Understanding Poetry

Elements of Poetry Types of Poetry Literary Imagery: Figures of Speech

Elements of Poetry
Elements of poetry can be defined as a set of instruments used to create a poem. poem. Many of these were created thousands of years ago and have been linked to ancient story telling. They telling. help bring imagery and emotion to poetry, stories, and dramas. dramas.

1. Alliteration - Two or more words which have the same initial sound. sound. e.g. Rabbits Running Over Roses 2. Assonance - A partial rhyme which has the same internal vowel sounds amongst different words. words. e.g. Jo ascended the throne and told the whole populace to throw a bone to Polonius the Vole 3. Consonance - is the repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, as in assonance. assonance. e.g. "some mammals are clammy"

4. Rhyme - The repetition of sounds within different words, either end sound, middle or beginning. e.g. rhyme and time sleep and keep Variations on syllabic rhyme are: Consonantal Rhyme Assonantal Rhyme Internal Rhyme Full Rhyme Half Rhyme False Rhyme Eye Rhyme

5. Onomatopoeia - Words that sound like their meaning. e.g. I heard the bees buzzing

Types of Poetry
Narrative Poetry- is poetry that has a plot. The Poetryplot. poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex. complex. It is usually nondramatic, with objective regular scheme and meter. Poetry is found in meter. Ballads, Epics, different types of poetry such as Ballads, Epics, and Lays. Lays. Lyric Poetry- is a form of poetry that expresses Poetrypersonal and emotional feelings. In the ancient feelings. world, lyric poems were meant to be played to the lyre. lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat. beat.

Dramatic Poetry- Dramatic poetry, also known ramatic Poetryas a dramatic poem, is an emotional piece of literature which includes a story which is recited of sung. It refers to the dramatic genre of poetry. sung. poetry. Minor Forms of Poetry- include descriptive Poetrypoetry which can be pastoral and idyl.

Figures of Speech
A mode of expression in which words are used out of their literal meaning or out of their ordinary use in order to add beauty or emotional intensity or to transfer the poet's sense impressions by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning familiar to the reader. reader.

 Allusion: is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art. Casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. e.g. "Sue did not want to endure Eve's curse, so she opted for the epidural" Apostrophe: a turning aside from the direct subjectsubject-matter to address another who may be present in fact or in imagination e.g. "God help me!" "Ambition, you're a cruel master!"

 Simile: Resemblance, an explicit comparison Simile: (using like or as) between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common. common. e.g. Silence settled on the audience like a block of granite. granite. Metaphors: also compare one thing to another in Metaphors: terms of a different object or idea, often using the word "is." "is. e.g. The question of federal aid to education is a bramble patch. patch.

 Hyperbole: the use of exaggerated terms for the Hyperbole: purpose of emphasis or heightened effect; more is said than is literally meant. e.g. The cities are great, and walled up to heaven. heaven. Synecdoche: name of a part is used as the name of the whole or the reverse, he names a part when he means the whole, and the whole when he means the part. e.g All hands on deck.

 Litotes: A type of meiosis (understatement) in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary, as in "not unhappy" or "a poet of no small stature." e.g. "Not bad. means "Good. Metonymy: is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in Metonymy: which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. e.g. drinking(word) consuming a liquid(literal meaning) consuming alcohol(metonymic use)

 Oxymoron: a paradoxical statement in which two Oxymoron: contradictory terms or words are brought together. Examples-Examples-- "He was clearly misunderstood." "They were alone together. Paradox: a statement that seems selfselfcontradictory. The effect of this is to jolt the reader into paying attention. Examples-Examples-- "One day is sometimes better than a whole year. Personification: presenting a thing, quality, or idea as a person. Examples-Examples-- "The book just begged to be read."

Irony: Irony: the expression of thought in a form that conveys its opposite. The words meaning is reversed by juxtaposing it into a semantic field of thought inappropriate to the speaker and/or subject. e.g. Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted?