Elements Of Poetry.pptx

POETRY  Poetry is the most compact form of

literature. A poem packs all kinds of ideas, feelings, and sounds into a few carefully chosen words. The LOOK, SOUND, and LANGUAGE of poetry all work together to create a total effect.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

ELEMENTS OF POETRY  Subject  Form  Symbolism

 Sound Devices  Imagery  Figures of Speech

 Tone  Theme

SUBJECT  Is the object/ thing/ idea/ person/

situation that the poem presents.

FORM A poem’s form is its appearance.  Poems are divided into lines.  Many poems, especially longer ones, may also be divided into groups of lines called stanzas.  Stanzas function like paragraphs in a story. 

SYMBOLISM  The use of symbols to express or represent

ideas or qualities. Always open like a rosebud ( a young girl) A white dove (peace) two diverged roads ( choices)

SOUND DEVICES  RHYME:

The repetition of the same or similar sounds, usually in stressed syllables at the ends of lines, but sometimes within a line.

Shadows on the wall Noises down the hall Life doesn’t frighten me at all  RHYME SCHEME

The rhyming pattern that is created at the end of lines of poetry. Mary had a little lamb, A Its fleece as white as snow. B And everywhere that Mary went, C The lamb was sure to go. B 

If the poem does not have a rhyme scheme it is considered to be a free verse poem.

REPETITION Poets often choose to repeat sounds, words, phrases, or whole lines in a poem. Repetition helps the poet emphasize an idea or create a certain feeling.

ALLITERATION The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. Seven silver swans swam silently seaward. Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers. CONSONANCE

repetition of consonant sound but not vowel sound gloomy woman climbing lamely

ONOMATOPOEIA

Words that are used to represent particular sounds. Crash Boom Bang Zip

IMAGERY  The use of colourful and moving words that appeal to the senses

and evoke feelings

 drip of ruby teardrops (aural/sound)  to wake up where the green grass grows

(visual/sight)  lips like cool sweet tea (oral/taste)  streaming through a velvet sky (tactile/touch)  the stench of the underworld (olfactory/smell)

FIGURES OF SPEECH  Simile  Metaphor  Personification  Extended Metaphor

A metaphor that extends throughout the entire poem instead of just a few lines of the poem.

Mother to Son By: Langston Hughes Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystalstair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor – Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light. So, boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the stops ‘Cause you finds it kinder hard. don’t you fall now – For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

TONE  Is the poet’s attitude toward the subject

serious light bored inspired sarcastic excited

sad happy worried self-satisfied wishful optimistic

THEME/MEANING  The theme of a poem is its central or

main idea. To identify a poem’s theme, ask yourself what ideas or insights about life or human nature you have found in the poem.