An Introduction to Poetry

An Introduction to Poetry

Carpe Diem: “pluck the day” • A theme which conveys the idea of making the most of your time • A theme is really just the big picture idea • Frequently characterized by images of nature • Why? Carpe Diem!

Books have paragraphs; poems have stanzas • Stanzas can have different numbers of lines • Two lines: couplet • Four lines: quatrain • Six lines: sestet • Eight lines: octet The Structure of Poems: Stanzas

Rhyming couplet: two lines of poetry that rhyme • End rhyme: when the ends of any two or more lines rhyme • Internal rhyme: when lines rhyme in the middle Sounds in Poetry

“The time is out of joint, O’ cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right!” -Hamlet Rhyming Couplets(An Example of End Rhyme)

Can occur with: • 2+ words in the same line • 2+ words in the middle of two separate lines • A word at the end of a line and 1+ word in the middle of the following line Internal Rhyme

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, / Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, / While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, / As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “The Raven” Sounds in Poetry:Internal Rhyme & End Rhyme

Alliteration: the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of a word • Assonance: the repetition of internal vowel sounds • Consonance: the repetition of a consonant sound in the middle or at the end Sounds in Poetry

Metaphor: a comparison of two unlike things by saying one is another • Simile: a comparison of two unlike things using like or as Common Literary Devices in Poetry

Imagery: descriptive words or phrases that appeal to the five senses • Allusion: a reference to a statement, person, place, event, etc. • Repetition: the repeating of words, phrases, or lines to add emphasis Common Literary Devices in Poetry

Paradox: A seeming contradiction • Personification: A figure of speech in which things/ideas are given human attributes • Conceit: An extended metaphor Common Literary Devices in Poetry

There are two main types of sonnets: Shakespearean and Petrarchan • A sonnet has 14 lines, 10 syllables per line, and a specific rhyme scheme depending on the type Sonnets

Contains one octet (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) • Rhyme scheme: abbaabbacdecde (or cdcdcd) • Octet poses a problem; sestet offers an answer or counterargument Petrarchan Sonnets

Contains three quatrains (4 lines each) and a rhyming couplet (2 lines) • Rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg • The three quatrains pose a problem or argument; the couplet forms a conclusion or refutation Shakespearean Sonnets

I dropped the locket in the thick mud I made my way to the lake Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers • Alliteration • Assonance • Consonance Time to Practice!

First 8 Lines from “Sonnet 18” “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d” Time to Practice!Name that Sonnet Type

First 8 Lines from “SoleasiNel Mio Cor” “She ruled in beauty o’er this heart of mine, A noble lady in a humble home, And now her time for heavenly bliss has come, ‘Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine. The soul that all its blessings must resign, And love whose light no more on earth finds room, Might rend the rocks with pity for their doom, Yet none their sorrows can in words enshrine;” Time to Practice!Name that Sonnet Type

An Introduction to Poetry