Eighth Grade English Name__________________

Mrs. Mathieson Date__________ Period___

Unit Three – Courage and Hope

Poetry Notes

Directions: Please use pages 187-191 in your textbook to complete the following notes. Please
make sure you are reading and understanding what you are reading as work through the notes.

Poetry is [an] attempt to paint the color of the wind. –Maxwell Bodenheim, poet

Poetry is the most compact form of literature. Using a few carefully chosen words, poets express
a range of emotions, tell epic stories, and reveal truths. To say so much in so few words, poets
use a variety of forms, sound devices, imagery, and figurative language. Each poem is told
through a voice, called the speaker. The speaker is not necessarily the poet, yet often poets do
write as themselves and speak directly to the reader. Though poets have many different styles,
most poems contain the key elements listed below.

Key Elements of Poetry

 form and structure
 sound
 imagery
 figurative language

Form and Structure

Poems are written in lines, which can vary in length. The poet chooses the line length to fit the
rhythm, feeling or thought expressed in the poem. Lines are grouped together in stanzas. These
are sections of the poem separated by a space.

The way a poem’s lines and words are arranged on the page is its form. There are a variety of
poetic forms. The most common are the ballad, the epic, the ode, the sonnet, and free verse.
The poet chooses a specific form based on the message or theme that he or she is trying to
express.

Ballad – a type of narrative poem that tells a story. A ballad is meant to be sung or recited.
Because it tells a story, a ballad has a setting, a plot, and characters. Most have regular patterns
of rhythm and rhyme.
Epic – a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero whose actions reflect the ideals and
values of a nation or group.
Ode – a type of lyric poem that addresses broad, serious themes such as justice, truth, or beauty.
Sonnet – a poem that has a formal structure, containing fourteen lines and a specific rhyme
scheme and meter. The sonnet, which means “little song,” can be used for a variety of topics.
Free Verse – poetry without a regular pattern of rhyme, rhythm, or meter. Free Verse is used for
a variety of subjects.

Sound
Besides form, poets use sound devices to reinforce the meaning of a poem. Rhyme, meter, and
word choice are the key sound devices in a poem. Use excerpts below, from “The Charge of the
Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, to help you understand the sound devices described next.
Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the end of words, such as shell and well. Internal rhyme
is the use of rhyming words within a line. End rhyme is the use of rhymes at the ends of lines.
Notice the end rhyme in the stanza below: shell/fell/well/Hell. The pattern of end rhymes in a
poem is called its rhyme scheme.
Rhyme
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,

A poem’s rhythm is the pattern of sound created by stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of
poetry. Stressed syllables are those word parts that are read with emphasis, while unstressed
syllables are less emphasized. The first four lines of the stanza below have stressed ( ‘ ) and
unstressed ( ˘ ) syllables marked. Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables,
which can be repeated from line to line. Meter, rhythm, and rhyme produce a musical quality in
the poem. To hear rhythmic pattern, read the poem aloud.
Rhythm and Repetition
Hálf ă leăgue, hálf ă leăgue,
Hálf ă leăgue ónwărd,
Áll ĭn thĕ vállĕy ŏf Déath
Róde thĕ sĭx hŭndrĕd.
Directions: Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in the rest of the stanza below:

“Fórwărd, thĕ Líght Brĭgáde!

Chárge fŏr the gúns!” hĕ sáid:
Intŏ thĕ vállĕy ŏf Déath
Róde thĕ síx húndrĕd.

Repetition refers to sounds, words, phrases, or lines that are stated or used more than once in a
poem. Poets use repetition to emphasize an idea or convey a certain feeling. In the excerpt
above, the first two lines include “Half a league” three times. This emphasizes how far the
soldiers have to go. The fourth and eighth lines of the stanza include the phrase “Rode the six
hundred.” This repetition emphasizes the number of soldiers before they started their attack.
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. Notice the
repetition of sounds in this phrase: “then no one knows your name.”

Imagery and Figurative Language

Imagery refers to words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Poets use imagery to create
a picture in the reader’s mind or to remind the reader of a familiar sensation. In the example
below from “Mi Madre,” the reader can see and feel the sensations of rain and sun in the line,
“She sprinkles raindrops in my face on a sunny day.”
“Mi Madre”
Pat Mora

I say tease me.

She sprinkles raindrops in my face on a sunny day.

I say frighten me.

She shouts thunder, flashes lightning.

I say comfort me.

She invites me to lay on her firm body.

Figurative language conveys a meaning beyond the ordinary, literal meaning. One type of
figurative language is the simile, a comparison of two things with a common quality. A simile is
expressed using the words like or as. In the excerpt from “Simile: Willow and Ginkgo,” each line
contains a simile; for example, “The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf.” Underline the other
similes you can find in the excerpt.
 Simile: Willow and Ginkgo
Eve Merriam

The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf.

The ginkgo is leathery as an old bull.
The willow’s branches are like silken thread;
The gingko’s like stubby rough wool.

A metaphor is also a comparison of two things with a common quality, but it does not use the
words like or as. In “Mi Madre,” the words “firm body” represent the earth. When a poet
describes an animal or object as if it were human or had human qualities, that is personification.
In “Mi Madre,” Pat Mora describes the desert as her mother—a living woman who can feed,
comfort and heal her child.

Symbol
A symbol is a person, a place, an object, or an action that stands for something beyond itself.
Readers can usually recognize what a symbol stands for. For example, “prison” is a place that
symbolizes confinement.

Reading Poetry
Poetry is a blending of sound and sense. The musicality, rhythm, form, imagery, and feeling of
a poem, along with the poem’s message, create an overall effect on the reader. Read these
strategies to help you get the most from the poems that you read.

How to Apply the Strategies

Preview the poem and read it aloud a few times. Notice the poem’s form: the shape it takes
on the page, the number of lines, and whether the lines are divided into stanzas. Look for end
punctuation to tell you where each thought ends. As you read, listen for rhymes, rhythm, and the
overall sound of the words.

Visualize the images. Create a mental picture of the poet’s images and comparisons. Do the
images remind you of feelings or experiences you have had?

Think about the words and phrases. Think about the choice of words and what they add to
the poem. Do the words suggest more than their literal meaning? Are any
words or phrases repeated?
Make inferences. Make logical guesses based on clues in the poem. Search for details that
reveal something about the identity of the poem’s speaker. Look for clues that hint at the
speaker’s experiences, attitudes, and personality.

Try to figure out the poem’s theme. Ask: What’s the point of this poem? What message is
the poet trying to send or help me understand?