Introduction To Poetry

Introduction to Poetry
Poetry is the most misunderstood form of writing. It is also arguably the purest form of writing. Poetry is a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty and expressing this through words. It is art. Like art it is very difficult to define because it is an expression of what the poet thinks and feels and may take any form the poet chooses for this expression. Poetry is not easily defined. Often it takes the form of verse, but not all poetry has this structure. Poetry is a creative use of words which, like all art, is intended to stir an emotion in the audience. Poetry generally has some structure that separates it from prose. The basic unit of poetry is the line. It serves the same function as the sentence in prose, although most poetry maintains the use of grammar within the structure of the poem. Most poems have a structure in which each line contains a set amount of syllables; this is called meter. Lines are also often grouped into stanzas. The stanza in poetry is equivalent or equal to the paragraph in prose. Often the lines in a stanza will have a specific rhyme scheme. Some of the more common stanzas are: Couplet: a two line stanza Triplet: a three line stanza Quatrain: a four line stanza Cinquain: a five line stanza Meter is the measured arrangement of words in poetry, the rhythmic pattern of a stanza, determined by the kind and number of lines. Meter is an organized way to arrange stressed/accented syllables and unstressed/unaccented syllables. Whose woods / these are / I think /I know Rhyme is when the endings of the words sound the same. Read the poem with me out loud. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I had rued.
Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line. Not all poetry has a rhyme scheme. They are not hard to identify, but you must look carefully at which words rhyme and which do not. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost A The way a crow B Shook down on me A The dust of snow B From a hemlock tree C Has given my heart D A change of mood C And save some part D Of a day I had rued. Poems of more than one stanza often repeat the same rhyme scheme in each stanza. Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Figurative language is any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject. The most common figures of speech are simile, metaphor, and alliteration. Figurative language is used in poetry to compare two things that are usually not thought of as being alike. A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. The clouds looked like cotton candy. Grandpa was as stubborn as a mule Tom's head is as hard as a rock.
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Clouds are cotton candy. Grandpa was a mule. Tom is a rock. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" (Hart Crane). Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal. To find an alliteration, you must look the repetitions of the same consonant sound through out a line. Silvery snowflakes fall silently Softly sheathing all with moonlight Until sunrise slowly shows Snow softening swiftly. Imagery is an appeal to the senses. The poet describes something to help you to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell the topic of the poem. Fog The fog comes on little cat feet. (SEE, HEAR) It sits looking over harbor and city (SEE) on silent haunches and then moves on. (HEAR, SEE, FEEL) Carl Sandburg
An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect is a hyperbole. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point. Ive told you a million times not to leave the dirty glass on the table. The exaggeration in the number of times. The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to is called an alliteration. It is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, such as animal noises like "oink" or "meow", or suggesting its source object (these are the more important ones), such as "boom", "click", "bunk", "clang", "buzz", or "bang". SOUND OF NATURE by Marie Josephine Smith
Ticking, tocking. Head is rocking. Tippy toeing. Quietly. Snap, crack. Crushing branch. Helter, skelter. Run for shelter. Pitter, patter. Rain starts to fall. Gathering momentum. Becomes a roar. Thunder booms. A figure of speech, which gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea is called personification. It is a comparison, which the author uses to show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or attitude towards it and to control the way a reader perceives it. A brave handsome tree fell with a creaking rending cry. The author is giving a tree the human quality of bravery and the ability to cry. Free verse is just what it says it is - poetry that is written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, and meter. In free verse the writer makes his/her own rules. The writer decides how the poem should look, feel, and sound. Winter Poem By Nikki Giovanni once a snowflake fell on my brow and i loved it so much and i kissed it and it was happy and called its cousins and brothers and a web of snow engulfed me then i reached to love them all and i squeezed them and they became a spring rain and i stood perfectly still and was a flower

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