The World of Poetry
Poetry Terms and Techniques
Why do we study poetry?
The poet
doesn’t
invent. He
listens.
~
Jean Cocteau
Poetry is important
Meaning + Sound + Form = Poetry
A collage
of
images, thoughts,
and sounds that
evoke feeling and
meaning.
You must look at form, meaning, and
sound elements to truly take meaning
Why is poetry difficult to read and
understand?
Denotation (the literal)
vs.
Connotation (the understood)
“You’re on fire!”
Diction
Style of speaking or writing as
dependent upon choice or words
a.k.a. the fancier word for “word
Diction
A study of diction is the analysis of
how a
writer uses language
FOR A DISTINCT
PURPOSE AND EFFECT
, including
WORD CHOICE and FIGURES OF
SPEECH.
Meaning
Denotative (Literal)
Language:
A basic, strict
dictionary meaning of
a word or phrase.
This is my home.
This is where I live,
sleep and eat. This is
my shelter from the
elements.
Connotative
(Figurative) Language:
Using language that is
not meant to be taken
literally, but has
underlying meaning.
This is my home.
It feels natural to be
Ways to Characterize Diction…
Denotative
Connotative
(Referential-dictionary)
Public servant
Financier
Law Officer
Legislative consultant
Investigator
Soldier of fortune
(Emotive-emotional)
Bureaucrat
Speculator
Cop
Lobbyist
Spy
Ways to Characterize Diction
Formal
Informal
(academic or literary writing)
Germ
Relatives
Position
Child
Superior
Communicate
(personal writing)
Bug
Folks
Job
Kid
Boss
Get across
Ex. He is two fries short of a Happy Meal.
(slang=highly informal)
He’s crazy. (informal)
Examples
•
The respite from study was devoted to a sojourn at the
ancestral mansion. (formal and artificial)
•
I spent my vacation at the house of my grandparents.
(informal and natural)
•
I endeavored to peruse the volume. (formal and artificial)
•
I tried to read the book. (informal and natural)
•
Please avoid the “let me impress you” formal and artificial
language and rely mostly on informal and natural
Take it another step…
•
Colloquial
—conversational language
•
Dialect-is there dialect?
•
Slang
—highly informal and not appropriate for
most technical writing, but can be appropriate
for many purposes in our class. It all depends on
the situation.
•
Jargon
—the special language of a profession or
group (lawyer or teacher talk, medical
Ways to characterize diction…
Specific
General
Gaze, stare, peer, ogle
Stride, slink, trot, shuffle
Slump, squat. Lounge
Weep, sob, bawl
Hurl, pitch, toss, flip
Black Labrador retriever
Tall lanky boy
Look Walk Sit Cry Throw Dog Boy
Ex.
The dishes fell to the floor with a loud noise
(crashed or clattered).
Ways to Characterize Diction…
Euphonious
Cacophonous
(Pleasant Sounding)
…Through the drizzling rain
on the steamy street breaks
the morning sun
Liquid infection
Tinkle
Butterfly
(Harsh Sounding)
…their loud songs bang and
grate nerves of the wretched
listeners
Pus
Pee
Imagery:
Language that evokes the senses.
Visual – Sight
Aural – Hearing
Tactile – Touch
Gustatory – Taste
Similes and Metaphors
Simile : A figure of speech likening one thing to
another by the use of “like” or “as”.
Metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is
spoken of as if it were another.
Personification:
Giving living
characteristics to non-living things.
Fog
The fog comes
On little cat feet.
It sits looking
Over harbor and city
On silent haunches
And then moves on.
Symbolism
Symbolism:
When a thing or
object actually
represents a
concept, emotion
or idea.
What might the following
image symbolize for you?
Mood: The feeling
the reader gets from
the poem.
Tone: The tone of
voice the author is
using.
Vagabonds
We are the desperate
Who do not care,
The hungry
Who have nowhere
To eat,
No place to sleep,
The tearless
Who cannot
Weep.
Theme:
Theme: the universal message about
humanity and human nature that the
poem explores.
Like every novel, short story, and film each
poem has many themes that you can relate
to. It makes you FEEL and CONNECT.
Have you ever experienced loss, first love,
What is the main subject of the work?
+
What is the author saying about the
subject? __________________
= Theme Statement
Sound
In many ways,
poetry is like music.
A poet will use and
manipulate their
language to make
certain sound
Two Types of Basic Sound
Euphony:
The quality of having a pleasing sound: a
combination of agreeable sounds.
To Autumn (John Keats)
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
Cacophony:
A harsh discordance of sounds; a mixture
of sounds unpleasant or unpleasing sounds.
Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll )
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
Rhyme
Internal vs. End Line
Internal:
Two or more words found
inside one line that rhyme.
End Line:
Words at the end of lines
that rhyme.
Perfect vs. Slant
Perfect:
Words that have the same
end sound.
Smart/Heart
Slant:
Words that have the same first
and last sounds but different vowels
in the middle.
Ball/Bell
Rhyme Pattern
The pattern of rhyme is determined
and labeled using letters.
So sweet, A
Meter and Rhythm
Meter: The counted syllables in a
line
.
Poems without a set pattern are
called free verse.
Meter and Rhythm
We Real Cool
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike Straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die Soon.
~ Gwendolyn BrooksAlliteration, Assonance,
Consonance and Onomatopoeia
Alliteration: the repetition of the
same beginning consonants
Assonance: the repetition of the same
vowel sounds in the middle of words
Consonance: the repetition of the
same ending consonants
What sound techniques are used in
the following lines?
I heard the crunch of
bones.
My dinner was decidedly
delicious.
I think we should crank
up the funk.
Form
Stanza
Couplet
Quatrain
Cinquain
Sestet
Octet
Lyric Poetry
Sonnets
Things to Avoid…
Redundant language occurs when you
use words that say the same thing.
I: He has reverted back to smoking.
C: He has reverted to smoking.
I: My two twins are celebrating their
birthday.
Things to Avoid…
•
Clichés are phrases used so often that
people no longer pay attention to them.
▫
Writing an “A” paper is easier said than
done.
▫
I’ll turn it in late, but it’s better late than
never.
•
Avoid using clichés in creative writing.
Things to Avoid…
Airing the dirty laundry
All bent out of shape
Beggars can’t be choosers
Butterflies in my stomach
A chicken with it’s head cut off
Grinning from ear to ear
Waiting for the dust to settle
Work my fingers to the bone
Like a pain in the neck
At the end of the day
Push your buttons
Off the hook
Tail between his legs
That hits the spot
Threw a curveball
Love is blind
Pretty as picture
Like butter
Things to Avoid…
•
Profanity
•
Is it ever okay to swear in your writing?
TPCASSSTT
Title – What do you think the poem will be about?
Paraphrase – What basically happens in the poem?
Connotation – What figurative language exists in the
poem?
Attitude – Describe the mood and tone.
Shift – Is there a shift in subject or tone?
Sound – Does the poet use any sound devices?
Structure – What form does the poem take?
Title – After reading the poem, what does the title mean?
Does it have new meaning?
“Interior”
Her mind lives in a quiet room,
A narrow room and tall,
With pretty lamps to quench the gloom
And mottos on the wall.
There all things are waxen neat
And set in decorous lines;
And there are posies round and sweet ,
And little straightened vines.
Her mind lives tidily; apart
From cold and noise and pain,
And bolts the door against her heart,
Out wailing in the rain.
TPCASTT
Title –
I think the poem will be about the inside of something.
Paraphrase –
In the poem, a person’s mind is personified by being able to live in a beautiful room. The heart is also personified and is stuck outside of the beautiful room in a cold and dark environment.
Connotation –
Positive and comforting imagery is offered with words like “pretty”, “decorous”, “sweet”, and “straightened”. However, these arecontradicted by words like “cold” and “noise” and “pain” in the second ½ of the poem.
Attitude –
The tone is confusion and isolation, and the mood is worried and/or fearful.
Shift –
There is a definite shift in tone in line 9 beginning with the word “apart”.
Sound –
There is end line rhyme used throughout the poem. This is pleasant at first, but it switches to being more intense in the latter ½. The beginning is more euphonic while the ending is more cacophonic.
Structure –
It’s one stanza of 12 lines; 6 couplets, and has a meter of between 6 & 8 syllables per line.
Title –
“Interior” refers to what is going on inside a young girl’s mind.
Theme –
There is a common human tendency to not let our emotionsExplication for “Interior”
Poetry Reading Test
Reading Comprehension
Summary
Theme
Literature Study
Identifying poetic elements (things from this
PowerPoint) within the poem
Word Study