Type of Literature: Poetry
(Focus on theme)
Poetry captures the essence of an idea or experience through carefully selected, distilled language. Poetry appeals to the sensory images of the ear, mind and emotion. Poetry is often rhythmic and rhymed. Sometimes the shape of a poem reinforces the idea. A love of poetry is fostered through repeated experiences of listening to, reading, writing and discussing poetry.
The carefully selected, distilled language of poetry can:
• create sensory images
• express emotions
• promote love of language
TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH POETRY:
Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds of words at close intervals
e.g.. Peter Piper picked . . .
Figurative language: comparing two objects or ideas to provide added meaning
e.g., poem comparing cars at a distance moving slowly to tiny, crawling beetles
Imagery: language that awakens our senses, helping us hear, smell, taste, see, or touch
Onomatopoeia: words created from natural sounds associated with their actions
e.g., hiss, bang, snap, crack
Rhyme: refers to words whose ending sounds are alike
Rhythm: recurrence of specific sounds or stressed and unstressed syllables;
rhythm of poetry is often metrical (ordered)
TYPES OF POETRY:
Ballad: narrative
poem adapted for singing or written to provide the effect of singing when read; action in a ballad
is usually heroic or tragic; developed
in
Narrative verse: relates a specific event or tells a story, typically with chronological, fast action
Lyric poetry: language provides a musical quality emphasizing sound and imagery;
began in ancient
Limerick: nonsense, five-line verse; first, second and fifth lines rhyme and have three distinct beats each; third and fourth lines rhyme and have two distinct beats each; fifth line often presents surprise or humor; Edward Lear popularized the limerick in the 19th century
Free verse: doesn’t rhyme and has a prose-like rhythm similar to regular speech
Haiku: ancient Japanese verse form with seventeen syllables; first and third lines contain five syllables, the second line contains seven syllables; haiku first presents a description referring to the natural world followed by a mood or feeling
Concrete poetry: shape of poem presents idea of language