Literary Terms and Poem-A-Day

1. Literary Terms and Poem-A-Day

2. Alliteration • Definition: The repetition of beginning consonant sounds in words. • Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…

3. Poem-A-Day #1 • Choose an emotion to write about, such as sadness, anger, loneliness, joy, despair, contentment, etc. Write a poem about a time that you felt this emotion. Use descriptive words in your poem. Use alliteration in at least one line of your poem. (At least 10 lines long)

4. Assonance • Definition: The repetition of vowel sounds. • Example: Dream sweet dreams in your deep sleep.

5. Poem-A-Day #2 • Write a poem that begins with the line “If I were the teacher…” Use assonance in at least one line of your poem. (10+ lines)

6. Cinquain • Definition: A five line poem with two, four, six, eight, and two syllables, in that order. • Example: Popcorn (2) Crunchy, crispy (4) Popping, jumping, bursting (6) Covered with hot butter and salt (8) Perfect! (2)

7. Poem-A-Day #3 • Write a cinquain about your favorite food or your favorite sport. (5 lines)

8. Connotation • Definition: All of the feelings and associations that have come to be attached to a word. • Example: Antique and old have the same meaning (belonging to an earlier period), but antique has a positive connotation while old has a negative one.

9. Poem-A-Day #4 • Write a poem describing a day at school. Make sure you choose words with connotations that match the mood of your poem. (10+ lines)

10. Consonance • Definition: Repetition of identical of similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are different. • Example: Middle/Muddle; Wonder/Wander

11. Poem-A-Day #5 • Write a creative acrostic poem using the name of an interesting object. • Example: (5+lines) Black Widow Spiders Poison TheIr mates anD they do not like humans Either Run!

12. Couplet • Definition: Two rhymed lines of poetry that go together. • Example: The old dog barks backwards without getting up. I can remember when he was a pup. “The Span of Life” by Robert Frost

13. Poem-A-Day #6 Write a clerihew poem! It consists of two rhyming couplets. The name of a well-known person creates one the rhymes. Example: Barack Obama Always dealing with drama It has been an education Trying to lead our nation.

14. Denotation • Definition: The literal, dictionary definition of a word. • Example: Yell and Scream have the same basic dictionary definition (denotation) but have different feelings associated with them (connotation).

15. Poem-A-Day #7 • A definition poem defines an idea or a word creatively. Write a definition poem about a word or idea of your choosing. (5+lines) • Example: Stars Bright and beautiful balls of energy Burning, shining, winking Each one unique And completely unreachable.

16. Diamante • Definition: Poem where lines are placed on the page to form a diamond pattern. The subject goes through a change with the shift taking place in the middle lines. • Example: Jeans Crisp, new Clinging, hugging, appealing School, dance, beach, sports Fraying, tearing, shrinking Old, worn Cut-offs

17. Poem-A-Day #8 • Write a diamante poem over the topic of your choice. (7+ lines)

18. End Rhyme • Definition: Rhyming that occurs at the ends of lines. • Example: Darkness settles of roofs and walls, but the sea in the darkness calls… -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”

19. Poem-A-Day #9 • Write a poem about being scared or nervous. Make sure you use end rhyme in your poem. (10+ lines)

20. Haiku • Definition: A three line poem about everyday experiences usually involving nature and appealing to at least one of the senses. Usually follows a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. • Example: The tree sleeps soundly Grass breathes silently below While the stars keep watch

21. Poem-A-Day #10 • Write a haiku describing your favorite place or a place that you would like to visit. Or, you may follow the true nature of a haiku and write about nature. (3 lines)

22. Hyperbole • Definition: Exaggeration for the sake of emphasis, a figure of speech that is not meant to be taken literally. • Example: I have been waiting here for ages. I am hungry enough to eat a horse.

23. Poem-A-Day # 11 • Write a poem about things that you wish to do with our life some day. Use exaggeration , or a hyperbole, in your poem. (10+ lines)

24. Imagery • Definition: Words and phrases that appeal to the reader’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, or hearing) Example: Is not it nice to sniff The perfume of a perfect rose? Does not the aroma of an orange Freshen up your nose?

25. Poem-A-Day # 12 • Write a poem about being in the cafeteria for lunch. Use imagery in your poem. (10+ lines)

26. Internal Rhyme • Definition: rhyming that occurs within the same line. • Example: Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning. -Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

27. Poem-A-Day #13 • Write a poem about your favorite season. Use internal rhyme in at least two lines of your poem. (10+ lines)

28. Limerick • Definition: A humorous five line poem that follows a specific form: three long lines (the first, second, and fifth) and two short lines (the third and forth) that rhyme. • Example: There was an old man of Peru who dreamed he was eating a shoe. He awoke in the night with a terrible fright and found it was perfectly true!

29. Poem-A-Day #14 • Write a funny limerick of your own. (5 lines)

30. Metaphor • Definition: A figure of speech that compares or equates two different things with out using the words like or as. • Example: He has a heart of gold. The stars were sparking diamonds.

31. Poem-A-Day #15 • Write a poem about a friend or a famous person that uses at last one simile and one metaphor. DO NOT mention the person’s name until the end of the poem. (10+lines)

32. Onomatopoeia • Definition: The use of a word of phrase that imitates or suggest the sound of what it describes. • Examples: Buzz, Rustle, Boo, Tick-Tock, Tweet, Bark

33. Poem-A-Day #16 • Write a poem about one of the following places or events: the zoo, a carnival, a sporting event, or a party. Use at least three onomatopoeia words in your poem. (10+lines)

34. Oxymoron • Definition: A figure of speech that combines two usually contradictory terms. • Examples: Bittersweet Jumbo Shrimp Student Teacher

35. Poem-A-Day #17 • Begin this poem with the words “I do not understand…” List things you do not understand about the world, things, or people. (5+ lines) • Example: I do not understand Why people dislike each other Why dogs are colorblind and cats are not Why there are wars

36. Personification • Definition: A figure of speech in which a nonhuman or nonliving thing or quality is talked about as if it were human or alive. • Example: The tree raised its arms to the sun. The clouds were watching us.

37. Poem-A-Day #18 • Write a poem about an object (or objects) in this room using personification. (5+ lines) • Example: The clock watches on… The desks stand at attention… The books wait impatiently The floor enjoys a few more moments before the students start their day.

38. Quatrain • Definition: a poem or stanza of four lines that go together and have their own rhyme scheme. • Example: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. -Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

39. Poem-A-Day #19 • Write a quatrain about your favorite class. Follow the rhyme scheme ABAB in your quatrain. (4 lines)

40. Repetition • Definition: The repeating of a word of phrase to add rhythm or to focus on an idea. • Example: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping As of someone gently rapping, rapping, at my chamber door— -Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

41. Poem-A-Day #20 • Write a fictional poem that tells a story. Describe a setting, a character, and a problem or conflict. Use repetition in at least one line of your poem. (10+lines)

42. Shakespearean Sonnet • Definition: English sonnet created by William Shakespeare. It is made up of three quatrains and one couplet. Its rhyme scheme is… abab cdcd efef gg Example: The poem “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” is a sonnet written by Shakespeare.

43. Poem-A-Day #21 • Freewriting: You can write a poem about anything you want today! Have fun! (10+lines)

44. Simile • Definition: A comparison between two things that seem unlike but have one big thing in common. A simile uses the words like or as. • Example: When the last bus leaves, mothsstream toward lights like litter in wind. -Roberta Hill, “Depot in Rapid City”

45. Poem-A-Day #22 • Write a poem about one of the events that we have at Norwood (football, visits, lip sync contests, any assembly, hockey, dodgeball, dances, etc.). Use at last three similes in your poem. (10+lines)

46. Sonnet • Definition: Fourteen lines poem that can vary in rhyme scheme depending on the author. One of the most well-known of all verse forms. • Example: Famous sonnet writers include: Petrarch, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth

47. Poem-A-Day #23 • Today is your last Poem-A-Day! Write a poem about poetry! You could write about your thoughts/feelings abut poetry, what makes a good poem, elements of poetry, etc. Choose a rhyme scheme to stick to and have fun! (10+ lines)