Poetry Terminology Presented by: Mrs. Tenney
Alliteration
Personification
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Oxymoron
Imagery
Repetition
Irony
Rhyme
Metaphor
Simile
RESOURCES
MORE INFO
Meet the Presenter
Mrs. Tenney
6th year at KAHS
Enjoys reading and writing poetry!
RESOURCES
Academy of American Poets Website http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17105
Multimedia Resources http://magnussonllc.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/pimp-mypresentation-alliterations/ Microsoft Office Clipart Galley
ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same, initial consonant sounds
EXAMPLES: Soft Sighing of the Sea
ASSONANCE
The repetition of the vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables.
EXAMPLE: As high as a kite in a bright sky
HYPERBOLE
A bold, deliberate overstatement not intended to be taken seriously. The purpose is to emphasize the truth of the statement.
EXAMPLES: He weighs a ton, I could eat a horse
IMAGERY
Usually these words or phrases create a picture in the reader’s mind. Some imagery appeals to the other four senses (hearing, touch, taste, smell).
EXAMPLES: Sight – smoke mysteriously puffed our from his ears Sound – he could hear a faint but distant thump Touch – the burlap wall covering scraped his skin Taste – a salty tear ran down his cheek Smell – the scent of cinnamon floated into his nostrils
IRONY
The general name given to the literary techniques that involve differences between appearance and reality, expectations and result, or meaning and intention.
EXAMPLE: It was ironic that the police station was robbed. It was ironic that the Olympic swimmer drowned in the bathtub. It was ironic that the soldier survived the war and then was shot on his own front porch after returning home safely.
METAPHOR
A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken as though it were something else, a direct comparison of two unlike things.
EXAMPLE: It is raining cats and dogs
PERSONIFICATION
Figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics
EXAMPLE: The wind spoke her name
ONOMATOPOEIA
The use of words that imitate sounds.
Buzz, Thud, Hiss, Woof, Quack
OXYMORON
The junction of words which, at first view, seem to be contradictory, but surprisingly this contradictions expresses a truth or dramatic effect.
EXAMPLES: Pretty ugly, Icy hot
REPETITION
The use, more than once, of any element of language – a sound, a word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence.
EXAMPLE: By Edgar Allan Poe
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells Of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells
RHYME
Word endings that sounds alike
Internal Rhyme – rhyme within a line
EXAMPLES: Time, Slime, Mime
Internal Rhyme – Scornfully scaly snake which held his very fate
SIMILE
A comparison using like or as.
EXAMPLES: As brave as a lion, As dumb as an ox
MORE INFORMTAION If you’d like to learn more about poetry , please refer to Mrs. Tenney’s Moodle page. The website is: http://ecougar.kasd.org/