Poetry Concepts

1. Poetry Concepts

2. Key Words We Will Be Looking At • Alliteration • Allusion • Cliché • Connotation • Couplet • Imagery • Irony • Metaphor • Mood • Oxymoron • Onomatopoeia • Persona • Personification • Pun • Refrain • Rhyme Scheme • Rhythm • Simile • Stanza • Symbol

3. Alliteration • Alliteration is the repetition of consonant 
sounds usually at the beginning of the word two or more times in a line of poetry. • Tongue twisters are extreme examples of alliteration • She sells seashells by the seashore • Tommy turned timidly toward Timmy • It can just be two words • Jacob just asked a good question. • Jacob asked a good question just now.

4. Allusion • Allusions are references to words, phrases, people, etc. from literature ,history, art, or politics. • An allusion connects a piece of writing to real life or to an aspect of culture. • Example- In The Gift of the Magi the story and the title itself allude to the story of the wise men from the Bible.

5. Cliché • A cliché is an overused expression or phrase • You mean the world to me • You’re making me crazy • I love you more than anything • Comparing love or beauty to inanimate object • Flowers and candy

6. Connotation • The emotion that you associate with a word the non-dictionary definition • A writer may choose to use a particular word in order to get a certain response from a reader. • These are words that when you hear them make you have an emotional response

7. Couplet • A pair of lines that rhyme • The girl had purple hair/She acted like she didn’t care • The internet is really really great/I’ve got a fast connection so I don’t have to wait • Chillin’ out, take it slow/Then you rock out the show

8. Euphemism • A polite or less blunt way of saying something 
that might be offensive or bad. • He’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. • He passed away last night.

9. Imagery • Imagery is something you read that relates to and calls upon our five senses. • The way things sound look smell taste feel. • It helps us to fully experience a piece of writing and brings us closer to understanding its plot (if there is one) and the mood.

10. Irony • Verbal- when you say one thing but mean something else (sarcasm) • Situational- when the reader expects one thing to happen and then something different happens • Dramatic- when the reader knows something the characters do not

11. Metaphor • Speaking about one thing as though it were another unrelated thing • States the comparison as if it were a fact. • What light through yonder window breaks It is the east and Juliet is the sun.

12. Mood • The general feeling or atmosphere that a poem creates • Are you supposed to feel happy, depressed, scared, excited, suspicious, or confused • What does the author want you to feel

13. Oxymoron • Two words that don’t seem to go together but do to create a new meaning. • Jumbo shrimp • A fine mess • Act naturally • Deafening silence • Girly man

14. Onomatopoeia • A word that sounds like what it means • Splat • Bang • Knock • Burp • Crash • Boom

15. Persona • The person who is speaking in a poem • Sometimes its a person an animal a rock or anything else • Who’s telling us the information is often times as important as the words

16. Personification • Giving something non-human, human qualities • The wind whistled through the trees • The stars blinked rapidly • The sunset reached down and enfolded the horizon • Her heart broke into a thousand pieces

17. Pun • Using words that have multiple meanings • That’s a nice gun you’ve got there • There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn't control his pupils. • To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

18. Refrain • One or more lines that are repeated in a poem or song is also often referred to as the chorus • Usually the part that gets stuck in your head • Quoth The Raven Nevermore. • Maybe next time hell think before he cheats.

19. Rhyme Scheme • A pattern of rhyming sounds at the ends of lines in a poem. Every who down in Who-ville like Christmas a lot ---------------A But the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did not.-------A The Grinch hated Christmas the whole Christmas season.---B Now please dont ask why no one quite knows the reason.---B It could be his head wasnt screwed on just right.----------------C It could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight.---------------C But I think that the most likely reason of all-----------------------D May have been that his heart was two sizes to small.---------D

20. Rhythm • Pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of 
poetry • Basically it’s how the poem sounds • Just like songs are supposed to be played a certain way poems are supposed to be read a 
certain way

21. Simile • A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by using the words “like” or “as”. • It is different from a metaphor, which compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing. • Flopping like a fish • Dumb as a post

22. Symbol • An object that represents something else • Usually something simple or ordinary that represents a bigger concept • A heart = love • A ring = marriage

23. Theme • The main idea of the poem • Love- Love conquers all • Death- You cant escape death • Carpe Diem- Seize the day because life is short • War- War tears families apart • Youth- Youth is impulsive • Choices- Make good choices because you have to 
live with them • Themes are the authors opinions on those 
subjects.

24. Shakespearean Syntax • I ate the sandwich. • I the sandwich ate. • Ate the sandwich I. • Ate I the sandwich. • The sandwich I ate. • The sandwich ate I.