1. The words that make up a single line of poetry are called a poetic line. For example, “,Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house” is the well-known first poetic line of “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore.
Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,
gospel
music
outside
at the
church.
homecoming
4. Placement – the way words
and poetic lines are placed on the page of a poem.
Example: The following are
creatively-placed lines from a poem by E.E. Cummings:
in Just-
spring
when the world is mud-
luscious
the little
lame
ballonman
whistles
far and wee
5. Verse – a line in
traditional poetry that is written in meter.
Example: In “When I do count
the clock that tells the time” from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet
Number Twelve,” the underlined syllables are accented, giving the line a metric
pattern known as an iambic pentameter.
6- Capitalization and Punctuation –
In poetry, rules of capitalization and punctuation are not always followed;
instead, they are at the service of the poet’s artistic vision.
Example: in our backyard
we plant
tomatoes
is the first stanza from “Laughing Tomatoes” by Francisco X. Alarcon. Notice the lack of capitalization and punctuation.
SOUNDS
1- Rhythm – the basic beat in
a line of a poem.
Example: “Whose woods these are, I
think I know” is the first line from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by
Robert Frost. Notice that the accented words (underlined) give the line a
distinctive beat.
2- Meter – a pattern of
stressed and unstressed (accented and unaccented) syllables (known as a foot)
in a line of poetry.
Example: In an iambic pentameter, the
pattern is five iambic (unaccented + accented) feet in each line (see Verse).
3- End Rhyme – same or similar
sounds at the end of words that finish different lines.
Example: The following are the first
two rhyming lines from “The King of Cats Sends a Postcard to His Wife” by Nancy
Willard:
Keep your whiskers crisp and clean,
Do not let the mice grow lean,
4- Internal Rhyme – same or
similar sounds at the end of words within a line.
Example: A line showing internal rhyme
(underlined) from “The Rabbit” by Elizabeth Maddox Roberts: When they said the
time to hide was mine,
5- Rhyme Scheme – a pattern of
rhyme in a poem.
Example: A quatrain – a stanza of
four lines in which the second and fourth lines rhyme – has the following rhyme
scheme: abcb (see Quatrain).
6- Assonance – the repetition
of vowel sounds within words in a line. Example: A line showing assonance
(underlined) from “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore:
The children were nestled all snug in
their beds
7- Consonance – the repetition
of consonant sounds within words in a line.
Example: A line showing consonance
(underlined) from “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore:
Not a creature was stirring, not even
a mouse
8- Alliteration – the
repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example: Notice the alliteration
(underlined) in “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” by
Shel Silverstein.
9- Onomatopoeia – words that
sound like their meaning.
Example: buzz, swish, hiss, gulp.
10- Repetition – sounds,
words, or phrases that are repeated to add emphasis or create rhythm.
Parallelism is a form of repetition.
Examples: Two lines from
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll showing parallelism: Beware the Jabberwock, my
son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that
catch!
Read the poem “The Bells” by Edgar
Allan Poe and listen to the way the repetition of the word “bells” adds rhythm
and creates an increasingly ominous and morbid mood.
11- Refrain – a line or stanza
repeated over and over in a poem or song.
Example: In “Jingle Bells,” the
following refrain is repeated after every stanza:
Jingle Bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!
12- Word Play – to play with
the sounds and meanings of real or invented words.
Example: Two lines from the poem
“Synonyms” by Susan Moger:
Claptrap, bombast, rodomontade,
Hogwash, jargon, and rant
Two lines from the poem “Antonio” by
Laura E. Richards:
Antonio, Antonio,
Was tired of living alonio.
IMAGERY (see also Imagist Poetry)
1- Precise Language – the use
of specific words to describe a person, place, thing, or action. Example:
Notice how Paul B. Janeczko uses proper nouns in his poem “Reverend Mona”:
When the elders said she was too old,
Reverend Mona
surrendered her tabernacle
next to Fast Frankie's Pawn Shop
2- Sensory Details – the use
of descriptive details that appeal to one or more of the five senses.
Example: Notice the sensory details
in the following lines from “The Sea” by James Reeves:
The giant sea dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1- Simile – a comparison of
two unlike things, using the words like or as.
Example: “I read the shoreline like
an open volume.”
2- Metaphor – a comparison of
two unlike things, not using the words like or as.
Example: “Ribbons of sea foam / wrap
the emerald island.”
3- Personification – to
ascribe human traits to non-human or non-living things.
Example: “The unfurled sailboat
glides on / urged by wind and will and brilliant bliss.”
4- Symbolism – a person,
place, thing, or action that stands for something else.
Example: In “From Mother to Son” by
Langston Hughes, a set of stairs symbolizes life.
5- Hyperbole – the use of
exaggeration to express strong emotion or create
a comical effect.
Example: “I'm so hungry I could eat a
hippo.”
6- Verbal Irony or Sarcasm –
when you mean the opposite of what you say.
Example: “My darling brother is the
sweetest boy on Earth,” she muttered sarcastically.
7- Situational Irony – when
the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what is expected.
Example: After many years of trying,
Mr. Smith won the lottery -- and immediately died of a heart attack.
8- Pun – a humorous phrase
that plays with the double meaning or the similar sounds of words.
Examples: “Tomorrow you shall find me
a grave man,” said the duke on his deathbed. The cookbook Lunch on the Run by
Sam Witch is awesome.
9- Allusion- a reference to a
familiar person, place, or event.
Example: The following two lines from
the poem “My Muse” contain an allusion to Pandora's Box:
hunched over from carrying
that old familiar Box
10- Idiom - a cultural
expression that cannot be taken literally.
Examples: She is the apple of his
eye. He drives me up the wall.
ELEMENTS OF FICTION (Poems may
contain some or all elements of fiction. For example, a narrative poem (a poem
that tells a story) may contain all elements.)
1- Setting – the time and
place where a story or poem takes place.
2- Point of View / Narrative Voice
– the person narrating a story or poem (the story/poem could be narrated in
first person (I, we), second person (you), or third person limited or
omniscient (he/she, they).
3- Characterization – the
development of the characters in a story or poem (what they look like, what
they say and do, what their personalities are like, what they think and feel,
and how they‟re referred to or treated by others).
4- Dialog or Dialogue – the
conversation between the characters in a story or poem.
5- Dialect or Colloquial Language –
the particular style of speaking of the narrator and the characters in a story
or poem (according to their region, time period, and social expectations).
6- Conflict – the problem or
situation a character or characters face in a story or poem.
7- Plot – the series of events
in a story or poem.
8- Tone and Voice – the
distinctive, idiosyncratic way a narrator has of telling a story or poem (tone
and voice depend on the intended audience, the purpose for writing, and the way
the writer or poem feels about his/her subject).
9- Style – the way a writer
uses words to craft a story or poem.
10- Mood – the feelings and
emotions the writer wants the reader to experience.
11- Theme and Message – the
main topic of a story or poem, and the message the author or poet wants to
convey about that topic.
TWENTY POETIC FORMS
1- Acrostic – a poem in which
the first letter of each word forms a word – usually a name – if read downward.
Example: “A Rock Acrostic” by Avis
Harley.
2- Couplet – two lines of
poetry that rhyme and usually form one complete idea.
Example: The poem “Catch a Little
Rhyme” by Eve Merriam is written in couplets.
3- Haiku - a Japanese
three-line poetic form – usually about nature – with lines of three, seven, and
five syllables, respectively.
Example: I call to my love
on mornings ripe with sunlight.
The songbirds answer.
4- Quatrain – a stanza made up
of four lines, often containing a rhyme scheme.
Example: “The Toaster” by William Jay
Smith.
5- Cinquain – a five-line
untitled poem, where the syllable pattern increases by two for each line,
except for the last line, which ends in two syllables (2,4,6,8.2).
Example: The cinquain that begins
with “Oh, cat” by Paul B. Janeczko.
6- Limerick – a humorous
rhyming poem written in five lines and having a particular meter. It often
begins with “There once was a…”
Example: Limericks by Edward Lear.
7- Sonnet – a poem that is 14
lines long, generally written in iambic pentameter.
Example: “Sonnet 116” by William
Shakespeare.
8- Free Verse – a poem that
does not follow a predictable form or rhyme scheme or metric pattern. Example: “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.
9- List or Catalog Poem – a
poem in the form of a list, that uses sensory details and precise language to
persuade the reader to take notice of what is being listed.
Example: “Things To Do If You Are a
Subway” by Robbi Katz.
10- Villanelle – a challenging
poetic form that includes five tercets (aba rhyme) followed by a quatrain (abaa
rhyme) and a pattern of repetition of lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza.
Example: “Is There a Villain in Your Villanelle?”
by Joan Bransfield Graham.
11- Ode – a poem that
celebrates or praises something.
Example: “Ode to Pablo‟s Tennis
Shoes” by Gary Soto.
12- Lyric Poetry – poetry that
expresses a poet‟s personal experience, feelings, and emotions.
Example: “I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud” by William Wordsworth.
13- Blank Verse – a poem
written in iambic pentameter, but with no rhyme.
Example: Verses in Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare.
14- Blues Poem – poems that –
like blues songs – deal with personal or world issues.
Example: “Evening Air Blues” by
Langston Hughes.
15- Nonsense Poem – a fun,
usually rhyming poem that makes no sense, focusing instead on the sounds and
the rhythm of the poem.
Example: “The Jumblies” by Edward
Lear.
16- Concrete Poem – a poem
that uses words to form the shape of the subject of the poem (also known as a
“shape poem”).
Example: “Concrete Cat” by Dorth
Charles.
17- Narrative Poem – a poem
that tells a story.
Example: “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss
(Theodor Geisel).
18- Ballad – a poem that tells
a story, usually written in four-line stanzas.
Example: “The Wreck of the Hesperus”
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
19- Epic Poem – a long and
heroic narrative poem.
Example: “The Odyssey” by Homer.
20- Imagist Poetry – poems
that contain precise visual images.
Example: “The Red Wheelbarrow” by
William Carlos Williams.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hall, Donald. The Oxford Illustrated
Book of American Children's Poems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Harley, Avis. Fly With Poetry.
Honesdale: Boyds Mills Press Inc. 2000
Heidrich, Delana. Figuratively
Speaking. Botsford: The Learning Works, Inc., 2004.
Janeczko, Paul B. A Kick in the Head.
New York: Scholastic, 2006.
Janeczko, Paul B. How to Write
Poetry. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.
Janeczko, Paul B. Reading Poetry in
the Middle Grades. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2011.
Janeczko, Paul B.Teaching 10 Fabulous
Forms of Poetry. New York: Scholastic, 2006.
Moger, Susan. A Poem for Every Day!
New York: Scholastic, 2006.
Null, Kathleen Christopher. How to
Write A Poem. Westminster: Teacher Created Materials Inc., 1998.
Orndorf, Eleanor. Poetry Patterns.
Monterey: Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, 1999.
Probst, Robert E., John Malcolm
Brinnin, and others. Elements of Literature. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 2003. (The sections on poetry.)
Robb, Laura, Ron Klemp, and Wendell
Schwartz. Reader's Handbook. Wilmington: Great Source Education Group, 2002. p.
446-469.
Silverman, Sarita Chavez. Read and
Understand Poetry. Monterey: Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, 2005.
Switzer, Stephen E. ed. Poetry. St.
Louis: McDonald Publishing Company, Inc., 1979.
Sword, Elizabeth Hauge. A Child's
Anthology of Poetry. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1995.
Wolf, Allan. Immersed
in Verse. New York: Lark Books, 2006.
https://www.google.com/searchq=poetry+is+the+spontaneous+overflow+of+powerful+feelings.+who+said+this+statement&oq=poetry+is+the+spo&aqs=chrome.