pronunciation
imitate natural sounds. Onomatopoeia
is used to intensify a description of a
sound, and make it more effective with
a word that represents and resembles
that sound.
Examples:
The bees are buzzing in the garden.
He splashed happily in the pool.
 Figurative
Language
-Connotations: suggestions,
associations, hidden
meaning
-Denotations: dictionary
definitions, literal meaning
 Imagery and Symbolism
• Symbolism: loaded with significance that it is not simply
literal, and it does not simply stand for something else; it is both
itself and the something else that it suggests.

• Conventional Symbols: people have agreed to accept them

as standing for something other than their literal meanings. –
Cross = Christianity – Rose = Love, Romance
 Imagery
•Imagery describes objects,
actions, and ideas in a way that
appeals to the physical senses and
helps readers to picture the scene
as if it were real.
•Visual
•Auditory
•Olfactory
•Gustatory
•Tactile
 Structure of a poem

Stanzas- the groups of lines, are like paragraph in prose.

Types of stanzas:
2 lines: Couplet
3 lines: Tercet
4 lines: Quatrain
5 lines: Cinquain
6 lines: Sestet
7 lines: Septet
8 lines: Octave
What is a Rhyme?
Repetition of a similar sound
between words or the ending
of words: internal rhymes,
End rhyme and initial
Rhyme
 Narrative
Poems
Tell a story. It is a story told in
verse, by a speaker or narrator.
Can be true or fictional.
Poems vary in treatment of
character and setting.
Forms of narrative poetry
include:
Ballad and Epic
Epics
An epic poem is a lengthy,
narrative work of poetry. These
long poems typically detail
extraordinary feats and
adventures of characters from a
distant past.
Ex. Beowulf
 Lyric Poetry
Always expresses emotions.
 Poems are shorter than epic poems.
 Tends to express the personal feelings of one speaker
(often the poet).
 Gives you a feeling that they could be sung
 Sonnet, Ode and Elegy are examples of Lyric Poetry.