Engelse Taal en Letterkunde VWO 5

2024-2025

Literature
Literary forms, terms and devices

© MVN / RSE 2024

Literary forms, terms and devices 1

CONTENTS

1 Introduction 3

2 What is literature? 4

3 Literary terms 5

4 Prose fiction: novels 14

4.1 Book list 14
4.2 Book club 14
4.3 Book reports 15

5 Prose fiction: short stories 16

5.1 Short stories introduction 16
5.2 We like a good story 16

6 Poetry 17
6.1 The difference between prose and poetry 17
6.2 Poetry devices 18

Literary forms, terms and devices 2

1 Introduction

In front of you is a coursebook about books, stories and poems written by

authors who have English as their first language. You are going to read books,
stories poems and do assignments about it. Apart from reading you will also
have to learn literary aspects.

Of course, reading a book can be just for pleasure. Reading can also widen your
horizon and broaden your imagination. For example, you see how others have found
solutions to the sort of problems you are facing. Furthermore, reading introduces you
to the big and complex world outside, and makes you understand issues a lot of
people are grappling with. Many times, a good book makes you realize you are not
alone – others may be thinking and feeling the way you do.

Reading books, stories and poems isn’t about reading the lines and understanding
the words. Reading is about reading between the lines: picking up on different pieces
of information that are given to you by the narrator and putting them together, so you
can create and visualize the story in your own mind.

Especially when you are reading a story that is told by a first-person narrator, you
have to be aware that this narrator might not give you complete information. This may
be because the narrator isn’t able to, for he or she does not understand the events,
or maybe the narrator has something to hide, or is not proud of something.
For example, imagine you have had an argument within your group of friends. When
you’re telling the one friend who wasn’t there about it, you’ll play down your part in
the argument and make yourself look better than you might in reality have been. This
way you “deliberately” change the facts.

Another example of a narrator not giving you full insight, may be a child narrator who
is too young to really understand the events happening around him or her. In this
kind of narration, you might probably find words that are misspelled or non-
chronological ordering − all because that is how a child’s mind works.
Consequently, this type of story involves dramatic irony, because as readers we can
fully understand and piece together the events, whereas the child narrator often
doesn’t in his or her innocence and naivety.

Keep these things in mind when you read your books, stories and poems. Become
aware of the narrators, speakers and their reliability and of your own role in reading
and interpreting their actions. Also remember that a writer or poet did not write to
waste your time. All the parts in the text are there for a reason. If a part seems boring
for example, ask yourself why this annoying section is part of the story. If you
become able to read between the lines you will definitely enjoy the discoveries you
make!

Literary forms, terms and devices 3

2 What is literature?

As you read in the introduction, reading books, stories and poems is not about
reading the lines but about reading between the lines.

Let’s start with the term ‘literature’. What does it mean? Generally speaking, literature
is a written creation valued for its imaginative, meaningful, intellectual and emotional
content. A literary work has depth: it explores more complex themes and ideas, and it
is open to interpretation. A literary work also has an emotional impact: it can move
and inspire readers, and often evokes strong emotional reactions. Literary works
often demonstrate mastery of language, with an emphasis on style, symbolism and
metaphor. Literature is also fiction as it refers to imaginary people, events or
descriptions. In other words, a literary work of fiction is not strictly based on history or
fact.

Non-literary works, on the other hand, merely focus on entertainment or on conveying

information or knowledge. These include, for example, biographies, true crime books,
fantasy books, cookbooks, historical books, travelbooks, self-help books, reports,
newspapers and news reports.

The main difference between literary and non-literary works is their purpose and
focus. In literary works, artistic and deep emotional expression is paramount, while
non-literary works focus on entertainment, real-life people, true stories or information.

To understand a ‘work of literature’, you need to know and use literary terms. These
terms are explained and illustrated in the next chapter.

Literary forms, terms and devices 4

3 Literary terms

In order to read, interpret and understand your books and stories, you need to know
the following literary terms (also called ‘literary devices’):

A. Narration / point of view

B. Setting
C. Characters and characterization
D. Plot
E. Themes
F. Title
G. Mood and tone
H. Foreshadowing
I. Motifs and symbols
J. Irony

A Narration / point of view

Narration refers to the way that a story is told. The different kinds of narration are
categorized by each one's primary grammatical stance:
• the narrator speaks from within the story and uses "I" to refer to him- or herself
(see first-person narration under ‘Point of view’); in other words, the narrator is
a character of some sort in the story itself, even if he/she is only a passive
observer
• the narrator speaks from outside the story and never employs the "I" (see third-
person narration under ‘Point of view’).

Point of view refers to the vantage point from which the author presents the action of
the story. In other words, point of view refers to looking through the eyes of a specific
character. Point of view encompasses voice, involvement, knowledge and reliability.
Here are the main types of point of view:
• third person, omniscient - The narrator is an outside observer who never refers
to himself/herself as "I", "me", or "we". This narrator has unlimited access to all
characters, and knows everything that all of the characters do, think, see and feel.
• third person, limited omniscient - The narrator's knowledge of thoughts,
actions, visual perceptions, and feelings is limited to one or a few characters.
• third person objective - The narrator becomes a camera, recording actions and
behaviours without comment or interpretation. This narrator cannot record
thoughts or feelings.
• first person - A character (either major or minor) refers to himself/herself as "I"
while telling the story. This character is the narrator and his/her knowledge is
limited to personal interpretations, observations, and experiences.

Authors are not limited to one point of view in a story: they may use combinations or
experiment with various methods of storytelling.

Literary forms, terms and devices 5

First-person narration focalizes the narrative through the perspective of a single
character. The question of motivation or psychology is therefore often raised: why is
this narrator telling us this story in this way and can we trust him? For this reason,
unreliable narrators are not uncommon. An unreliable narrator is a narrator that is
not trustworthy, whose version of events must be taken with a grain of salt. We tend
to see such narrators especially in first-person narration, because that form of
narration tends to underline the motives behind that individual version of a given
story.
An example of an unreliable narrator is Holden Caulfield, the main character of The
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger. He tells the story but is in a mental institution, so
his grasp on reality is suspect. In addition, he has the sometimes naive viewpoint of a
teenager, and this can lead him to misinterpret events.

B Setting

The background against which the story takes place is referred to as setting. This
includes such factors as geographical location (e.g. London, Wyoming), a specific
building, room or space (e.g. a damp and gloomy castle, a control room) and the time
or period in which the action occurs (e.g. 2019, the Gulf War, today). The emotional
and socio-economic environment of the characters (religious, social, wealthy
suburbs, a deprived area) can also be used in the analysis of setting.
Settings are used to tell readers about the characters and to set the atmosphere of
the story.

Look at the following two examples and notice the difference in atmosphere:

“That evening T.J. smelled the air, his nostrils dilating with the odor of
the earth under his feet. “It’s spring,” he said, and there was a
gladness rising in his voice that filled us all with the same feeling” –
from ‘Antaeus’ by Borden Deal

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of
the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I
had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary

Literary forms, terms and devices 6

 tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the
evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher” – from
‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe

C Characters and characterization

The characters in the story are the people (or animals or things presented as people
in some stories) appearing in a work of fiction. These fictional characters are
developed through description, actions, thoughts and speeches, direct statement
from the writer, and/or opinions voiced by other characters. Depending on their
importance in the story, characters are developed to different degrees.
Characters can be identified as:
• static characters, meaning they do not change in the course of the story
• dynamic characters, meaning that they undergo some type of change or
development in the story, often because of something that happens to them. This
is a change, for better or worse, in personality, outlook, or some other aspect of
character
• round characters, meaning the character is convincing, true to life. Round
characters have many different and sometimes even contradictory personality
traits, just like real people
• flat characters, meaning stereotyped, shallow and often symbolic characters who
only have one or two personality traits

The effectiveness of the writer's development of characters should correlate with your
emotional response as a reader.
Characterization is the way in which the character(s) are presented as a part of the
writer’s strategy or plan. There are two main methods:

• direct characterization, meaning the interpretation and description of a person’s

character as described by the author by the use of direct statements

“Jack had been in basic training in Florida and Dottie was there on vacation
with her parents. They’d met on the beach and struck up a conversation.
Dottie was the talker, the outgoing one – the extrovert. Jack was too shy
around girls to say much at all” – from ‘Furlough’ by Harry Mazer

• indirect characterization, meaning the way in which the characters in the story
“give themselves away” through their choices, deeds, thoughts, speech and even
the visual appearance and impressions they make.

An example of indirect characterization through thoughts:

“Moonbeam closed his eyes and pretended to sleep the rest of the way to
Bamfield. He couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into. How had this
happened? He’d never held a gun in his life, much less gone hunting for
animals” – from ‘Moonbeam Dawson and the Killer Bear’ by Jean Okimoto

An example of indirect characterization through words:

“It was Kenny Griffen, smiling complacently. “Miss Bird sent me after you
‘cause you been gone six years. You’re in trouble... yer constipated!” Kenny

Literary forms, terms and devices 7

 chortled gleefully. “Wait’ll I tell Caaathy!” – from ‘Here There Be Tygers’ by
Stephen King

An example of indirect characterization through actions:

“The boy held his breath; he wondered whether his father would hear his heart
beating... Through a crack in the counter he could see his father where he
stood, one hand held to his high stiff collar...” – from ‘I Spy’ by Graham Greene

An example of indirect characterization through appearance:

“Miss Kinney was young and blonde and bouncy and had a boyfriend who
picked her up after school in a blue Camaro” – from ’Here There Be Tyger’ by
Stephen King

D Plot

Plot can be defined as the events in the story in the order in which they are
presented. A plot is about a conflict or a revelation. Most plots involve an external
conflict between characters or an internal conflict within the main character itself. In
some stories, plot may not be the emphasis; the author may instead use revelation,
in which the character or reader moves toward a particular insight or understanding.
A typical conflict story can be divided into five parts, each with its own function in the
story. These parts are exposition (originally called introduction), rising action (rise),
climax (turning point), falling action (return or fall) and resolution.

In the exposition the author introduces the characters, especially the main
character, also known as the protagonist. The exposition shows how the characters
relate to one another, their goals and motivations, as well as their moral characters.
During the exposition, the protagonist learns about the main goal in the story and
what is at stake.

Rising action is the second phase. It starts with a conflict, for example, the death of
a character. The inciting incident is the event that catalyzes the protagonist to go into

Literary forms, terms and devices 8

motion and to take action. Rising action involves the build-up of events until the
climax.
In this phase, the protagonist understands his or her goal and begins to work toward
it. Smaller problems thwart his/her initial success and progress is directed against
these obstacles. This phase demonstrates how the protagonist overcomes these
obstacles.

The climax is the turning point of the story. The protagonist makes the single big
decision that defines not only the outcome of the story, but also who they are as a
person. Usually, the climax occupies the middle of the story.
At the beginning of the climax phase, the protagonist finally clears away the
preliminary barriers and opposes and engages with the adversary, also called the
antagonist. Usually, both the protagonist and the antagonist have a plan to win
against the other as they enter this phase. For the first time, the audience sees the
pair going against one another in direct or nearly direct conflict.
The climax in Lord of the Rings, for example, occurs at Mount Doom, as Frodo
debates whether to let the ring fall into the fires that created it, thereby destroying it,
or to keep the ring for himself.

The falling action phase consists of events that lead to the ending. The actions of
the characters resolve the problem. In the beginning of this phase, the antagonist
often has the upper hand. The protagonist has never been further away from
accomplishing his/her goal.

In the final phase of resolution, the protagonist and antagonist solve their problems
and either the protagonist or antagonist wins the conflict. The conflict officially ends.
Some stories also show what happens to the characters after the conflict ends or
they show what happens to the characters in the future.
The resolution in Lord of the Rings, for example, is when the four hobbits can make
their way back to the Shire and find peace there.

E Themes

A theme is the central idea, lesson, message or dominating thought in a book. The
theme is what a story really is about.

For instance, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (about a family of tenant
farmers who are displaced from their land in Oklahoma) is a book whose themes
might be said to include ‘the inhumanity of capitalism’, as well as ‘the vitality and
necessity of family and friendship’.

The theme of a book should be described in more than one word; only describing a
work's theme in one word is not specific enough. Stating that a book is about ‘the
senselessness of violence’ is a lot stronger and more compelling than just saying that
the book is about ‘violence’. Accordingly, ‘love’ or ‘revenge’ are not themes, but ‘love
cannot be bought’ or ‘revenge does not fix your problems’ are.
Tip: if you can't come up with a theme, try inserting a verb to describe the central
idea. If you see a lot of references to fire, you can ask yourself what actions we

Literary forms, terms and devices 9

associate with fire. For example, fire burns, fire destroys or fire warms. Then,
consider which one makes sense in the context of the novel you are reading.

Themes are almost never stated explicitly. You can find the theme(s) by focussing on
the ideas, not on actions or objects. You can also look for a symbol, recurring motif or
phrase that appears again and again throughout a story, since it often signals the
main concept or idea. To find the themes in the story, ask yourself the following
questions:
• Why was the story written?
• What was the author’s intention, besides just telling the story?
• What is the deeper meaning behind the story?
• What is the unifying idea behind the story?
• In what way are all characters and events related to each other?
• What repeating symbols, motifs or phrases appear again and again throughout
the story?
• How does the author work out the theme?
• In what way is the problem solved/ the conflict resolved?

Examples of themes:

• fear of failure
• coming of age – pain or pleasure
• power and corruption
• good vs evil
• the dangers of rigidly following tradition
• the illusory nature of free will
• the dangers of online technology
• lust vs love
• real beauty lies within

F Title

Though a title may seem like a small thing, it has a significant impact on how the
story is perceived. Often the title alone determines whether you will read the story or
pass it by.
A title can refer to various elements of the story. It may relate to the key theme (e.g.
The Fault In Our Stars), to an important setting or symbol (e.g. Holes), event (e.g.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), character (e.g. Aristotle and
Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe) or a memorable line in the story (e.g.
Ah, Wilderness!).

G Mood and tone

The tone of the story creates an atmosphere or mood. A writer’s tone can be
humorous, satirical, passionate, zealous, sarcastic, condescending, aggressive, and
so on. The tone can be anything the writer chooses. For instance, humour is an

Literary forms, terms and devices 10

important tone in children’s literature. Types of humour used by writers include
surprise, exaggeration, incongruity, absurdity, and parody.
The writer’s word choice often reveals his or her tone. Tone is often expressed by the
connotation of words. For instance, a certain expression might be interpreted as
sarcasm. Another expression can be interpreted as vulgar, and so on.
Tone is also about the effect the writing has on the reader. What mood does the
writer create in the mind of the reader?
Examples of the use of tone in sentences:
“You are a terrible liar!” (aggressive tone); “I don’t really like the way you talk to me.
I’ll thank you for your manners.” (assertive tone).
Example of tone in literature:
“She would have suffered. My family would have never accepted her as an equal.
You don’t order someone to polish your shoes one day and call them ‘sister’ the
next.” He looked at me. “You know, you can tell me anything you want, Amir Jan.
Anytime.”
These lines from The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini, an Afghan writer, convey a
tone that is serious yet biased. The narrator is clear that his family is biased toward
the Hazara, a minority Shia community in Afghanistan.

H Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer provides hints or clues about

what will happen later in the story.
In Shakespeare's tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’, there are several instances of
foreshadowing that hint at the tragic fate of the two young lovers. One notable
example is in Act 1, when Romeo has a premonition about his own untimely death.
This occurs before he attends the Capulet's party, where he will meet Juliet:
Romeo:

I fear, too early: for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

In these lines, Romeo expresses a sense of foreboding, suggesting that something

significant and potentially tragic is destined to happen. The reference to the
"consequence yet hanging in the stars" foreshadows ill-fated events that will unfold,
emphasizing the theme of fate and setting the stage for the tragic outcome of the
play (both Romeo and Juliet die at the end).

I Motifs and symbols

A motif is a recurring element – such as an image, phrase, situation or concept –

that appears multiple times throughout a work of literature.
Some motifs operate on a broad scale, such as the seasonal motifs of winter and
spring in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, and the Game of

Literary forms, terms and devices 11

Thrones television series it inspired. In The Raven (1845), Edgar Allen Poe uses a
frightening bird to symbolize the inevitability of decay and, eventually, death.
Holes in the book Holes by Louis Sachar are another example of a motif. The holes
not only refer to the holes that are dug in the soil every day but also to missing bits of
information that need to be filled to understand what really happened, suggesting that
life is like that too.

Symbolism is a literary device that uses symbols as stand-ins to represent

something else beyond the literal meaning. For example, a character's voyage may
be used to suggest a journey through life, or the recurrence of water in a story may
suggest a cleansing through spiritual rebirth. A lion can be a symbol of courage and a
red rose can represent love.

Fairy tales frequently contain symbols to convey a story’s central idea to young
audiences. The Brothers Grimm frequently used the forest as a symbol of mystery
and peril, as in this passage from Hansel and Gretel, where the children continue
deeper into the woods.

Multiple symbols can be used to explain a motif. Let's say a story is about a family
struggling to stay together, the parents considering divorce. In this story, there is a
recurring motif of fragmentation that emerges from several symbols, like shattered
glass, a runaway daughter, an explosion and a scattered puzzle.
Sometimes a motif can emerge from studying contrasts, like the theme of ‘good
versus evil’, or ‘light and dark’. Symbols that could represent ‘light and dark’ might be
moon shadows (shades of darkness), a candle (a light in the darkness), a ray of
sunshine (emerging from darkness) or a tunnel (through the darkness).

J Irony

The contrasts generated by the use of irony add dimension to the theme of a story.
Irony in literature is usually differentiated into the following main categories:

Verbal irony occurs when what is said contrasts with what is meant; the speaker
makes this contrast intentionally and both the readers and the characters are usually
aware of what the speaker actually means.
Examples: coming home to a big mess and saying, “it’s great to be back”. Or, telling
a rude customer to “have a nice day”.

Dramatic irony is an instance in which the reader shares knowledge with the author
which the characters do not; because characters are unaware of actual
circumstances, they usually act inappropriately.

Literary forms, terms and devices 12

Examples: the reader knows that a character is going to be murdered; however, the
victim in the story is not be aware of this fact. Hence, what is said and done in the
story has a different meaning for the reader and for this victim in the story. This
‘dramatic irony’ creates suspense and humour, and conveys emotions and moods
more effectively.
Another example is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a story about a Scottish nobleman -
Macbeth - who kills his king to ascend the throne, but is murdered when he is king
himself.

Situational irony illustrates the discrepancy between what is said or what occurs
and what is logically expected.
Examples: a fire station that burns down, a police station being burgled, a marriage
counselor divorcing his third wife.

The graphic illustrates these different types of irony:

Literary forms, terms and devices 13

4 Prose fiction: novels

Prose fiction is a form of literature that uses the language in its original and natural
form. The term fiction refers to stories are not not strictly based on history or fact.
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language,
rhyme for example, to evoke meaning.
This chapter focuses on prose fiction in the form of novels, the next chapter on prose
fiction in the form of short stories. Chapter six focuses on poetry.

4.1 Book list

You read three books as parts of this course. The book we read and discuss in class:

H5.entl1:
Room Donoghue, Emma

H5.entl2:
The Collector Fowles, John

Furthermore, you chose one title from this shortlist:

Moon Palace Auster, Auster

Wild Houses Barrett, Colin
Lord Of The Flies Golding, William
We Have Always Lived In The Castle Shirley Jackson
On The Road Kerouac, Jack
The Fifth Child Lessing, Doris
Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell, George
Vernon God Little Pierre, D.B.C.
The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald, Francis
The First To Die At The End Silvera, Adam
The Chocolate War Cormier, Richard
The Color Purple Walker, Alice
The Picture Of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar

The third book will be one of the following classic novels:

Romeo and Juliet (1597) William Shakespeare

Robinson Crusoe (1719) Daniel Defoe
Gulliver’s Travels (1726) Jonathan Swift
Pride and Prejudice (1813) Jane Austen
Ivanhoe (1819) Sir Walter Scott
Oliver Twist (1834) Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre (1847) Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Brontë
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Oscar Wilde
Dracula (1897) Bram Stoker

Literary forms, terms and devices 14

4.2 Book club

In a series of weekly book club meetings, you will discuss your chosen books in a
group of students who are reading the same book.

The book club is all about reading for pleasure, and we're making it even more fun
with YouTube Shorts, a platform for sharing video recommendations and reviews.
Dive into fascinating books and stories, share your experiences and have a lot of fun
together. The aim is to experience the fun and enjoyment in reading stories, to
discover new worlds and ideas, and to embrace YouTube Short. And, of course, to
prepare you well for SE 2 Literature in January.

Refer to the workbook for a description of the assignments regarding the book club.

In each book club session, you make and post one or more YouTube Shorts,
revealing what you have discussed and found on the characters, plot, setting and
themes in your book.

4.3 Book reports

As part of this literature course you read three novels. You compile a book report for
all three books and upload them in Magister Opdrachten.
Refer to the workbook for a description of the assignments regarding the book
reports.

Literary forms, terms and devices 15

5 Prose fiction: short stories

5.1 Short stories introduction

Short stories in English and American literature are a rollercoaster of awesome tales
— quick, intense, and often totally mind-blowing. Take Edgar Allan Poe, for example,
the king of all things creepy. Poe throws you into the deep end of the human mind.
His ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘Fall of the House of Usher’ are like a trip through a haunted
house – words dripping with madness and shadows that will give you the chills. And
there's Roald Dahl, the genius of the weird and wicked. His ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is
one of the best unexpected plot twists. Dahl's stories are a wild mix of humor and
darkness, taking everyday stuff and turning it into something seriously extraordinary.
Short stories are your entry ticket to a world where each word is a sneak peek into
the craziest corners of the human soul. It's like literary popcorn – quick, tasty, and
leaves you craving for more.

5.2 We like a good story

Telling stories is as old as humanity. Stories matter and have shaped our world as we
know it. As part of this literature course you read three short stories.
Refer to the workbook for the stories and a description of the assignments regarding
these stories.

Literary forms, terms and devices 16

6 Poetry

6.1 The difference between prose and poetry

Prose is a form of literature that uses the language in its original and natural form.
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to
evoke meaning.

Prose
- Prose is a major form of literature; both fiction and nonfiction are included in
prose. Think of novels, novellas, short stories, biographies, autobiographies,
memoirs, essays, travel books.
- The language is grammatical in nature and consists of a natural flow of speech.
- It is composed of full grammatical sentences and these sentences are then
grouped in paragraphs.
- The language used in nonfiction such as newspaper, etc. are devoid of figures of
speech, and other decorations and ideas are expressed in a direct and
straightforward manner.

Poetry
- By looking at the setup of a poem, you can see the difference between prose and
poetry.
- Poetry has a metrical structure.
- Poetry is normally used to express something in an artistic and aesthetic way.
- Poetic language tends to be decorative and creative; attention is especially paid
to sound and rhythm.
- A poem is composed of lines; a line can be very long or as short as one word. A
stanza is made up of several lines.
- As mentioned above, poets use a limited number of words to express their ideas
in poetry. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the meaning of the poem by
reading it only once or twice. An in-depth reading and analysis may be required to
decipher the complete meaning.
- Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures intense experiences or
creative perceptions of the world in a musical language.
- Basically, if prose is like talking, poetry is like singing.
- Poetry is formatted differently from prose:
o A line is a word or row of words that may or may not form a complete
sentence.
o A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The stanzas in a poem are
separated by a space.

Literary forms, terms and devices 17

6.2 Poetry devices

Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and any succeeding
sounds in two or more words.
Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry.
End rhyme occurs at the end of lines.
Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes that may be designated by assigning a
different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.
Example:

“All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule! a

I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule! a
I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that, b
I'm king of a blueberry bush and cat! b
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! c
For I am the ruler of all that I see!” c
from “Yertle the Turtle”
by Dr. Seuss

Free verse
Free verse is poetry that has no fixed pattern of meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza
arrangement.
When writing free verse, a poet is free to vary the poetic elements to emphasize an
idea or create a tone.
In writing free verse, a poet may choose to use repetition or similar grammatical
structures to emphasize and unify the ideas in the poem.
Example:

The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirmed case,

He will never sleep any more as he did it in the cot in his mother’s bedroom;
The dour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
He turns is quid of tobacco, his eyes blurred with the manuscript;
The malformed limbs are tied to the anatomist’s table,
What is removed drops horribly in the pail;
The quadroon girl is sold at the stand….the drunkard nods by the barroom
stove…
Excerpt from “Song of Myself” (section 15)
Walt Whitman

Speaker
Unlike prose which has a narrator, poetry has a speaker. In the poem, a speaker, or
voice, talks to the reader. The speaker is not necessarily the poet. It can also be a
fictional person, an animal or even a thing.
To find the speaker in the poem, imagine the person who is speaking in the poem.
Questions to consider are:
1 Who speaks in the poem?
2 What clues does the poem give about the speaker’s personality, the point of
view, age, or gender?
3 Who is the speaker addressing (who is he/ she speaking to)?

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 4 Does the speaker seem attached or detached from what is said?

Tone and mood

Although many times we use the words mood and tone
interchangeably, they do not necessarily mean the same thing.
Mood – the feeling or atmosphere that a poet creates. Mood can
suggest an emotion (ex. “excited”) or the quality of a setting (ex.
“calm”, “somber”) In a poem, mood can be established through
word choice, line length, rhythm, etc.
Tone – a reflection of the poet’s attitude toward the subject of a
poem. Tone can be serious, sarcastic, humorous, etc.

Figures of speech in poetry

A figure of speech is a word or expression that is not meant to be read literally.
Figures of speech include similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, imagery,
and irony.

Figure of speech: simile (like, as)

A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as “like” or “as” to compare
seemingly unlike things.
Example:

Does it stink like rotten meat?

from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

Figure of speech: metaphor

A metaphor is a comparison between two things that states that one thing is
another thing in order to help explain an idea or show hidden similarities.
Unlike a simile that uses "like" or "as" (you shine like the sun!), a metaphor
does not use "like" or "as".
Example:

the moon is a white sliver

from “I Am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso

Figure of speech: personification

Poets use personification to write about an idea, an object, or an animal as if it
were human.
Example:
A Spider sewed at Night
from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson

Figure of speech: hyperbole (exaggeration)

Hyperbole – a figure of speech in which great exaggeration is used for
emphasis or humorous effect. In other words, hyperbole is the use of over-
exaggeration to create emphasis or humor. It’s not intended to be taken
literally. Rather, it’s supposed to drive a point home and make the reader
understand just how much the writer felt in that moment.

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 Throughout the ages, hyperbole has appeared in poetry time and time again. If
you can’t be dramatic in poetry, where can you? Hyperbole helps express
ever-lasting love, a broken heart, or feelings of despair in an amplified tone.
Examples:

“You’ve asked me a million times!”

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

Figure of speech: imagery

Imagery is descriptive language that applies to the senses – sight, sound,
touch, taste, or smell. Some images appeal to more than one sense.
Imagery intensifies the impact of the poet's language as he shows us with his
words rather than just telling us what he feels. Song lyrics are also full of
imagery.
Examples:

Sight imagery:
Hundreds of tiny yellow blossoms dotted the plush green meadow.

Sound imagery:
Horns honked and sirens screamed across the night.
Smell imagery:
The scent of cinnamon apples wafted through the air.
Taste imagery:
Tart cherries puckered my mouth as the sweet crust melted against my
tongue.
Touch imagery:
Splintered boards scraped my legs, pricking the soft skin.

Figure of speech: irony

Irony occurs when an outcome is different than expected. There are a few
different kinds of irony: dramatic, situational and verbal irony.

Dramatic irony is used to refer to a situation where the reader knows more
about what’s going on in the poem than the characters do. The technique is
also used to heighten reader’s emotions.
Example:

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 At the end of Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet, the reader knows that
Juliet isn’t dead but sleeping. Romeo, though, has no idea. He commits
suicide believing his true love has died while the viewers look on,
knowing the truth.

Let’s take a look at an example of situational irony in Samuel Taylor

Coleridge‘s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. The situational irony presents itself
in the ninth stanza of Part II of the poem. The lines read:

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink

The speaker is considering their situation and that of their fellow crew
members. It is ironic because, very simply, there’s a lot of water but they can’t
drink it. They are at risk of dehydration and death while surrounded by ocean.

Verbal irony is the most common type of irony. It occurs when a speaker says
something that is in direct conflict with what they actually believe or mean.
These kinds of statements often consist of comparisons utilizing similes. An
example comes from William Shakespeare‘s sonnet “My mistress’ eyes are
nothing like the sun”, otherwise known as Sonnet 130:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

The speaker is elevating his “mistress” beyond the sun, the coral and the
snow. She is better than these things.

Refer to the workbook for the poems in this course and a description of the
assignments regarding poetry.

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