Figurative Language Poetry Notes 2015-16

Figurative Language
Idiom type of expression whose actual meaning is different from a literal meaning
Example: a monkey on your back means you have a big problem
Raining cats & dogs raining very hard or a lot
Let the cat out of the bag reveal a secret
Shake a leg hurry up
- tricky to identify look for sentences or phrases that sound interesting or hard
to take literal
- easier if you know more
3 Basic Laws of Idioms
1) literal meaning cannot mean the same as the secret meaning
2) no word substitutions ex. Change monkey on your back to dog on
your back
3) no additional adjectives can be added meaning changed
- Useful makes writing more interesting
- William Shakespeare King of Idioms wrote more than 2,000
Iambic Pentameter describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in a line
- rhythm measured by small groups of syllables called feet
- Iambic describes the type of feet used
English - foot is unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable
Ex. Complete - (comPLETE)
- Iambic always 5 feet in one line
Ex. Shakespeares - Twelfth Night
Shakespeares - Richard III
Onomatopoeia word that imitates or mimics a sound
- expressed in words
- hints the source it describes
- commonly used in comic strips
- identified because they sound like an animal, car, punch, etc.
Ex. Moo, quack, oink, woof, meow, cheep, baa, pow, boom, crash, ding dong
Alliteration repetition of a sound or a letter
- usually found beginning of the words
- used to create an effect for the reader more drama, danger
Ex. Six slithering snakes sat on a slope
Personification a writer gives human abilities to an object or animal

- adds interest to the writing and helps with understanding
Ex. Talking,
Couplet a pair of successive lines of a verse, especially that rhyme and are the same length
Ex. Shakespeares Hamlet
The time is out of joint, O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right.
Allusion a reference of something in media
- compares the thing referenced to something else
- doesnt describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers
Ex. When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that
wasnt necessary.
He was a real Romeo with the ladies.
Chocolate was her Achilles heel.
Syllable a part of the pronunciation of a word
- normally shown in parentheses by the actual word
- has to contain just one vowel in each syllable no vowel sound, no syllable
Ex. Defective de-fec-tive
Abigail Ab-i-gail
Hyperbole a great exaggeration
Ex. He ran a thousand miles!
Im so hungry I could eat a bear.
Clich - overused phrase to express a common idea
- if it appears elsewhere frequently it may be a clich
- not all idioms are also clichs
- lose their effectiveness through overuse
Ex. Youre fired!
Banging my head against a brick wall
A final nail in the coffin
Analogy uses two unrelated ideas to explain one idea - a type of comparison
- Can be similes or metaphors
- not bound by a specific rule like similes
- can be used in writing once or twice not a lot
Ex. This is not a smart idea, its like throwing out the driver to make the car go faster.
Squeezing in these boots is like trying to jump to the moon.
Adage/Proverb short memorable saying
- holds some important fact of experience considered true by many
- through overuse becomes a clich or truism
Ex. Dont count your chickens before they hatch.
Simile an expression that compares two things using the words like or as
Ex. swims like a fish
As fast as a cheetah
Metaphors an expression comparing two things saying that it is something else
- not just saying they are like each other
- creates a stronger image in readers mind than a simile
Ex. My teacher is a dragon.
He was a speeding bullet.
Oxymoron a well-accepted phrase that uses two words with opposite meanings
- words can either be side by side - ex. jumbo shrimp
or spaced out in a sentence - ex. In order to lead, you must walk behind.
- usually adjective is the first word and the following word is the a noun
Ex. pretty ugly
- easy to identify find two words that sound/look funny together or are opposites
Ex. bad luck
Serious funny
Stanza a group of lines in a poem, like a verse, or paragraph
Ex.
What to eat? What to eat?
There is too much to choose from.
Maybe ham? No, too much time to heat.
Ill just have to wait until dinner.
Poem Types
Epic Poem - A long poem that tells a story of heroic achievement
- serious
- contain affairs that may be shocking to culture
Ex. Greeks feuds between families Gods & Goddesses
- easy to identify no structure that it has to follow & tells a story of heroic achievement
Examples: Illiad Trojan Horse & Odessey couldnt go home by Homer
Epic of Gilgamesh & Atra Hasis by Sumerians/Mesopotamians
- Still studied much today, written, & referenced
Ode about one specific thing that is amazing to the author
- written with great emotion
- can be about person, object, place, or feeling
- lyric poem originated in ancient Greece
- similes and metaphors
3 common parts:
1) strophe
2) anistrophe
3) epode
Ex. Oh Olive
Shakespearean Sonnet usually written in Iambic Pentameter
- 10 syllables in each of the 14 lines
- formed by 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet in the last 2 lines
- rhyming sequence abab cdcd efef gg
- poem of expressive thought, emotion, or idea
Ex. Sonnet 88 and Sonnet 89 by Shakespearean
Haiku a Japanese poem divided into 3 lines

- very short poems
- 1st line= 5 syllables
2nd line= 7 syllables
3rd line= 5 syllables
- can be themed on many things
- dont usually rhyme, but can
Ex.
The wind blows gently. (5)

Leaves fall from every maple. (7)
I enjoy Autumn. (5)
Mrs. Jones is mean.

She makes me write a haiku.
I do not like it.
By Mrs. Jones
Terza Rima Italian form of poetry
- first used by Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the late 13th century
- poem called Devine Comedy
- first person to write in English was Geoffory Chaucer Complaint to His Lady
- consists of 3 lines per stanza follow a pattern linked by rhymes
- aba, bcb, cdc, ded, efe, etc.
- end of poem has a rhyming couplet that rhymes with the middle line of
the previous stanza
Ex. A B A ; B C B ; C D C ; D - D
- no specific number of stanzas allowed so you can have any amount
- now typically written in English, but still written in Italian as well
Limerick usually begins with There was and follows in an AABBA pattern only 5 lines
- Lines 1, 2, & 5 should consist of 7-10 syllables
- Lines 3 & 4 should have 5-7 syllables
- 1st line usually ends with a noun
- last line is usually funny or humorous
- usually nonsense or humorous
- Edward Lear a famous limerick poet who made a book of limericks called
The Book of Nonsense
Ex. There Was on Old Man With a Beard by Edward Lear
There was an old man with a beard,
Who said, It is just as I feared!
Two owls and a hen
A lark and a wren
Have all built their nest in my beard.
There was an old man of Quebec,
A beetle ran over his neck;
But he cried, With a needle,
Ill slay you, O beadle!
That angry man of Quebec.
Ballad poem that is normally a song

- tells a story throughout the poem
- normally about love doesnt have to be, but commonly is
- author is unknown many times
- quatrain stanzas (4 lines)
- rhyming either the second & fourth lines or all alternating lines
Ex. House of the Rising Sun
Island Song (Adventure Time Ending Song)
T.G.I.F.
Casey Jones
John Henry
Tetractys poetic form with only 5 lines. usually only one stanza, but can have more
- each line increases by 1 syllable except the last line is 10 syllables
- the form is as follows:
Line 1: 1 syllable
Line 2: 2 syllables
Line 3: 3 syllables
Line 4: 4 syllables
Line 5: 10 syllables
Ex.
I
Do not
Like apples
Because they are
Boring, disgusting, bland, and they are lame.
Ex.
- There is also a double tetractys. It follows the same pattern and then reverses.
Line 1: 1 syllable
Line 2: 2 syllables
Line 3: 3 syllables
Line 4: 4 syllables
Line 7: 4 syllables
Line 8: 3 syllables
Line 9: 2 syllables
I
Do not
Like apples
Because they are
Boring, disgusting, bland, and they are lame.
I also do not like fruits or veggies
Because they are
All bland and
Very
Lame.
Quatrain one stanza of four lines

- can have a rhyming scheme in the poem
Aaba, abab, aabb, etc.
Ex.
I love to swim
I splash into the water
I finally did it, I drenched him!
A dream came true!

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Figurative Language

Personification a writer gives human abilities to an object or animal

Haiku a Japanese poem divided into 3 lines

The wind blows gently. (5)

Mrs. Jones is mean.

Ballad poem that is normally a song

Quatrain one stanza of four lines

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