Poetry Basics

1. Poetry Basics

2. Simile • Definition A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using the words like, as, or resembles. • What to look for • TWO very different NOUNS • The words like, as, or resembles • How it works • By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about the first noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the characteristics of the second noun. NOUN1 = NOUN2 • What it is NOT • It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the sentence. • Examples • 1. Life is like a box of chocolates. • 2. My brother eats like a vacuum cleaner. • 3. Through the hazy smoke, the sun shined like a bronze medallion.

3. Metaphor Definition • A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using a “be” verb. • What to look for • TWO very different NOUNS • The “be” verbs: am, is, are, was, were, will be, etc. • How it works • By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about the first noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the characteristics of the second noun. NOUN1 = NOUN2 • What it is NOT • It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the Sentence. • Examples • 1. To me, math is Mt. Everest. • 2. The lion is king of the grasslands. • 3. Since my lawnmower is broken, my lawn is a jungle.

4. PERSONIFICATION • Definition • The description of a non-human NOUN by using human characteristics. Personification can be a simile or a direct metaphor only if the first noun is nonhuman and the second noun is human. • What to look for • Something not human being given a personality, human-like actions, or human-like behaviors. • How it works • By comparing a non-human NOUN to a human, personification implies an idea about the non-human noun. • What it is NOT • Personification NEVER describes a person. If the NOUN that is being described is a person, you do not have personification. • Examples • 1. The mountain waited for us in the distance, mocking us, beckoning us to attempt the climb. • 2. Empty for years, the house sat lonely at the end of the road, slumped over in defeat.

5. IMAGERY • Definition • Vivid descriptions which stimulate one of the five senses: sight, hearing, sensation, taste, or smell. • What to look for • ADJECTIVES which are vivid; similes or metaphors which use sensory descriptions. • How it works • By describing a NOUN with vivid language that stimulates a sense, the reader can “picture” the idea more effectively. • What it is NOT • A judgment or identification: saying “I see a dog” is not imagery; saying “that smells horrible” is not imagery. Imagery must include figurative language OR vivid and well articulated description. Imagery is not simply a statement of a sensory VERB or the identification of a NOUN. • Examples • 1. The scent of pine trees and campfire smoke hung around us for days after we returned home. • 2. Across the sky the sunset painted vivid and luminescent oranges and purples which chased the sun away. • 3. After I crashed my skateboard, my skin burned from the sun-heated and gritty pavement.

6. Award Winning Student Similes and Metaphors • His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. • He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. • She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up. • Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. • He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree. • The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. • From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30. • The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

7. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. • John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. • He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River. • Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut. • The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law George. But unlike George,this plan just might work. • The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while. • He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. • The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant. • It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools. • He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up

8. Contest Scoring

9. Class Grade • Class Grade will be based on the following factors: • Poem is MEMORIZED with no mistakes • Student puts effort into expressing the meaning of the poem through the class performance • Student shows their understanding of the poem through the class performance • Student is in class on the day of the POL competition. If you have an unexcused absence on this day, you will not be allowed to make up this grade!