What is poetry?

What is poetry?

What is poetry?

Sonnet Example

Types of poems

Haiku Example

Literary devices

Types of poems:

An acrostic is a poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word.

A haiku is a poem that consists of only three lines with 17 syllables in total. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7, and the last has 5.

An ode is a formal poem that addresses and celebrates a certain thing, person, place, or idea.

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that adheres to a certain rhyme scheme and a thematic organization. The two main kinds of sonnets are Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets.

A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of five tercets (groups of three lines) and one quatrain (a group of four lines), with a very strict rhyme scheme.

Free verse poems lack a rhyme scheme or metrical pattern.

Poetry is a kind of literature that uses language chosen for its meaning, sound, and rhythm to evoke meaning that goes beyond the literal meaning of the words used, or create an emotional response in the reader.

Poetry uses literary devices to evoke an emotional response or to allow for a different interpretation of the words. Poetry employs devices such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, symbolism, metaphor, simile, and more.

Alliteration describes when the same letter or sound occurs at the beginning of words near each other. Example: “Sheep should sleep in a shed”

Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that refers to a certain sound, and mimics the sound it describes. Example: The word “meow” refers to a cat’s meow but also sounds like a cat’s meow when said out loud.

Assonance describes when similar sounds (especially vowel sounds) are placed near each other. Example: “Go slow over the road.” In this sentence, the long o sound is repeated.

Symbolism describes the use of symbols to represent something else (ideas, qualities, or objects) by giving them symbolic meaning that is different from their literal meaning. Example: A dove is often used as a symbol of peace.

Simile is a figure of speech which compares one thing to something different. In a simile, it is okay to use “like” or “as.” Example: “Fast as a cheetah” or “Crazy like a fox”

Metaphor is a figure of speech in which two things which are unlike each other are compared

“The Old Pond” by Matsuo Bashō

An old silent pond

A frog jumps into the pond—

Splash! Silence again.

Acquainted with the Night

By Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet

When far away an interrupted cry

Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;

And further still at an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.