Poetry & Poetic Devices

1. Poetry & Poetic Devices 6th Grade ELA Mr. Roe Room 19

2. A Poem A poem is a portrait sketched in words. It is a synonym for the soul, a sermon From the stars. It is a song of mockingbirds Who mimic men; the fragrance of a forgotten Rose. It is the grammar of the soul And the language of the heart. It is a dream That comes to those who are awake; a stroll Upon the boulevard of time; a scheme To conquer death. It is the romance of France In a triolet or it is the power of Rome In a sonnet. It is a waltz for words, a dance Of the pen to the time of a mental metronome. A poem is a mental prayer and a breath From the soul which says that life is more than death. - Roger Bates Kronmann

3. How to (carefully!) Read a Poem How do you define poetry? • Almost impossible to do. • As you grow older and are able to understand more words, poems take on entirely new dimensions.

4. How to (carefully!) Read a Poem What kind of language is used in poetry? • A poet seeks the most meaningful words • Poets use sounds deliberately to enhance the message of the poem • A poet uses words that are the most suggestive, expressive, and precise for the poet’s purpose

5. How to (carefully!) Read a Poem And what IS the poet’s purpose? • This is a hard question to answer. • Poetry communicates feelings and experiences rather than objective facts. • Poetry “says more and talks less” than other forms of expression. • It does this by using a number of language resources – “POETIC DEVICES”

6. How to (carefully!) Read a Poem How then, do you respond to a poem? • You need to understand and react to its special language and structure. • It is a good idea to read a poem several times and aloud at least once. • It is often helpful to write a prose paraphrase of a poem to help you clarify and simplify the author’s ideas and language.

7. Guidelines for Close Reading of Poetry • Read the poem aloud at least once, following the punctuation for phrasing. • Commas, semicolons, periods, and other marks of punctuation tell you where to pause! • Poets do not expect the reader to pause at the end of each line!

8. Guidelines for Close Reading of Poetry • Respond thoughtfully to key words and references. • Many words have both denotative and connotative meanings. • Denotative meaning is the dictionary definition • Connotative meaning carries emotional associations.

9. Guidelines for Close Reading of Poetry • Write a paraphrase of any lines that need clarification or simplification. • A paraphrase helps a reader respond more fully to the poem and to understand imagery and figurative language. • It also puts inverted word order into normal word order.

10. Guidelines for Close Reading of Poetry • Using your own response to the poem, write a statement clarifying its central idea or meaning. • Try to state this idea in one or two sentences. • In this way you can use your own reactions as a means of exploring the poet’s message.

11. Poetic Devices

12. IMAGERY • Words or phrases used to put the senses to work in an effort to create pictures (or images) in the reader’s mind. Imagery is chiefly visual, but images also help one hear something, smell something, taste something, or touch something. • The purpose of imagery is to help one re-create in the mind the situation the writer imagines, so that we can react as we would to the thing or experience itself. • Writers use imagery as a tool to achieve intensity in their work.

13. #1 = IMAGERY OF SIGHT With words, the writer creates “visual” images that make the reader “see” what is being described with the mind’s eye. Not just a moon…but…“The soft yellow glow of the moon peeked out behind the blanket of dark clouds.”

14. #2 = IMAGERY OF SOUND With words, the writer creates a clear and definite sound that the reader can relate to and “hear” with his or her imagination. Not just a cricket’s sound…but…”The sharp, melodious trill of the chirping cricket on a hot summer’s night.”

15. #3 = IMAGERY OF SMELL With words, the writer describes a clear smell that the reader can relate and respond to with his or her imagination. (This is one of the strongest senses; yet, it is rarely used in writing). Not just pie…but…”Opening Grandma’s kitchen door, I was warmly greeted by the cinnamon sweet aroma of her ‘just baked’ apple pie.”

16. #4 = IMAGERY OF TASTE With words, the writer creates a “taste” so clear and defined that the reader can actually taste what is being described by using one’s imagination. Not just lemonade…but…”The unexpected tart of the freshly squeezed lemonade caused my lips to pucker as I drank it all down.”

17. #5 = IMAGERY OF TOUCH With words, the writer describes a “touch” so clear that the reader can actually “feel” what is being described by using one’s imagination. (Touch can be both texture and temperature). Not just sand…but…”The wet gritty sand squished between my toes as I walked along the beach.”

18. Imagery Discussion (discuss the use of imagery in the following lines of poetry) #1 By…Samuel Hazo “I threw and threw until my shirtback clung adhesively and cold against my spine. It was no more a case of having fun. I swore I would keep throwing till I won.” #2 By…Thomas J. Lyon “Little lady of wrinkled potato skin Clutching a five and dime shopping bag I try to stop to take your hand To tell you you are there.”

19. #3 By…William Wordsworth “A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye! - Fair as a star when only one Is shining in the sky.”

20. Imagery Practice (work on creative imagery one-liners for the following…)

21. PREREADING: Take a moment to write about a favorite place. Focus on the sights and sounds found there. As you read the following poems, pay careful attention to the sight and sound imagery. After completing the reading, we will share your findings and discuss your reactions to the speaker’s fantasy.

22. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE • Language that is used to describe one thing in terms of something else; language that is not intended to be taken literally. Figures of speech are not literally true, but they can help one to see the similarities between things that seem to be completely different; therefore, figurative language depends upon a comparison that is made between two or more things that are basically unlike. • Figurative language is very common in everyday conversation as well as in the written word. It contains such forms as simile, metaphor, personification, and symbol.

23. SIMILE • A simile is a type of “figurative language” (…language that shows one way of saying something while meaning something else. To understand it, we cannot take it literally; we must interpret it.) • A simile is a direct comparison made between two unlike things, using a word of comparison such as like, as, than, such as, or resembles. Similes are one of the most frequently used figures of speech. Ex: “My Luve’s like a red, red, rose.” • Similes are similar to metaphors in their comparison of two essentially unlike things. The main difference lies in their degree of directness. Similes use specific comparative words to denote the comparison. While similes are sometimes rather direct, they can also be quite subtle.

24. Simile Practice • Discuss the effectiveness of the similes in the poems to follow. • By…Amy Lowell • “When I go away from you • The world beats dead • Like a slackened drum.”

25. By…Samuel Hazo • My Sealed Aquarium • Seatbelted for the worst, • I slither into traffic like a trout. • Downstream, down • sluicing ramps, down • capillary boulevards, down • freeways, Mississippis, • I ogle from my sealed • aquarium and swim with schools • in the current • Fish-eyed • in glass, I minnow sideways • to the blink of go and stop. • I race the passing gills. • I trail the leadering fish.

26. METAPHOR • A metaphor is another type of “figurative language” (see simile). • A comparison made between two things which are basicallydissimilar, with the intent of giving added meaning to one of them. Metaphor is one of the most common forms of figurative language. A metaphor eliminates the specific word of comparison that the simile uses and directly identifies the comparison. Ex: “All the world is a stage.”

27. An (B) EXTENDED METAPHOR is a metaphor that is extended throughout a majority of the poem or throughout the entire poem. (The Poison Tree) • Metaphors are effective because they often help to put a specific picture/image in our minds. They often arouse strong emotional feelings, for the reader can then relate to the author’s/speaker’s words.

28. Metaphor Practice Exercise A: Shakespeare once wrote… “All the world’s a stage And all the men and women merely players.” Expand this metaphor by continuing these lines and composing some of your own comparisons of elements of acting to aspects of our lives.

29. Exercise B: Write a paragraph/poem (at least 6 lines) expanding a metaphor (as you did for the previous exercise). Try to make as many logical and creative relationships as possible. Begin with at least two of the following metaphors, and then create two of your own. 1) Life is a football game. 2) My little brother is a grasshopper. 3) School is a carnival. 4) Getting into college is a marathon. 5) Shopping for new clothes is a battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If time allows, discuss the (type of) metaphor on the following slide.

30. ALLITERATION • The repetition of consonant sounds in a group of words close together. Most often, alliteration comes at the beginning of words, although it can appear in the middle and at the end of words as well. Ex: “a dime a dozen,” “bigger and better,” and “jump for joy.” • One important function of alliteration is to give special emphasis to the words alliterated. Our ear hears them as having special value. This is why, although alliteration is most often used in poetry, it is also used in advertising and political speeches.

31. Alliteration is often used to reinforce meaning or to create mood. • The most powerful alliterations are those with three or more words alliterated. • Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

32. PERSONIFICATION • A figure of speech in which something nonhuman (a creature, idea, or object) is given human characteristics or feelings. Ex: “The moon smiled at me.” • When discussing poetry and identifying personification, try to identify WHAT is being personified, as well as HOW the poem personifies it. Ex: “The moon smiled at me.”

33. Personification Practice Discuss the personification in the following poems and discuss the “effect” it creates.

34. 1) By…Walter de la Mare Silver Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep; A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws and a silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream.

35. By…Kathleen Spivack • March 1st • Coming out of the house on a fresh March morning, • I saw February still meandering around • like laundry caught in a Bendix. Stray shreds • of cloud, like pillow slips, were rent from • her large endlessness. Outdated, • her decrepit body garlanded itself dis- • gracefully with powder. She luxuriated in old age. • Even her graying sheets were still there, • tattered, heaped carelessly on the street, • bearing the indentation of someone’s huge body • and furred with a fine fringe of soot. • She had been plump, she had been heavy, sitting • on top of us since January. Winter, you • old clothes hamper, what mildew • still molders inside you before March • dribbles a bit, dries up, and is done for?

36. ONOMATOPOEIA • The use of a word whose sound imitates or reinforces its meaning. In everyday speech, words such as whoosh, tick-tock, zoom, purr, popcorn, and buzz are onomatopoetic. Onomatopoeia Practice Discuss the “effect” created by the examples of onomatopoeia given above.

37. HYPERBOLE • A figure of speech that uses exaggeration or overstatement for effect. Ex: “I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back.” Or, Robert Burns’ poem, A Red, Red Rose. “As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, / So deep in luve am I; /And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a’ the seas gang dry.” Hyperbole Practice Create 4 sentences: 2 sentences containing non-original hyperboles and 2 sentences containing original hyperboles.

38. SPEAKER • The speaker of the poem is the voice in the poem. The voice in a poem can possibly be that of the poet, but more likely it is the voice of an invented character (person, animal, or thing) created by the poet. Some poems even have multiple speakers. • One of the first things to do when you read a poem is to look for clues that identify its speaker. Even when the poet begins the poem with “I,” we cannot assume and should not assume the speaker is the poet. It is always best to assume the speaker is invented like any other literary character.

39. Speaker Practice (Read the following short poem and decipher the speaker).

40. Patience “I try to have patience; but it’s too much to expect from me. I want my needs met now; I need to rest…to nap…to plan. The window is the place where all my needs are met. Sun beams help me think…help me sleep. Who is at my window? Little wren…not so wise. Licking my lips, I creep closer, a full belly helps me think as well. Look at you fluttering your wings; you tempt; you delight. I slowly gaze at the clock; dinner is not until ten, but a “not-so-wise” winged wren will do fine until then.”

41. REFRAIN • A common form of repetition in which one or more words, phrases, or lines that are repeated regularly in a poem, usually at the end of each stanza. Refrains are especially common in ballads, which are story poems that are meant to be sung. • Refrains are used to aid memory and emphasize an idea.

42. Refrain Practice Think of your favorite songs’ refrains. Now focus on one song that has a particularly effective and memorable refrain. What is the refrain? What is it about that particular refrain that makes it effective and memorable?

43. Refrain Practice Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moonOr asked the grinning bobcat why he grinnedCan you sing with all the voices of the mountainCan you paint with all the colors of the wind?Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

44. TONE • The attitude a writer takes toward the subject or the reader of a work of literature. Two writers can write on the same subject and convey a completely different tone. • An adjective is usually used to describe the tone of a work of literature: straightforward, serious, humorous, angry, lighthearted, cynical, affectionate, bitter, scornful, compassionate, detached, etc.

45. It is important to think about the tone of a piece of writing, for if you misinterpret tone, you can misread the entire story or poem. • To interpret tone, you should look at how the writer describes the characters, what point of view he has chosen, and what he tells about the characters’ feelings for each other. • You should also look at the writer’s description of setting and the mood or atmosphere the words evoke. • Tone can also be conveyed by the arrangement of words, by rhythm, sound (volume, inflection, and pitch), images, and figures of speech.

46. Tone Practice Describe the tone in the following popular sonnet (Sonnet 130) Tone = _______________ My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun, Coral is far more red than her lips’ red. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask’d, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks. And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound. I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. -by…William Shakespeare

47. Tone Practice

48. POETIC INVERSION • The reversal of the usual order of words in a sentence. Sometimes poetic inversion is used to stress a particular word, for emphasis, and other times it is used to create rhythm or for technical reasons such as to create an end rhyme. Ex. “From heaven sent was he.” • Anything written using the device of poetic inversion should be able to be written in “normal” speech. All words in the inverted sentence should be used in the “normal” sentence. (“From heaven sent was he” to “He was sent from heaven”)

49. Poetic Inversion Practice

50. END RHYME • In poetry, a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses • One of the chief functions of rhyme is to insure the unity of the poem. The repetition of rhyming sounds emphasizes the relationship of certain lines. Another function of rhyme is to build our anticipation, which can either be satisfied or frustrated. Rhyme is often used also to produce humor. • End rhyme is the most common form of rhyme. This places the rhyme sound at the end of a line of verse. The effect is one of closure, rest, and a sense of completion and fulfillment of expectation.