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I. Type
A. Lyric: a poem depicting an abstract thought, idea, emotion, or feeling; from the Greek word “lyre” (a hand-held harp on which psalmists used to compose music).
B. Narrative: a poem that tells a story, complete with plot, characters, and setting.
C. Dramatic: a poem that depicts events that are either not real or not meant to be viewed as realistic; often these are part of a fictional story. The narrator of the poem is imaginary and is not the author.
D. Didactic: a poem intended to teach a moral lesson or impart a piece of knowledge.
II. Form
A. Open: poetry written without specific rhythm (free verse), length, or rhyme scheme.
B. Closed: poetry written in a specific or traditional pattern according to the required rhythm, rhyme, meter, line length, line groupings, and number of lines within a genre of poetry.
1. Stanza: a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse; the equivalent of a paragraph.
2. Volta: the line break between stanzas.
III. Elements of the Rhetorical Situation
A. Message: the main idea or point a writer wishes to communicate.
B. Medium: a method of conveying a message (plural: media).
C. Topic: broadly speaking, the issue(s) that a work of writing encompasses.
1. Conflict: the struggle between two or more opposing forces.
D. Angle: a writer’s unique view on the subject matter, topic, or issue (also known as perspective in poetry).
E. Context: any background information surrounding when a work of literature was set or written that is necessary to know in order to understand a writer’s message.
1. Exigence: an issue, event, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak; what inspired the writer or catalyzed the message.
2. Kairos: the right or fitting moment for decision or action; the “supreme moment” to disseminate a message.
F. Audience: the readers of a message.
1. Intended Audience: the people or groups of people the writer created the message for.
2. Real Audience: the people or groups of people who actually receive the writer’s message.
G. Purpose: what the writer hopes to achieve with their message, and the reason the poem exists.
| Function | Purpose for Reading (audience) | Purpose for Writing (author) |
| Education | to learn (language, literature, history, psychology, humanities) | to teach |
| Social Activism | to gain perspective, to empathize, to understand, to empower | to raise awareness, to protest, to inspire |
| Expression | to relate, to connect, to feel solidarity | to express feelings, to cope (therapy) |
| Entertainment | to escape, to enjoy | to amuse, to perform |
| Argument | to support, to challenge | to debate, to discuss |
IV. Voice
A. Apostrophe: addressing something or someone, who may or may not be physically present.
B. Beat: the purposeful emphasis on a syllable or word for dramatic effect.
C. Caesura: a purposeful pause within or between lines of poetry for dramatic effect; from the Latin word “a cutting.”
D. Dialect: the particular type of language spoken by a certain demographic. The term encompasses the sounds, accents, spelling, grammar, diction, idioms, and colloquialisms employed by a specific people as distinguished from other persons either geographically or socially (levels: vulgate, colloquial, general, formal).
E. Dialogue: two or more voices “speaking” through a poem. This can be a conversation between whether from different beings (duality) or within the consciousness of one being (dichotomy).
F. Interpretation: a person’s own take on a work of art or literature. Writers often choose to interpret famous work through their own perspective.
G. Narrator: the being (whether a fictitious creation or the writer themselves) who is meant to be writing or telling the poem.
H. Pathos: the emotions that a writer is trying to evoke in their audience.
I. Persona: a fictitious character created by an author to be the narrator of a literary work; from the Greek word “mask.”
J. Point of View: The type of narration employed in a poem.
K. Style: the characteristic way a writer uses language to achieve certain effects.
L. Tone: the mood or manner of expression in a literary work, which conveys an attitude toward the work’s subject (ex: playful, sarcastic, sad, solemn, etc). It helps to establish the reader’s relationship to the characters or ideas presented.
V. Figurative Language
A. Analogy: a comparison of the relationship between two sets, written as A:B::C:D.
B. Allegory: a story where each character and action in the plot is a representation of real people during an actual event.
C. Allusion: a brief reference to a famous person, place, or event, either historic or literary – usually to Greek or Biblical mythology.
D. Imagery: the mental pictures conjured from a certain description.
E. Irony: a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant.
F. Juxtaposition: comparing two opposite ideas side-by-side.
G. Metaphor: comparing two things by stating that one is figuratively the other.
1. Extended metaphor: a metaphor that is built on throughout the work.
H. Parallelism: a similar set of words, phrases, or sentences used repetitively.
I. Personification: giving human-like qualities to animals or inanimate objects.
J. Pun: a play on words in which one word is substituted for another similar or identical sound, but of very different meaning; what the French call “double entendre,” or double meaning.
K. Rhetorical Question: a question that does not elicit or expect an answer.
L. Sensory Details: details that engage one of the five physical senses by describing what something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels like.
M. Symbol: an object that represents an idea.
VI. Diction
A. Abstract: words that express the intangible, like ideas.
B. Concrete: words that express physical objects or beings that we can conceive with our senses.
C. Connotation: overtones or suggestions of additional meaning to a word.
D. Denotation: the literal, dictionary definition of a word.
E. Etymology: the origins, history, and usage of a word. For example:
Anachronism (Greek): from the roots “ana” meaning wrong or mistaken and “chron” meaning time; when an object, idea, or device is inserted (on purpose or by accident) into the wrong era.
VII. Rhyme
A. Exact: two words in which both the consonant sounds and vowel sounds match to create a rhyme (create and deflate).
B. Off: two words with similar but not identical sounds (home and bone).
A. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds to create rhyme (boat and moat).
B. Consonance: words that share similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds (lark and lurk).
A. Masculine: the rhyme of monosyllabic words and the rhyme of a word’s final syllable (debauchery and archery).
B. Feminine: the rhyme of any syllable in a word BUT the last, such as the first or middle (apple and sapling).
A. End: rhyming words placed at the ends of lines of poetry.
1. Rhyme Scheme: the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.
B. Internal: rhyming words placed within one line of poetry.
VIII. Rhythm
A. Scansion: the practice of “scanning” lines of poetry to identify and diagram their rhythmic patterns.
1. Foot: one syllable of poetry.
a. Accent: stressed syllable, denoted with ′ (á)
b. Slack: unstressed syllable, denoted with ˘ (ă)
B. Meter: rhythmic patterns of stresses in verse; from the Greek word “measure.”
1. Iambic: lines made of iambs: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: ˘ ′
2. Anapestic: lines made of anapests: two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable: ˘ ˘ ′
3. Trochaic: lines made of trochees: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: ′ ˘
4. Dactylic: lines made of dactyls: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: ′ ˘ ˘
C. Lengths of Meter: the number of times a pattern (meter) is repeated within one line of poetry.
IX. Sonnets
A. Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet: a fixed form poem of 14 lines total, divided into two stanzas – an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines). The rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdccdc, cdecde, or cdcdcd. Named after Francisco Petrarch (1304-1374).
B. Shakespearean (English) Sonnet: a fixed form poem of 14 lines total, divided into four stanzas – 3 quatrains (four lines) and a couplet (2 lines). The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Named after William Shakespeare (1564-1613).
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- Epigram: an unexpected twist or change in direction at the end of a poem.
X. Other
Anything that is not written as poetry is called prose.
Anything written with rhythm (poetry or not) is called verse.
Poetry with no fixed rhythm is called blank verse.
Shakespeare’s plays and poems are written in iambic pentameter.
broad categories of poetry, determined by their purpose.
a poem depicting an abstract thought, idea, emotion, or feeling; from the Greek word “lyre” (a hand-held harp on which psalmists used to compose music).
a poem that tells a story, complete with plot, characters, and setting.
a poem that depicts events that are either not real or not meant to be viewed as realistic; often these are part of a fictional story. The narrator of the poem is imaginary and is not the author.
a poem intended to teach a moral lesson or impart a piece of knowledge.
the "shape" or organizational mode of a particular poem.
poetry written without specific rhythm (free verse), length, or rhyme scheme.
poetry written in a specific or traditional pattern according to the required rhythm, rhyme, meter, line length, line groupings, and number of lines within a genre of poetry.
a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse; the equivalent of a paragraph.
the line break between stanzas.
Any set of circumstances that involves at least one person (the author) communicating a message to at least one other person (the audience).
The main idea or point that an author is trying to convey.
The method of communication that an author uses to disseminate their message. Plural: media.
The broad idea or issue that a message deals with.
A struggle between opposing forces.
The unique viewpoint, new information, or interesting take on a topic.
The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
the specific problem, incident, or situation that caused a writer to create their message.
the propitious moment for decision or action.
The groups of people (demographics) who receive a message.
The group of people that an author is trying to reach with their message.
The group of people who actually receive a message.
The goal or objective that the creator of a message is trying to achieve by communicating that message.
The rhetorical mixture of vocabulary, tone, point of view, and syntax that makes phrases, sentences, and paragraphs flow in a particular manner.
the purposeful emphasis on a syllable or word for dramatic effect.
A break or pause within poetry or prose.
A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
A conversation between two or more characters, noted with quotation marks.
a person’s own take on a work of art or literature. Writers often choose to interpret famous work through their own perspective.
The "voice" that speaks or tells a story.
A rhetorical appeal to emotion.
a fictitious character created by an author to be the narrator of a literary work; from the Greek word "mask."
The way a story gets told and who tells it.
The manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation.
The general feeling or attitude of a piece of writing.
when a speaker or writer departs from the usual denotation of words for emphasis or artistic quality.
A comparison of the relationship between two sets of things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
a story where each character and action in the plot is a representation of real people during an actual event.
A reference to a famous person, character, or event.
he "mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage.
The opposite of what is anticipated or meant.
comparing two opposite ideas side-by-side.
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
a metaphor that is built on throughout the work.
The use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose which correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.
giving human-like qualities to animals or inanimate objects.
A play on words in which one word is substituted for another similar or identical sound, but of very different meaning; what the French call "double entendre," or double meaning.
a question that does not elicit or expect an answer.
details that engage one of the five physical senses by describing what something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels like.
A word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level.
Word choice; a writer's or speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression.
"The Road Not Taken" (1916)
By Robert Frost (1874-1963)
From Mountain Interval (1920)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For further reading: "The Most Misread Poem in America"
"Good Bones" (2016)
By Maggie Smith (1950-)
From Waxwing Magazine (2016)
For further reading: Article
“’Hope’ is the thing with feathers” (~1858-1866)
By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
From Complete Poems (1890)
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
For further reading: Analysis
“Bright Star” (1819)
By John Keats (1795-1821)
From The Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal (1838)
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
For further reading: History of John Keats & Fanny Brawne
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
By William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
From Spring and All (1923)
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
For further reading: Analysis
"Those Winter Sundays"
By Robert Hayden (1913-1980)
From Collected Poems (1966)
“The Rose That Grew From Concrete” (1989-1991)
By Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)
From The Rose That Grew From Concrete (1999)
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
For further reading: Article
“Wild Geese”
By Mary Oliver (1935-2019)
From Wild Geese: Selected Poems (2004)
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
For further reading: Analysis
“Theme for English B” (1949)
By Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
From Selected Poems (1959)
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
For further reading: Analysis
Existing in a material or physical form; not abstract.
An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
The literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.
correspondence of sound between words or parts of words.
two words in which both the consonant sounds and vowel sounds match to create a rhyme (create and deflate).
two words with similar but not identical sounds (home and bone).
the repetition of vowel sounds to create rhyme (boat and moat).
words that share similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds (lark and lurk).
the rhyme of monosyllabic words and the rhyme of a word’s final syllable (debauchery and archery
the rhyme of any syllable in a word BUT the last, such as the first or middle (apple and sapling).
rhyming words placed at the ends of lines of poetry.
the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.
rhyming words placed within one line of poetry.
the varying speed, loudness, pitch, elevation, intensity, and expressiveness of speech, especially poetry.
the practice of “scanning” lines of poetry to identify and diagram their rhythmic patterns.
one syllable of poetry.
stressed syllable, denoted with ′ (á)
unstressed syllable, denoted with ˘ (ă)
rhythmic patterns of stresses in verse; from the Greek word "measure."
lines made of iambs: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: ˘ ′
lines made of anapests: two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable: ˘ ˘ ′
lines made of trochees: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: ′ ˘
lines made of dactyls: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: ′ ˘ ˘
the number of times a pattern (meter) is repeated within one line of poetry.
one meter
two meters
three meters
four meters
five meters
six meters
seven meters
eight meters
nine meters
ten meters
a fixed-form lyric poem of 14 lines written in iambic pentameter, usually ending with an epigram; from the Italian word "sonnetto," meaning "little song."
a fixed form poem of 14 lines total, divided into two stanzas – an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines). The rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdccdc, cdecde, or cdcdcd. Named after Francisco Petrarch (1304-1374).
a fixed form poem of 14 lines total, divided into four stanzas - 3 quatrains (four lines) and a couplet (2 lines). The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Named after William Shakespeare (1564-1613).
an unexpected twist or change in direction at the end of a poem.
literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme.
verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.
a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable; for example: "Two households, both alike in dignity."
