Poetic Devices for Blues

1. Poetic Devices for Blues Vocabulary

2. Alliteration • The repetition of the same sound, usually of a consonant, at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other or at short intervals. Example: The repetition of "f" and "g" in fields ever fresh, groves ever green.

3. Alliteration examples • Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos. • Dan’s dog dove deep in the dam, drinking dirty water as he dove. • Eric’s eagle eats eggs, enjoying each episode of eating.

4. Imagery • Imagery is any poetic reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste).

5. Imagery examples • I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, • When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.   • For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; • And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.  

6. Metaphor • A figure of speech in which two things that seem to have little in common are compared, usually in an arresting or memorable way. • Example: For instance, the song "You Are My Sunshine" compares the singer’s beloved to the center of our solar system as a way of expressing her importance in his life.

7. Metaphor examples • A metaphor sounds like a false statement, until you realize the similarities between the two things being compared. These would be phrases like: • “time is money” • “time is a thief” • “you are my sunshine” • “he has a heart of stone” • “America is a melting pot”

8. Personification • Personification is a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

9. Personification examples • Personification is giving human characteristics to objects, animals, or ideas. This can really add to a reader’s enjoyment of a poem as it changes the way he looks at things. Examples are: • “the sun played hide and seek with the clouds” • “opportunity knocked on the door” • “the vines wove their fingers together to form a braid”

10. Simile • A figure of speech in which two basically unlike things are compared using "like" or "as”: "My love is like a red, red rose."

11. Simile examples • A simile is used to compare two things using the words “like” and “as”.  Examples include: • “as dry as a bone” • “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel” • “they fought like cats and dogs” • “stand out like a sore thumb”

12. Rhyme • The use of the same or similar sounds either internally or at the ends of lines in order to produce an audible echo effect.

13. Rhyme examples • Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the King's horses, And all the King's menCouldn't put Humpty together again!

14. Repetition • The return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect in any form of literature.

15. Repetition examples • I'm nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody too?Then there's a pair of us-don't tell!They'd banish us you know.

16. Apostrophe • when somebody addresses a abstract concept or inanimate object as if it were real.

17. Apostrophe examples • "Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend, / More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child / Than the sea-monster." • from King Lear by William Shakespeare

18. Echo • repetition of key word or idea for effect

19. Echo examples • What shall I do, when I behold her?Hold her!How will she believe that I love her?Love her!What if I come to detest hertest herI will walk with a swagger; so debonairOn air

20. Allusion • Allusion: an expression used for an indirect reference to another source.Allusions can come from books, plays, movies, and history.

21. Allusion examples • Barack Obama's Humorous Allusions"I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth."(Senator Barack Obama, speech at a fund-raiser for Catholic charities, October 16, 2008)"I violated the Noah rule: predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does."(Warren Buffett)

22. Hyperbole • A hyperbole is a type of figurative language. It is often confused with a simile or a metaphor because it often compares two objects. The difference is a hyperbole is an exaggeration. For example: His feet were as big as a barge.

23. Hyperbole examples • Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, (The Concord Hymn) • These books in your bag weigh a ton.

24. Euphemism and example • Euphemism is is the substitution of a soft agreeable expression instead of one that is harsh or unpleasant.  • For example 'pass away' as opposed to 'die'.

25. Paradox • A paradox is an apparent contradiction that makes sense after you think about it. "The child is father to the man" is a common one. "Lonely in teeming city crowds" is another.

26. Paradox examples • The silence of midnight, to speak truly, though apparently a paradox, rung in my ears . ~ Mary Shelley, The Last Man • I dwell in a house that vanished many a summer ago. ~ Robert Frost, Ghost House

27. Analyze poetic devices in a Blues Song • Analyze the following Blues song, “Crossroads.”

28. Compare and Contrast “Crossroads” • On the back of your guided notes compare this version of “Crossroads” with the original. • What is similar? What is different?