Meter

Definition: is the measured of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of a poem using symbols

Example:

Significance: Meter is important in poetry because reader would know how the the words in each line is pronounced. So then when the person reads the poem is sounds smooth.

Rhyme

Definition: is a pattern of words with a similar sound

Example:
             At the Sea-Side

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.

Significance: Rhyme is important in poetry because with words that rhyme in a poem might make it entertaining to read and listen to.

Rythm

Definition: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of a poem


Example: This is the first two stanza from the poem, "My Papa's Waltz" and the number at the end represent how many syllables in each line.


The whiskey on your breath (6)  

Could make a small boy dizzy; (7)  

But I hung on like death: (6)  

Such waltzing was not easy. (8)

We romped until the pans (7)  

Slid from the kitchen shelf; (6)  

My mother’s contenance (6) 

Could not unfrown itself. (7)

Significance: A poem with rhythm is very important because when you're reading a poem there is a flow to it. The poem becomes better if you're reading it smoothly.

Onomatopoeia

Definition: is when you name a sound using words

Example: Wolf!  Ahh! Thump!

Significance: Onomatopeia help reader hear in their mind of the sounds describe in a poem. There are some sounds that are loud and some are soft.

Personification

Definition: is giving human character traits to non-human things

Example: The pencil is runing around on my desk while the eraser is chasing the pencil.

Significance: When you use personinfication in writing it brings the non-human things to live. The image in the reader head becomes more realistic.

Imagery

Definition: are words use in a literary work which connects to your five senses (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile)

Example: As the three girls walk in the the room, darkness aborbed it them.

Significance: Imagery help create a picture in the reader minds. Also it allow them to go through the experience of the writer.

Simile

Definition: is when you compare two things using the words "like" or "as"

Example: She is as fast as a horse.

Significance: Simile are often used in poetry when the poet is comparing two things. It makes a poem better because reader can get a better image in their mind of what the object or person.

He is flying like a bird.

Repetition

Definition: when words, phrases, or lines are being repeated

Example: The poem, "If " by Rudy Kipling the phrase "If you can" is repeated in each stanza of the poem.

Significance: Repetiiton in poem can be use useful sometime. When one line of the poem is being repeated, it makes it easier for people to memorize a poem. Also the repeated part might be the poets main point.

Tone

Definition: is the attitude or emotion you put into the word you say or write

Example: The tone of the poem, "Dream" by Langston Hughes is trying to inspire people of their hope.

        Dreams

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold  fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is barrren field

Frozen with snow.

Significance: The is an important part when you're reading a poem. For example, you might reading a poem with excitement or sadness. Sometime is might be hard use the right tone.

Interpretation

Definition: is when you understand the message or theme of the poem

Example: I interpret the poem, "Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind" by William Shakespeare is about what the about what the speaker thinks what love and friendship is.

Significance: Poems have a deep meaning in it and interpreting the poem makes it all clear. Also it makes it easier for students to answer the question related to the poem.

Metaphor and Extended Metaphor

Definition: They are a type of figurative lanaguage. Metaphor is use when you are comparing one thing to another. Extended metaphor is use when you are comparing a group of things to another group.

Example: People are plants, we grow, we bloom, and we wither.

Significance: Metaphor are use without knowing yourself eveyday. Poets use metaphor or even extended metaphor when they are writing poems. Also when your're having a conversation with another person you use metaphor. This kind of figurative language are fun.

Speaker

Definition: is the voice in the poem that can be the poet or a imaginary character created by the poet

Example: In the poem, "January" by John Updike the speaker is the poet.
        January
The days are short,
       The sun a spark

Hung thin between
       The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
        Track the floor,
And parkas pile up
        Near the door.

The river is
        A frozen place
Held still beneath
       The trees' black lace

The sky is low.
       The wind is gray.
The radiator
        Purts all day.

Significance: A speaker of a poem help commmuncates the feelings or messages of the poet to the reader. Sometimes the speaker is hard to tell.

Symbol

Defintion: something that is used to represent another thing

Example:

This picture above show each symbol of each zodiac.

Significance: Symbol is an important part of poetry because poet can use symbols in their poem to represent their thoughts and feelings. Adding symbols to a poem makes it better. Poems with symbols allow reader to think deeper about what the author is trying to tell you.

Couplet

Definition: is two lines with about the same length and these lines usually rhyme

Example:
        The Secret Heart
Across the years he could recall
His father one way best of all. 

In the stillest hour of night
The boy awakened to a light. 

Half in dreams, he saw his sire
With his great hands full of fire. 

The man had struck a match to see
If his son slept peacefully. 

He held his palms each side the spark
His love had kindled in the dark. 

His two hands were curved apart
In the semblance of a heart. 

He wore, it seemed to his small son,
A bare heart on his hidden one, 

A heart that gave out such a glow
No son awake could bear to know. 

It showed a look upon a face
Too tender for the day to trace. 

One instant, it lit all about,
And then the secret heart went out. 

But it shone long enough for one
To know that hands held up the sun.

Significance: Couplet is an important part of poetry because is makes a poem more entertaining. It adds rhymes to the poem. The poem becomes better if there is couplets which makes it fun to read.

Stanza

Definition: is a group of lines with a certain length, four or more lines in a poem

Example:
   A Dream Within a Dream 
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seemBut a dream within a dream?


Significance: Stanza is an important part of poetry because it help the poet organize his words. Using stanza when you are writing poems helps you on organization. Also it makes the poem better by making it clear.