Download Introduction to Poetry

Introduction to Poetry
Pre-AP Language Arts/Language Arts - 8
Poetry is a creative use of words which,
like all art, is intended to stir an emotion
in the audience.
Poetry generally has some structure that
separates it from prose.
The basic unit of poetry is the line. It serves
the same function as the sentence in prose,
although most poetry maintains the use of
grammar within the structure of the poem.
Most poems have a structure in which each
line contains a set amount of syllables; this is
called meter.
Lines are also often grouped into stanzas.
The stanza in poetry is equivalent or equal
to the paragraph in prose. Often the lines
in a stanza will have a specific rhyme
scheme. Some of the more common
stanzas are:
Couplet: a two line stanza
Triplet: a three line stanza
Quatrain: a four line stanza
Cinquain: a five line stanza
Example of a Couplet
PUMPKINS ON GUARD
Look at all the pumpkin faces
Lighting up so many places.
On the porch and in the yard,
Pumpkin faces standing guard.
Looking friendly, looking mean,
With a smile or with a scream.
Orange faces burning bright
In the cool October night.
Example of a Triplet
WITCH WAY
With warts on her nose
And sharp pointy toes,
She flies through the night on her broom.
With covers pulled tight
In the shadows of night,
I hide in the dark of my room.
Classwork/Practice
Write a couplet or triplet about Halloween
(Couplets must have at least four lines;
Triplets must have at least six lines)
These will be displayed in class!
Meter is the measured arrangement of words in
poetry, the rhythmic pattern of a stanza,
determined by the kind and number of lines.
Meter is an organized way to arrange
stressed/accented syllables and
unstressed/unaccented syllables.
Whose woods / these are / I think /I know
Rhyme is when the endings of the words
sound the same. Read the poem with me out
loud.
Dust of Snow
by Robert Frost
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And save some part
Of a day I had rued.
Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words at
the end of each line. Not all poetry has a rhyme
scheme. They are not hard to identify, but you must
look carefully at which words rhyme and which do
not.
Dust of Snow
Poems of more
than one stanza
often repeat the
same rhyme
scheme in each
stanza.
by Robert Frost
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And save some part
Of a day I had rued.
Let’s practice rhyme scheme
Determine the rhyme scheme of the following poem:
HALLOWEEN
HALLOWEEN
A gentle breeze rustling the dry cornstalks.
A sound is heard, a goblin walks.
A harvest moon suffers a black cat's cry.
Oh' do the witches fly!
Bonfire catches a pumpkins gleem.
Rejoice, it's Halloween!
-Richard Anderson © Copyright 1998
Classwork/Practice
Identify the rhyme scheme in the poems
provided on the worksheet.
Repetition is the repeating of a sound, word,
or phrase for emphasis.
Inside
☺ Inside the house
(I get ready)
☺ Inside the car
(I go to school)
☺ Inside the school
(I wait for the bell to ring)
Whenever you describe something by
comparing it with something else, you are using
figurative language.
Figurative language is any language that goes
beyond the literal meaning of words in order to
furnish new effects or fresh insights into an
idea or a subject.
The most common figures of speech are simile,
metaphor, and alliteration.
Figurative language is used in poetry to
compare two things that are usually not
thought of as being alike.
A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially
unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced
by like or as.
The clouds looked like cotton candy.
Grandpa was as stubborn as a mule
Tom's head is as hard as a rock.
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied
comparison is made between two unlike things that
actually have something important in common.
Clouds are
cotton candy.
They are fluffy.
Grandpa was a
mule.
They are stubborn.
Tom is a rock.
They are hard.
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same
kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed
syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" (Hart
Crane). Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal. To find
an alliteration, you must look the repetitions of the same
consonant sound through out a line.
Silvery _
_
snowflakes fall _silently
_
Softly _
sheathing all with moonlight
Until _
sunrise _
slowly _
shows
_
Snow _
softening _swiftly.
Imagery is an appeal to the senses. The poet
describes something to help you to see, hear, touch,
taste, or smell the topic of the poem.
Fog
The fog comes on little cat feet.
SEE, HEAR
It sits looking over harbor and city
SEE
on silent haunches and then moves
HEAR, SEE,
on.
FEEL