1 / 35

Poetry terms

Poetry terms. Free verse. Varying line lengths, lack of meter, and nonrhyming lines. Blank verse. Unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. Most of Shakespeare’s plays. Couplet. Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that present a single idea. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets end this way.

base
Download Presentation

Poetry terms

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Poetry terms

  2. Free verse • Varying line lengths, lack of meter, and nonrhyming lines.

  3. Blank verse • Unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. • Most of Shakespeare’s plays.

  4. Couplet • Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that present a single idea. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets end this way. • So long as men can breathe or eyes can see • So long lives this and this gives life to thee. “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” -- Shakespeare

  5. Iamb • A metrical foot in poetry: one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Often iambs are used in sets of five called iambic pentameter (all of Shakespeare’s sonnets are iambic pentameter). Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate.

  6. Hyperbole • Drastic overstatement. • “I’m starving!” “There were a million people at the concert.”

  7. Enjambment • The continuation of a sentence from one line to another. Oh, may I join the choir invisible Of those important dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity, -- “The Choir Invisible,” George Eliot What effect does this have?

  8. Ballad • Narrative poem originally meant to be sung. “Scarborough Fair.”

  9. Elegy • A poetic lament of someone’s death.

  10. Epic • An epic poem celebrates mighty heroes and heroines. Typically has elevated language and a grand style. • Epic poems like The Iliad and The Odyssey • Movies of epic heroes in Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

  11. More Terms and Figurative Language

  12. Repetition • Something happens or is stated again. Reoccurring.

  13. Alliteration • Use of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of phrases. • “The wind whipped against my face.”

  14. Anaphora • The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of several phrases or successive clauses for rhetorical effect. • "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,As to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,And purest faith unhappily forsworn,And gilded honour shamefully misplac'd,And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd,And strength by limping sway disabledAnd art made tongue-tied by authority,And folly--doctor-like--controlling skill,And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,And captive good attending captain ill:Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone,Save that, to die, I leave my love alone." • -- Shakespeare’s Sonnet 66

  15. Assonance • The repetition of internal vowel sounds. • EXAMPLE: Example: I made my way to the lake.

  16. Consonance • Repetition of internal or ending consonant sounds of words close together in poetry. • Example: I dropped the locket in the thick mud.

  17. Enjambment • Ending a line of poetry mid-sentence. Used to emphasize word choice, images, and influence the rhythm of the poem. • Updike’s poem “Dog’s Death”

  18. Allusion • Literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference. • EXAMPLE: Arnold’s “Dover Beach” “Sophocles long ago / Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought / into his mind the turbid ebb and flow / of human misery…”

  19. Symbolism • An element in a literary work that figuratively stands for something else. • A symbol is also a metaphor, but it must usually be an object that refers to something else in the work. Often a symbol communicates the major themes of the work. • Examples of common symbols in literature: Seasons – Spring(youth), Summer(love), Fall (aging), Winter (death). Light/Dark – good / evil Water -- cleansing Forests – a place of personal challenge, interior conflict

  20. Personification • Giving inanimate objects human characteristics. • “The air conditioner sputtered and coughed until it just died.” • Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” p 912

  21. Apostrophe To address an abstract or inanimate entity. “To a Wasp” on p. 906

  22. Hyperbole Exaggeration, adding emphasis without intending to be true. “There were a million people at the party.” p. 907 “To His Coy Mistress” – The speaker uses hyperbole to convey his adoration for his love.

  23. Oxymoron • When two words of contradictory meaning are used together for rhetorical effect, often humorous. • “Tight slacks,” "wise fool,” “jumbo shrimp,” “deafening silence.”

  24. Paradox Seemingly contradictory statements that may be true. In the 1960s, war protesters would “fight for peace.” p. 908, “The Unkindest Cut” (Oxymorons are tighter contradictions, usually two words. Paradoxes can be bigger in concept – like if Kanye West and Taylor Swift wrote a song together.)

  25. Juxtaposition • To place ideas side by side for comparison. Can create humor or conflict in a poem or story. • For instance, if the first stanza of a poem is about love, and the second part is about death. • Or half of a poem uses imagery from Summer and the other half uses Winter imagery. • June Carter and Johnny Cash are a juxtaposition.

  26. Antithesis • The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel word, phrases, or grammatical structure. • “To err is human, to forgive divine.” – Alexander Pope

  27. Asyndeton • A style in which conjunctions are omitted, producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose. • “I came, I saw, I conquered.” --Caesar

  28. Synecdoche • When part of something is used to signify the whole. A criminal is placed “behind bars” (in prison). Or when the whole is used to signify the part. Marion won the volleyball game. (Marion refers to the volleyball team)

  29. Metonymy • When something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it. • She preferred the silver screen (referring to movies).

  30. STOP FOR LIT CLASSES

  31. Connotation • Implied suggested meaning, apart from its explicit definition. Subtext. EXAMPLE

  32. Denotation • Literal meaning, strict dictionary definition.

  33. Context • The words, phrases, or passages that surround a piece of writing that help explain its full meaning. • Often if you don’t understand a certain passage, looking for context can help elucidate the confusing passage’s meaning.

  34. Metaphor • One thing compared to another. Deepens the meaning and expands the visual image. • “On the court, he was a tiger prowling the field.” • How is this different than just saying “On the court he was a competitive player”?

  35. Simile • One thing compared to another using “like” or “as.” • “On the court, he waslikea tiger prowling the field.”

More Related