Poetry Vocabulary

Poetry Vocabulary EQ: How do I analyze a Song/Poem?

Poetic Structure

rhythm • The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. Ex: But soft what light through yonder window breaks

line • A single line in a poem • Note: Lines do not correspond to punctuation. Read the poem based in the punctuation. • Ex. I never saw a purple cow (1) I never hope to see one (2) but I can tell you anyhow (3) I’d rather see than be one (4)

stanza • A “paragraph” in poetry • A group of lines (usually there are consistent groups- e.g. each stanza has 4 lines) 'Twasbrillig, and the slithytoves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the momerathsoutgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

couplet • A special kind of stanza with only two lines • Example: Our islands are Tagaloaalagi’s stepping stones across Le Vasa Loloasmall and frail but courageous enough to bear his weight and mana high enough to keep us above the drowning and learninghow to navigate by the stars currents and the ferocity of storms Point and sail in any direction as long as you knowhow to return home

Rhyming couplet • A couplet with an end rhyme

rhyme • Words that share the same sound • Dave: Gave • Bold: Hold • See: Be • Allay: Fray

internal rhyme • Rhymes that occur within a line. I'd like to jump into the ocean. But don't dump me in instead.

end rhyme • Rhymes that occur at the end of a line. "I cannot go to school today,"Said little Peggy Ann McKay."I have the measles and the mumps,A gash, a rash and purple bumps.My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,I'm going blind in my right eye.My tonsils are as big as rocks,I've counted sixteen chicken poxAnd there's one more—that's seventeen,And don't you think my face looks green?My leg is cut—my eyes are blue—It might be instamatic flu.I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,I'm sure that my left leg is broke—My hip hurts when I move my chin,My belly button's caving in,My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,My 'pendix pains each time it rains.My nose is cold, my toes are numb.I have a sliver in my thumb.My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,I hardly whisper when I speak.My tongue is filling up my mouth,I think my hair is falling out.My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,My temperature is one-o-eight.My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,There is a hole inside my ear.I have a hangnail, and my heart is—what?What's that? What's that you say?You say today is. . .Saturday?G'bye, I'm going out to play!

approximate rhyme • Sounds that are similar, but not exactly the same (floor and low) Also called “near rhyme” or “half rhyme” 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.

free verse • Poems that do not use meter or a regular rhyme pattern. A Noiseless Spider- Walt Whitman “A noiseless patient spider,I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand,Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space…Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.”

Poetic Devices What poets do to make their poems “poetic”

repetition • The use of repeated words, phrases, or lines to add emphasis

alliteration • The repetition of consonant sounds in several words that are close together (the sneaky snake slithered silently)

assonance • the repetition of vowel sounds in several words that are close together (happy cats nap on grass mats)

imagery • The use of words that appeal to the five senses to create a vivid image of the subject

Poetry Vocabulary