The document discusses various types of poems including haiku, sestina, sonnet, and villanelle. It defines their structures and provides examples. Additionally, it covers poetic elements like theme, imagery, diction, sound, figurative language, and helpful poetic terms. The document serves as an overview of different forms of poetry and literary devices commonly found within poems.

1. Presented by Mrs. S. Dianne Black

2. Types of
Poems
 Haiku—Japanese fixed-form poem
structured in 3 lines of 17 syllable;
captures a moment in time or aspect of
nature
 Sestina—French form of six six-line
stanzas followed by a tercet called an
envoy to =39 lines; set of six words is
repeated in varying patterns at the ends of
the lines of each of the six-line stanzas;
the six words also in the envoy, two in
each line of the tercet
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3. …types of poems
• Sonnet—14 lines of iambic pentameter;
can be Shakespearean/English (3
quatrains followed by a couplet) or
Petrarchan/Italian (octave followed by 2
tercets)
• Villanelle—fixed-form of 19 lines
composed of 5 tercets (rhyme
scheme:aba) and a concluding quatrain
(rhyme scheme:abaa); lines one & three of
the 1st tercet serve as refrains
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4. …continued
• Ballad—short poem in song format that
tells a story
• Elegy—subject is death of aperson
• Epic—long, adventurous tale with a hero
• Lyric—expresses love, inner emotions
tends to be personal; usually written in 1st
person
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5. ...continued
• Narrative—the poet tells a story with
characters and a plot
• Ode—originally a Greek form, odes are
serious lyric poems; English Romantic
poets reinvigorated the form
• Prose poem—looks like a
paragraph, even having a jagged right
margin; may read like a paragraph, but
retains poetic elements such as
imagery, figurative language, and concise
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language.

6. Theme
Purpose of the poem
What the poet needed to say
Expresses the unity of human
experience
See that we are more alike as a human
race than different
Tells us what is true about us
Expresses the poet’s vision about the
truth of the world
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7. Imagery
• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Smell
• Taste
Effects: transports us to another place,
time, and experience; allows us to
understand the emotions in the poem;
creates tone; allows poet to show us
meaning by taking us into the
environment of the poem
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8. Diction
How does a poet choose the exact word?
• Sound: how does the word sound? Does
it contribute to the meaning, to the overall
sound scheme, or does it interrupt or
interfere?
• Denotation: What is the exact meaning of
the word?
• Connotation: What is the suggested
meaning? What is the emotive quality?
Every word matters . Never skim over any word in a poem.
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9. Sound
• Rhyme • Alliteration
• Exact Rhyme • Assonance
• Slant Rhyme/Approximate • Cacophony
Rhyme • Euphony
• Internal Rhyme vs. End • Meter
Rhyme
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10. …sound continued
Definitions and Examples:
Rhyme: words that sound either exactly
alike or merely similar
Exact Rhyme:
Cat, hat, flat, mat: masculine rhyme (one
syllable rhymes
Falling, calling, stalling: feminine rhyme
(two or more syllables)
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11. …sound continued
Slant rhyme/approximate rhyme:
The words sound close but are not exact
rhymes
Mirror, steer, dear or book, crack, stick
(consonance is used most often for slant
rhymes)
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12. …sound continued
Assonance:
Repetition of vowel sounds; some words
using assonance will rhyme exactly; others
will simply mirror the vowel sounds
Cake, stake, break, fate, drank, ache, plac
ate, etc.
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13. …sound continued
Internal rhyme vs. end rhyme:
 end rhyme occurs only at the end of the
line whereas internal rhyme happens
within the lines
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14. …sound continued
Alliteration
Repetition of beginning sounds in close
proximity
“Susan sent sally some sunflowers,” or
“Loons lurk late in autumn lakes under
lavender skies.
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15. …sound continued
Cacophony
Harsh , discordant, or unpleasing sounds
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16. …sound continued
CONSONANCE
Repetition of consonant sounds
Exact rhymes use consonance—
foot, put, soot
But all words that repeat sounds are
using consonance—add, suit, unfit
Can occur in the middle of words—
river, liver, cadaver, waver, save rave
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17. …sound continued
Euphony
Pleasing, melodious, pleasant sounds
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18. …sound continued
Meter:
A rhythm accomplished by using a certain
number of beats or syllables per line
Iambic is the most common meter (a foot
consisting of one unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable (U /)
A foot is simply 2 syllables or in some
cases 3
Iambic Pentameter means a 5-foot iambic
line, or 10 syllables
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19. Final Points about Sound
Sound is not as important as the idea or
meaning of the poem.
Sound simply extends the meaning of the
poem and enhances ideas.
Sound not likely to be a significant factor in
meaning in older fixed form poems.
Sound in free verse poems are more
experimental
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20. Figurative Language
• Metaphors: comparison of 2 dissimilar
things to help us se something in a new or
more meaningful way
• Direct metaphor: comparison using the
word “is.” “Life is a river.”
• Indirect metaphor: “The river of life” all
compares life to a river but does so
indirectly
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21. …figurative lang. continued
• Personification: comparison by giving
something non-human, human characteristics
• Oxymoron: juxtaposing 2 things apparently
contradictory that till reinforce one idea—jumbo
shrimp, only choice, virtual reality
• Hyperbole: using exaggeration to extend reality; gets
us to look more closely at what is actually true by
giving us a sharp contrast.
• Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; used to say
less than is appropriate for the situation or for
meaning
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22. Helpful Terms
• Apostrophe • Quatrain
• Couplet • Sestet
• Epigram • Speaker
• Fixed form • Stanza
• Metonymy • Structure
• Metaphysical conceit • Synecdoche
• Mood • Tercet
• Octave • Tone
• Pun • Unity
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