Genre Focus: Poetry

1. Genre Focus: Poetry Poetry is “a way of feeling life,” Daisy Zamora Glencoe Literature The Reader’s Choice Course 4. 436-437

2. Elements of Poetry Speaker: Every poem has a speaker, or voice, that talks to the reader. Like a narrator in prose, the speaker may be the poet, a fictional person, an animal or even a thing.

3. But believe me, son. I want to be what I used to be when I was like you. from “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara

4. Lines and Stanzas: • Line—a word or row of words that may or may not form a complete sentence. • Stanza—a group of lines forming a unit. • The stanzas are separated by a space

5. Open it. Go ahead, it won’t bite. Well…maybe a little. from “The First Book” by Rita Dove

6. Rhythm and Meter: Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Rhythm can be regular or irregular. Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables which sets the overall rhythm of certain poems.

7. Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high. from “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman

8. Rhyme: • Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and many succeeding sounds in two or more words. • Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry • End rhyme occurs at the ends of lines • Rhyme scheme,the pattern of the end rhymes, may be designated by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.

9. The golden brooch my mother wore She left behind for me to wear; I have no thing I treasure more: Yet it is something I could spare. from “The Courage That My Mother Had” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

10. Other Sound Devices: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry. Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase, such as “hiss” or “buzz,” that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.

11. In the steamer is the trout seasoned with slivers of ginger from “Eating Together” by Li-Young Lee And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes from “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe

12. Imagery: Imagery is descriptive language that appeals to the senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. Some images appeal to more than one sense.

13. Her knotted hands showing slow blue rivers/jerked nervously through cornbread frying from “Yonosa House” by R.T. Smith

14. Figures of Speech: • A figure of speech is a word or expression that is not meant to be read literally. • A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as like or as to compare seemingly unlike things. • A metaphor also compares or equates seemingly unlike things, but does not use like or as. • Personification attributes human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.

15. Does it stink like rotten meat? from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes The moon is a white sliver from “I am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso A Spider sewed at Night from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson

16. Types of Poetry Narrative poetry is verse that tells a story. Lyric poetry expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of the speaker. Dramatic poetry usually has one or more characters who speak to other characters, to themselves, or to the reader.