Teaching of Poetry and Poetic Devices
Teaching of Poetry and Poetic Devices
Teaching of Poetry and Poetic Devices
of
Poetry & Poetic devices
Poetry
What is poetry? Who knows?
Not a rose, but the scent of a rose;
Not the sky, but the light in the sky;
Not the fly, but the gleam of the fly;
Not the sea, but the sound of the sea;
Not myself, but what makes me
See, hear, and feel something that prose
Cannot: and what it is, who knows?
By Eleanor Farjeon
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In poetry the sound
and meaning of words
are combined to
express feelings,
thoughts, and ideas.
The poet chooses
words carefully.
Poetry is usually
written in lines.
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Poetry Elements
Writers use many elements to create their
poems. These elements include:
Rhythm
Sound
Imagery
Form
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Rhythm
Rhythm is the flow of the
beat in a poem.
Gives poetry a musical
feel.
Can be fast or slow,
depending on mood and
subject of poem.
You can measure rhythm
in meter, by counting the
beats in each line.
(See next two slides for
examples.)
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Rhythm Example
The Pickety Fence by David McCord
The pickety fence
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
A clickety fence
Give it a lick it's a lickety fence
Give it a lick
Give it a lick
Give it a lick
With a rickety stick
pickety The rhythm in this poem is fast –
pickety to match the speed of the stick
striking the fence.
pickety
pick.
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Rhythm Example
Where Are You Now?
When the night begins to fall
And the sky begins to glow
You look up and see the tall
City of lights begin to grow –
In rows and little golden squares
The lights come out. First here, then there
Behind the windowpanes as though
A million billion bees had built The rhythm in this poem is
Their golden hives and honeycombs slow – to match the night
Above you in the air. gently falling and the
lights slowly coming on.
By Mary Britton Miller
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Sound
Writers love to use interesting sounds in
their poems. After all, poems are meant
to be heard. These sound devices include:
Rhyme
Repetition
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
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Rhyme
Rhymes are words that
end with the same sound.
(Hat, cat and bat rhyme.)
Rhyming sounds don’t
have to be spelled the
same way. (Cloud and
allowed rhyme.)
Rhyme is the most
common sound device in
poetry.
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Rhyming Patterns
Poets can choose from AABB – lines 1 & 2 rhyme
a variety of different and lines 3 & 4 rhyme
rhyming patterns. ABAB – lines 1 & 3 rhyme
(See next four slides and lines 2 & 4 rhyme
for examples.) ABBA – lines 1 & 4 rhyme
and lines 2 & 3 rhyme
ABCB – lines 2 & 4 rhyme
and lines 1 & 3 do not
rhyme
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AABB Rhyming Pattern
First Snow
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ABAB Rhyming Pattern
Oodles of Noodles
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ABBA Rhyming Pattern
From “Bliss”
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ABCB Rhyming Pattern
The Alligator
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Repetition
Repetition occurs when
poets repeat words, phrases,
or lines in a poem.
Creates a pattern.
Increases rhythm.
Strengthens feelings, ideas
and mood in a poem.
(See next slide for example.)
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Repetition Example
The Sun
by Sandra Liatsos
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Alliteration
Alliteration is the
repetition of the first
consonant sound in
words, as in the
nursery rhyme “Peter
Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.”
The snake slithered silently
(See next slide for along the sunny sidewalk.
example.)
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Alliteration Example
This Tooth
I jiggled it
jaggled it
jerked it.
I pushed
and pulled
and poked it.
But –
As soon as I stopped,
And left it alone
This tooth came out
On its very own!
by Lee Bennett
Hopkins 18
Onomatopoeia
Words that represent the
actual sound of something
are words of onomatopoeia.
Dogs “bark,” cats “purr,”
thunder “booms,” rain
“drips,” and the clock “ticks.”
Appeals to the sense of
sound.
(See next slide for example.)
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Onomatopoeia Example
Listen
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Frozen snow and brittle ice
Make a winter sound that’s nice
Underneath my stamping feet
And the cars along the street.
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
by Margaret Hillert
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Imagery
Imagery is the use of words
to create pictures, or images,
in your mind.
Appeals to the five senses:
smell, sight, hearing, taste
Five Senses
and touch.
Details about smells, sounds,
colors, and taste create
strong images.
To create vivid images
writers use figures of speech.
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Figures of Speech
Figures of speech are
tools that writers use to
create images, or “paint
pictures,” in your mind.
Similes, metaphors, and
personification are three
figures of speech that
create imagery.
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Simile
A simile compares two
things using the words
“like” or “as.”
Comparing one thing to
another creates a vivid
image.
(See next slide for
example.) The runner streaked like a cheetah.
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Simile Example
Flint
An emerald is as green as grass,
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
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Metaphor Example
The Night is a Big Black Cat
By G. Orr Clark
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Personification
Personification gives
human traits and
feelings to things that
are not human – like
animals or objects.
(See next slide for
example.)
The moon smiled down at me.
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Personification Example
From “Mister Sun”
Mister Sun
Wakes up at dawn,
Puts his golden
Slippers on,
Climbs the summer
Sky at noon,
Trading places
With the moon.
by J. Patrick Lewis
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Forms of Poetry
There are many forms of poetry including the:
Couplet
Tercet
Acrostic
Cinquain
Haiku
Senryu
Concrete Poem
Free Verse
Limerick
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Lines and Stanzas
Most poems are March
written in lines. A blue day
A group of lines in A blue jay
a poem is called a
stanza. And a good beginning.
Stanzas separate
ideas in a poem. One crow,
They act like Melting snow –
paragraphs.
Spring’s winning!
This poem has two
stanzas. By Eleanor Farjeon
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Couplet
A couplet is a poem,
or stanza in a poem,
written in two lines.
Usually rhymes.
The Jellyfish
Who wants my jellyfish?
I’m not sellyfish!
By Ogden Nash
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Tercet
A tercet is a poem, or
stanza, written in three
lines.
Usually rhymes.
Lines 1 and 2 can
rhyme; lines 1 and 3 can
rhyme; sometimes all 3
lines rhyme. Winter Moon
How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
By Langston Hughes
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Quatrain
A quatrain is a poem, or
stanza, written in four
lines.
The quatrain is the most
common form of stanza
used in poetry.
The Lizard
Usually rhymes.
Can be written in variety The lizard is a timid thing
of rhyming patterns. That cannot dance or fly or sing;
(See slide 9 entitled He hunts for bugs beneath the floor
“Rhyming Patterns.”)
And longs to be a dinosaur.
By John Gardner
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Reading for Meaning
To find meaning in a poem, readers ask questions as they read. There
are many things to pay attention to when reading a poem:
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Acknowledgements
Books (Continued):
Random House Book of Poetry: A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today’s Child.
Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY: Random House, 1983.
Recess, Rhyme, and Reason: A Collection of Poems About School. Compiled and
annotated by Patricia M. Stockland. Minneapolis, MS: Compass Point Books, 2004.
Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry: Great Lessons, Brainstorming Sheets, and
Organizers for Writing Haiku, Limericks, Cinquains, and Other Kinds of Poetry
Kids Love. Janeczko, Paul B. NY: Scholastic Professional Books, 2000.
Tomie DePaola’s Book of Poems. Selected by Tomie DePaola. NY: G.P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1988.
The Twentieth Century Children’s Poetry Treasury. Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.
Weather: Poems. Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.
Writing Poetry with Children. Monterey, CA: Evan-Moor Corp., 1999.
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Acknowledgements
Clip Art and Images Resources:
Awesomeclipartforkids.com
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Barrysclipart.com
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Bible Picture Clip Art Gallery
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The Bullwinkle Show; Bullwinkle’s Corner clip art
Located at www.google.com
Clipartheaven.com
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Discovery School
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DK.com
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Geocities.com
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Hasslefreeclipart.com
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Microsoft Office Clip Art
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PBS.org
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Readwritethink.org
http://www.readwritethink.org/
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